Native Mineral Resources has restarted mining at its Blackjack site near Charters Towers, where drill, blast and mining operations are underway at the Blackjack South open pit.

The company said four blasts had been completed at Blackjack since the start of 2026, with the next blast scheduled for tomorrow.

“The restart of mining at Blackjack on April 9 is a significant step forward for the company,” Native Mineral Resources (ASX: NMR) managing director and chief executive officer Blake Cannavo said.

“During the mining pause since October 2025, we have been highly productive, completing extensive RC drilling, updating our geological models and refining our pit designs across Blackjack, Podosky and Far Fanning to position NMR for improved operational performance.

“With Blackjack Stage 2a now underway and Podosky scheduled to commence late April, we expect plant feed grade and gold production to progressively improve as freshly mined ore displaces lower-grade Far Fanning stockpile material in the plant feed blend.

“Beyond near-term production, we continue to advance our approvals, infrastructure and expansion workstreams, and remain focused on building the structured, multi-deposit mining pipeline and plant throughput growth that underpins NMR’s long-term strategy.”

Staged cutbacks are expected to provide Blackjack with a defined mining pathway extending from the initial production phase last year through to Q4 2027.

The company recently secured exclusive rights to extract gold and silver from the Podosky deposit, with ore to be hauled to the company’s Blackjack operations for processing.

Podosky was previously part of NMR’s Ravenswood Gold Project joint venture with Haoma Mining. It recently announced a deal to pay Haoma $4 million in three installments for exclusive mining rights for a 12-month period.

Meanwhile, the company is beginning a raft of improvement works to enhance the safety, operability and performance of the existing Blackjack processing plant.

The package includes a new hopper and relocatable feed conveyor system, a carbon-in-leach diversion and bypass system with associated piping modifications, new access platforms to carbon transfer pumps and raised pump supports with associated pipework modifications in the reagent area.

Design is underway, with construction planned for the third quarter of this year.

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