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REFINING THE GOLD STANDARD abcrefinery.com

Wiluna reawakens

by Fraser Palamara

n 1892, during an expedition into our dusty country’s unknowns,
Iexplorer Lawrence Wells happened upon a discovery of gold.
This gold heralded a glimpse into the future of the Wiluna mine,
which continues to live on many years after Wells made his
chance find.
Wiluna has proven a challenging beast for many of its owners
over the past 129 years, including Barrack Mines, Asarco Gold,
Newmont Australia, Oxiana and Apex Minerals.
Seasoned mining veteran Milan Jerkovic first fell into the Wiluna
rabbit hole as a non-executive director with Blackham Resources,
which has since rebranded as Wiluna Mining Corp.
Milan Jerkovic
Jerkovic is now executive chair of the company and is leading
efforts to restore the mine to its former glory.
“We’re halfway through a fairly substantial transformation phase,” Jerkovic said the company also had plans to pierce renewable
Jerkovic told GMJ. energy opportunities.
“We have spent 12 months repairing the balance sheet, coming “There’s a whole bunch of things happening in the mining industry
up with a better plan and putting funding in – resetting the team. to make it more socially responsible, but to also stay ahead of the
pack when it comes to technology,” he said.
“Blackham had too much debt, short, dated plans. We renamed
the company Wiluna Mining to come back to its roots.” “We’re doing a study for when we fund Stage 2 to get at least 50%
renewable penetration without gas.
Jerkovic and his team have imposed an ambitious upgrade to
mining capacity upon themselves, aiming to increase from “Wiluna has great conditions for wind and solar – sunny during
60,000 ozpa to 120,000 ozpa. the day and windy at night.”
“Our geologists are convinced they can draw up another 5-7 moz As a European expat who grew up in Geelong, Jerkovic is aware
of gold here at 5-7 g/t,” Jerkovic said. of Wiluna’s potential to grow in stature abroad.
“The historical mining grade here was 6-8 g/t. Once we start The company signed up to an offtake agreement with Polymetal
drilling the virgin areas, we expect the grade to increase. At that International last year, which is currently building a pressure
scale, you’re talking about a Tier-1 mine in a Tier-1 location – vessel for gold treatment in Vladivostok on Russia’s east-coast.
they’re company makers. “That’s the largest pressure vessel for gold in the world that’s
“In achieving this, we’ll probably need 3-4 operation declines at been commissioned now, that will be fully operational in 2023,”
any one time to grow at about that rate.” Jerkovic explained.
The company is currently using six drill rigs and will keep “We are also doing test work in St Petersburg and we’re co-
that momentum into August when it will move three of them operating with them on the potential construction of the vessel
underground. A feasibility study is due in November, backing up maybe 5-10 years down the track here.
the ambitious capacity upgrade. “All of our shareholders are basically in the UK and Europe. In
Meanwhile, a concentrator on site is over halfway built and is fact, we’re heading towards a listing over there later this year,
slated for commissioning in July. because our shareholders want us listed over there. That is about
halfway through its process right now.”
Despite the long list of objectives, Jerkovic was all smiles
recounting the company’s progress since rebranding. Wiluna is the first company outside of Russia to ink such an
alliance with Polymetal.
“From everything we set out to do last year when we raised
capital in April…we’ve exceeded expectations,” he said. “Our Jerkovic speaks passionately about Wiluna, the same way Wells
drilling results have produced better volumes, our reserves have the explorer would have at the turn of the last century.
been higher than we expected. “The reason I like Wiluna is because it has scale,” Jerkovic said.
“We’ve been focusing on the cash flow, not the ounces, in this “It’s in a first-world country, it’s in the northern end of the largest
transition. Rather than focusing on just ounces at any cost. The gold system in the world…really now, it’s about being patient and
ounces will come later.” getting the work done.”

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