Meeka Gold Mine in Australia Commences Ramp Construction, Ore Production Scheduled for January Next Year

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On October 12, Meeka Metals of Australia announced that the Fairway decline excavation has commenced at the Turnberry underground mine of its Murchison Gold Project, with first ore production planned for January 2027. The mine has an initial probable ore reserve of 620,000 tonnes at an average gold grade of 2.5 g/t, containing approximately 50,000 ounces of gold. The project will utilize the existing processing facilities, with ore transported to the processing plant via an approximately 20-kilometer overland haulage route.

Meeka Metals completed construction of the Fairway decline portal and surface infrastructure in September 2026, and officially commenced underground excavation in October. Turnberry will become the second underground mining operation at the Murchison Gold Project, supplying ore to the existing processing plant alongside the already-producing Andy Well underground mine. The company plans to continue advancing underground development and subsequently establish underground drilling platforms.

The Turnberry underground mineral resource is approximately 360,000 ounces at an average gold grade of 3.9 g/t. Previous deep drilling below the existing ore reserve envelope returned multiple gold-mineralized intervals, including 52.3 meters at an average grade of 3.0 g/t and 18 meters at an average grade of 3.0 g/t. The company plans to use the drilling platforms established through underground development to continue testing deeper mineralization and to conduct subsequent resource evaluation and reserve conversion work.

The initial Fairway ore reserve corresponds to approximately 18 months of mining. The subsequent mine life will depend on further exploration and reserve update results. The construction of this underground mine integrates with Murchison's existing production system, and the first ore is expected to be transported directly to the existing processing plant for treatment, with no need to build a separate processing plant for this initial mining operation.

Meeka Metals invested a total of AUD 107 million in growth capital expenditure during the 2026 financial year for the new mine and related infrastructure. The Andy Well underground mine commenced stope production in late May, and open-pit mining activities at the Murchison Project concluded in July. The company's cash balance at the end of the September quarter was approximately AUD 51 million, and the existing processing plant has achieved its target throughput rate of 600,000 tonnes per annum.