Feasibility work is picking up momentum for a joint venture looking to reprocess tailings from the Tick Hill gold project, according to an update from AuKing Mining.

AuKing and Orion Resources entered a joint venture term sheet in March with the current owner of the historical Tick Hill mine, Tick Hill Mining (THM).

AuKing said THM had started testwork on the Tick Hill tailings, generating detailed technical data to inform the JV’s feasibility study into the reprocessing plan.

Image at top of page: An aerial view of the tailings stockpile at Tick Hill (the site’s open pit is just out of view to the right)

AuKing managing director Paul Williams said the Tick Hill JV provided a potential development pathway that leveraged existing infrastructure, robust historical data and tailings retreatment optionality to support the broader proposed operating strategy at AuKing and Orion’s Cloncurry Gold Project.

“As one of the historically highest-grade gold mines in Australia, the opportunity to work in joint venture with the current Tick Hill owners is very compelling for AuKing,” he said.

“The intended establishment of early cashflows from this joint venture provides AuKing with the ability to establish its credentials with the Cloncurry Gold Project and allows for the development of other projects in the portfolio (such as Mount Freda) to be funded for the future.”

Located about 120km south-east of Mount Isa, the former Tick Hill mine produced 534,000 ounces of gold from 665,000 tonnes of ore at an average grade of 25g/t Au between August 1991 and February 1994.

The Tick Hill joint venture’s feasibility work is underpinned by a prefeasibility study released in June 2020 by the previous project owner, Carnaby Resources.

That study confirmed the technical and economic viability of a proposed mining and toll treatment operation targeting the remnant tailings and other near-surface materials at Tick Hill.

It was based on a gold price assumption of $2300/oz, which is less than half the current spot price.

AuKing this year ordered a preliminary economic assessment of the key findings of that study and this concluded that the proposed tailings retreatment at Tick Hill was technically and financially viable.

It also points to the fact that additional lower-grade gold-bearing tailing material at Tick Hill not included in the 2020 PFS may now be economic.

AuKing said the PEA contained recommendations that study work should be undertaken to assess the re-establishment of mining operations at the historical Tick Hill open pit.

The independent assessment noted that the higher-grade material extracted from the open pit (as compared to the tailings material) created a very attractive proposition in terms of potential economic returns but required a larger investment to support the final investment decision.

The joint venture parties are looking into the best processing solution for material from Tick Hill, with options including the Lorena plant that is part of the Cloncurry Gold Project.