Lorena gold mine has started processing low-grade ore.

It will move on to processing higher grade ore, with the first gold pour expected by mid-March once the processing plant has achieved steady state production, according to Malachite Resources.

The Lorena gold project, 15km east of Cloncurry, is expected to produce about 30,000 to 35,000 ozs of recovered gold in 18 months of production.

However the Lorena joint venture partners have commenced an RC drilling program to identify additional gold resources near surface and below the existing pit.

The program includes about 2400m of drilling to try to identify additional gold resources that can be mined by extending the existing open-cut operation.

Malachite’s joint venture partners in the operation are Ore Processing Services and Cloncurry Gold Recovery Management (involving  Chinova Resources Tennant Creek and BIM Gold).