Red October
Gold Mine
Overview
The Red October underground mine is a complex structurally controlled narrow vein high grade gold deposit located in the Laverton Greenstone Belt which hosts a number of world class and emerging gold mines with resources of >25M oz gold, including Sunrise Dam, Mt Morgans, Butchers Well, Granny Smith, Wallaby and Fortitude.
First production at Red October commenced as open pit mining in 1999 by Gwalia where the mine produced 539kt @ 6.5g/t for 113koz between 1999 and 2002. The operation moved underground in 2012 under Saracen, and Matsa between 2018 and 2021, and has since produced in excess of 1.8Mt @ 6.1g/t for 342koz up to Matsa suspending production in 2021.
The project area at Red October covers 44km2 and consists of six granted Mining Leases (ML’s), an extensive well-maintained underground mine, a 68-person camp, offices, workshops and exploration base, wet and dry messes, underground mine equipment.
Production has been suspended whilst the company is evaluating a potential whole of mine approach to exploration, development and production options. A JORC resource of 244,000oz @ 5.6g/t Au currently exists at the Red October underground mine and there is firm belief in Matsa that this number can increase with additional exploration.
Exploration
Historical and recent drilling results highlight the exploration potential that still remains at Red October, where economic type grades have been widely intersected both along strike of the main ROSZ lode as well as the parallel mineralised structures such as Lionfish (to the west) and Marlin (to the east) lodes. To the north recent development by Matsa and limited drilling at the Costello lode could provide a shallow near term mining option with further work.
Exploration drilling targets include the traditional mining areas such as the Marlin and ROSZ as well as the recently targeted Lionfish, Dory & Nemo lodes.
In the resource drilling space, with 635kt @ 5.4g/t of resources sitting in the Inferred category it is expected that drilling can be completed to upgrade these Resources to Indicated and Measured categories, however the strategic outlook is to grow the resource first, the results which will feed into a whole of mine development and mining study.
Recently the Costello lode (349kt @ 4.0g/t for 45koz) was added to the Mineral Inventory which has the potential to provide an additional mining front to Lionfish and Marlin mining fronts. The Costello lode remains open to the north as well as up and down dip.
Project Economics
Matsa, via external consultants, is reviewing existing resources and known mineralisation to produce a conceptual mining inventory using MSO. The results of this study will provide the company with the information necessary to implement a robust and cohesive exploration and development strategy for Red October. The mine remains dewatered in a ready state to recommence operations.
