Ramelius managing director Mark Zeptner said it was pleasing to have finally obtained the full ore haulage approvals for the high-grade Penny mine, which should allow site stockpiles to be cleared and mine production to start by June 30, in what promised to be the best quarter for the financial year.
Ore from Penny was hauled to the nearby Mount Magnet processing plant for blending with ore from both underground and open pit sources at Mt Magnet.
That haul road was upgraded by Main Roads WA recently, with Ramelius receiving final approval to use larger 100 tonne capacity road trains on the road this week.
Zeptner said a haulage schedule had been established to target high-grade stocks at the mine by the end of June 2023, which allowed for the existing stockpile as well as mine production during the quarter.
"The likelihood of adding significantly to our cash and gold balance by June 30 is something that we very much look forward to following a period of re-investment," he said.
"In addition, our exploration and resource development teams continue to hit high-grade material at Bartus East, which confirms similar wide, high-grade intercepts to those received late last year."
Zeptner said the Mt Finnerty joint venture with Westar Resources was also looking more and more interesting with additional high-grade hits.
He said geologists were beginning to understand the controls to the mineralisation.
Operations at Penny are scheduled to move into full production during the second half of the 2022-23 financial year.