Saracen Mineral Holdings acquired TBO in 2014 and commenced commercial production in 2016. TBO includes the Thunderbox Project (comprised of the Thunderbox, Rainbow and Otto Bore gold deposits), the Kailis Project (comprised of the Kailis Stage 1 & 2 gold deposits), the Bannockburn Project (comprised of the Bannockburn and North Well gold deposits) and the Waterloo Project (comprised of the Waterloo and Amorac nickel deposits).
The Thunderbox processing facility has an annual capacity of 2.5 Mtpa and incorporates a single-stage crusher, a SAG mill and a ball mill as well as conventional CIL leaching and elution circuits.
TBO is located in the highly prospective Yandal Belt and the Agnew-Wiluna Belt in the North Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia. The Thunderbox Operations are centred on the Thunderbox Open Pit and CIL gold treatment plant; located 45km south of the town of Leinster in Western Australia and immediately adjacent to the sealed Goldfields Highway.
The Thunderbox deposit comprises three main mineralised zones, termed A, C, and D, over a strike length of 1.5km. Thunderbox mineralisation is hosted in an intermediate intrusive porphyry, in the hangingwall of the Thunderbox Shear Zone. The shear zone is over 200m wide and the mineralisation is predominantly confined to the intrusive porphyry, which is up to 80m in width.
Production and GrowthGold production in the near term will be principally sourced from the Thunderbox C Zone open pit; As production in C Zone comes to completion, production in D Zone will increase. Production will also be sourced from the developing Thunderbox underground mine and various stockpiles.
Saracen’s business plan for TBO over the next 2 years includes: