Vast Resources makes 'significant' progress with expansion of gold mine

Shares in Vast Resources rose as the explorer announced that it has made “significant progress” with the expansion of the Pickstone-Peerless gold mine in Zimbabwe.

The AIM-listed miner has made “significant progress” with the construction of the sulphide processing plant, which will enable production from the high-grade sulphide pits.

Vast claims that there will be a 100% increase in installed primary milling capacity once sulphide plant is commissioned to 40,000 tonnes per month from the current 20,000 tonnes per month.

The mill grade is also expected to increase from -2.00 grams per tonne of gold to between 3 grams and 4 grams over a six to nine month period as higher grade sulphide ore is mined and processed, resulting in a significant increase in production.

Construction is on time and on budget with the first sulphide production scheduled for the third quarter of 2017 and a custom milling facility is to be commissioned to process artisanal workers' tributed production from proximal claims.

Chief executive Roy Pitchford said that by expanding the mine with the aim of doubling throughput and increasing the grade of ore by between 50% to 100% to up to 4 grams per tone of gold would provide an enormous upside and further enhance the performance of Pickstone-Peerless, which produced an average of over 4,150 per ounce of gold per quarter over the past 12 months from the oxide cap alone.

"We have also been working with the artisanal miners operating on a tribute basis from the claims adjacent to Pickstone-Peerless. We see this as a natural and mutually beneficial relationship as the artisanal miners save on transport costs and gain immediate access to the free gold, whilst all of the residual gold is processed through Pickstone-Peerless' CIP facilities," Pitchford said.

Shares in Vast Resources were up 4.19% to 0.537p at 1415 GMT.