Wedoany.com Report-Aug. 12, Vertex Minerals has provided an update on its Reward gold mine project in Australia, announcing the completion of the first blast of gold-producing ore from the Lady Belmore Reef. This ore will be used to enhance the existing low-grade gold stockpile currently being processed at the Gekko gravity processing plant until full-scale mining operations are fully established.

The mine is projected to achieve up to 95% recovery by gravity processes only.

The company is set to begin processing high-grade stope ore from the underground mine in the coming weeks. The Reward underground transformer substation, which converts electricity from 11 kilovolt-amps to 1,000 volts, has been successfully brought online. Additionally, cabling to the primary fan is complete, and access drives to the two starter stopes are being prepared to facilitate drilling of the high-grade stopes.

Decline 3, developed on the Mica Vein, has been fully dewatered and is now ready for flatback mining, which will provide further gold feed to the gravity plant. Vertex's mining strategy includes developing at least four mining fronts using various mining methods to ensure a continuous feed to the plant. The Reward gold mine currently holds a resource estimate of 225,000 ounces of gold at a grade of 16.7 grams per tonne (g/t).

The start-up mining schedule involves extracting 2,075 tonnes of ore at 17.8 g/t gold from a developed airleg stope block, with the stope width matching the mineralization interpretation. While extraction will take some time, the Vertex geology and mining team plans to expedite the process by advancing a high-grade long hole stope, expected to begin mining this month using the Epiroc Production Rig.

The mine is projected to achieve a recovery rate of up to 95% through gravity processing alone, showcasing the potential of the gold system, which spans more than 25 kilometers in strike length. In February, Vertex began commissioning a newly installed ore sorter/pre-concentrator at its Hill End Gold plant at the Reward mine, further enhancing the project's efficiency.