The study will also look at targeted drilling and milling options, including processing Aureka’s ore at Core’s under-utilised Wedderburn milling facility, just 45km northeast of the mine site.
Core’s Wedderburn plant has a nameplate capacity of 42,000 tonnes per year and features both gravity and flotation circuits, coupled with wet and dry tailings storage.
Aureka Limited managing director James Gurry said: “I am delighted to be reporting further occurrences of visible gold at St Arnaud, Comstock, with extensions this time to the west after our recent highlight intercepts extending mineralisation to the north. It comes just as mill owners Core Prospecting Pty Ltd assess the possible pathway to small scale production for Comstock”.
Logging and sampling across the seven-hole diamond program at Comstock are ongoing. Aureka says it expects more assays over the coming weeks as the laboratory catches up.
Aureka has positioned Comstock as one of the most credible near-term production stories in Victoria, highlighting the potential for a small but very high-margin starter operation.
Core’s scoping study outcome early next year will be closely watched and a positive result could see the company pouring its first gold well ahead of its peers in the strongly contested but richly mineralised Ballarat – Bendigo goldfield in central Victoria.
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