Premier Gold Restart Project
As part of the gold restart project, Sedgman conducted a site visit to review the gold plant condition and complete a series of trade off studies to select the best project solutions to be used in the re-start of the previously decommissioned facilities. These were matched to the revised gold mine plant and updated metallurgical test work programs.
Following the trade-off studies and pre-feasibility study phase of work, our teams completed a detailed field inspection and laser scan of the processing plant facilities which was used to significantly increase the accuracy of the feasibility study that was used to evaluate the restart of the gold operation.
When Ascot Resources purchased the Premier assets they concentrated on underground developments that could be supported by additional feedstock from the Red Mountain asset approximately 40km away.
The ore resource is high grade, and the key drivers were to minimise capital and operating cost to bring the asset back into production at 2500 t/d.
The project scope focused on re-starting the existing Premier processing facility which has been under care and maintenance since 2001.
The plant refurbishment and plans consisted of a combination of replaced equipment that was either removed or required significant refurbishment and the installation of new equipment for the different ore types that would increase recoveries compared to the older technologies. The process plant will utilise conventional crushing, grinding and gravity separation circuits followed by a carbon-in-leach (CIL) process to produce a gold doré.
As part of the contracted work, we delivered a detailed feasibility study report to the client supported by an execution plan that was then published as a National Instrument 43-101 report required by the Canadian government.
As part of the feasibility study enhancements to more accurately define the outcome were required, a detailed field inspection report was completed with the support of CGT Industrial that inspected, measured and field checked all remaining equipment in the processing facilities. During this time a detailed laser scan was completed which was imported into AutoCAD 3D, the outcome of this allowed the design team to assess with increased accuracy the upgrade requirements as well assessing the constructability and operability.