Native Mineral Resources says its newly acquired Black Jack processing plant is in better shape than expected as it accelerates plans to break into gold production in North Queensland.

The company inked a deal this month to acquire the processing plant along with the Far Fanning and Black Jack deposits and other assets in the Charters Towers region for $18.9 million.

NMR has engaged Mining Associates to oversee a drilling program starting this week at Far Fanning, where it aims to upgrade the inferred mineral resource estimate of 2.3Mt at 1.84g/t gold for 138,000oz gold.

Related: NMR builds war chest to advance new gold assets

The company has also engaged Ausenco and specialised contractors to perform a thorough assessment of the mothballed Black Jack plant, which it described as being in better condition than initially anticipated.

It said it was completing a detailed evaluation of key components to ensure they met operational standards and were prepared for refurbishment.

NMR has initiated remediation works of administration buildings as well as installing security measures and site fencing.

NMR believes the newly acquired projects have the potential to be in production in late 2025 and it is exploring several fundraising pathways to bring Far Fanning and Black Jack back into production.

“Since announcing our acquisition of this project in early November and following completion of the placement last week, we are accelerating our work as we look to leverage the advanced status of the Far Fanning and Black Jack projects to transform the company into an emerging Queensland gold producer in 2025,” NMR managing director Blake Cannavo said.

“Far Fanning’s stockpiled material and existing JORC 2012 MRE provides us with a strong foundation on which to achieve this goal and we are excited about its potential.

“While completing drilling that aims to upgrade the confidence in the MRE, we are also sampling stockpiled material onsite, which will then be crushed, screened and sorted, and has potential to be processed at Black Jack processing plant.

“We are also undertaking a full assessment of infrastructure at Black Jack processing plant, including the plant and buildings, to determine if this can be refurbished or replaced in a timely manner to help support our gold production goals.”