Mining operations began in March and since then, a substantial portion of overburden has been removed, with CMC excavating 400,000 cubic metres of soil in the month of June alone.

The tailings dam and all associated site infrastructure (except the processing plant) are also largely completed, and dewatering activities are progressing past expectations.

“The dewatering results after three months of continuous pumping, from only three wells, are exceeding our expectations,” Havilah managing director Chris Giles said.

“It is a great tribute to the CMC and Havilah teams that after a busy start-up, the mining operation is now performing smoothly.”

Though not part of the original plan, CMC commissioned a second mining fleet onsite to give operations some added flexibility and accelerate activities if required.

The fleet includes a second Hitachi EX2500 250 tonne excavator and a second lot of five 100 tonne dump trucks. Also onsite as part of the first fleet are two Caterpillar 637 scrapers, two Cat D10T dozers and three water trucks plus support equipment.

With the JV settling into a steady routine and Giles confident that everything is proceeding accordingly, it’s likely the pair will achieve its ambitious target of starting production in July next year.

Havilah’s Portia mine has a JORC inferred resource of 720,000t at 2.9 grams per tonne gold for 67,000 ounces of contained gravity recoverable gold and a mine life of 18 months.

The mining plan is based on an optimised pit design that aims to recover at least 80% of the resource.

According to the JV’s funding and mining contract, which has CMC bear the cost of delivering the gold ore to surface for processing, revenue from the Portia project will be split 50:50 between Havilah and CMC.