Pacgold has doubled down on its new producer status, pouring a second gold doré bar from its White Dam project in South Australia, as it looks to fast-track the restart of open pit mining at the project, six months ahead of schedule.
The company says it has delivered a 97-ounce gold bar from the initial aeration of its legacy heap leach pad.
The pour has landed just as management revealed it is evaluating an early restart of its nearby Vertigo open-pit, which could see fresh oxide gold ore hitting the leach pad by late 2026 rather than mid-2027.
The move to accelerate Vertigo was recently triggered by a brace of additional shallow, high-grade gold hits from drilling beyond the current open pit shell.
The company says the 97-ouncer has validated the operational ramp-up at White Dam, which Pacgold acquired only late last year.
The company’s re-crushing campaign is now hitting its stride, with 120,000 tonnes of material from the existing heap being crushed and irrigated. A further 50,000 tonnes is set to be added by the end of the month.
Significantly, management says high-grade leachate has now reached the base of the re-crushed material. While this freshly leached gold is yet to reach the processing plant, its presence at the bottom of the system is a strong indicator that the re-crushing strategy is effectively liberating trapped gold, auguring well for future production ounces.
While gold has pulled back from its January peak amid easing inflation fears and a strong US dollar, major investment houses, including Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan, continue to target US$4900-US$5000 per ounce for 2026.
As the re-crush program continues to generate near-term cash flow, all eyes are now turning to the Vertigo pit, where Pacgold is assessing fresh oxide ore from the northern and eastern margins of the pit.
Notably, mining could be undertaken without additional permits or capital expenditure, as the existing heap leach pad has spare capacity of 800,000 tonnes.
Delivering our second gold pour from White Dam brings in additional cashflow as production ramps up, confirmation that the re-crushed material is now leaching good grades at the upper lift is also excellent news and I look forward to this leachate reaching the plant to be recovered in future pours.
Pacgold is hoping White Dam will return to its proven pedigree of historic gold production, having yielded 180,000 ounces of gold from heap-leach operations between 2010 and 2018.
The current resource of 4.6 million tonnes grading 0.7 grams per tonne (g/t) gold for 102,000 ounces provides a solid platform for a potential production restart, even without the inclusion of recently identified shallow gold ounces.
While the current ore re-treatment is expected to generate near-term gold production, Pacgold’s broader ambition is to return White Dam to full-scale mining.
The company says a cost-effective pathway to restart mining, including economic studies, is expected within the next two to three weeks, followed by permitting applications and contractor engagement.
Consultant Entech has also been hired to update the Vertigo mineral resource estimate and run new pit optimisations for mine designs to support the early restart plan.
The longer-term plan for the project involves a massive 4-million-tonne extension of the heap leach pad to accommodate ore from the company’s Vertigo, White Dam North and Hannaford deposits.
After making the leap from explorer to producer with its first gold pour last month, Pacgold is wasting no time in building momentum. With a second bar now poured, a re-crush campaign gaining traction and a clear plan to fast-track open pit mining, White Dam appears to be quickly turning from a historical producer into a modern-day cash machine.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@wanews.com.au
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