Black Cat Syndicate has commenced ore mining at the Myhree open pit, part of its wholly owned Kal East Gold Project located to the east of the mining centre of Kalgoorlie-Boulder, Western Australia (WA).

The first ore was mined ahead of schedule.

In May 2024, Black Cat announced a turnkey, development and processing package with Mineral Mining Services (MMS) pertaining to the Myhree/Boundary open pits.

The agreement covers all funding, personnel and equipment management, with the ore to be processed at the Paddington processing facility.

Mining operations at the two-stage Myhree project have been progressing, with the site set-up completed, personnel onboarded, and 24-hour operations initiated on 25 July 2024.

The stockpiled ore is on track to be transported to the Paddington processing facility in September 2024, with the open pits expected to be mined and processed over approximately 18 months.

The open-pit ore reserves at Myhree/Boundary were initially calculated based on a gold price of A$2,500 ($1,632) per ounce. However, the mine design is currently being re-optimised to reflect the prevailing gold prices.

After the recovery of start-up costs, Black Cat Syndicate will receive the first $30m of cash flow generated from the project.

Subsequently, profits will be shared between Black Cat and MMS, as per their agreement.

Black Cat managing director Gareth Solly said: "This is a significant milestone for Black Cat and it is only fitting that first ore was mined from Myhree, the company’s inaugural discovery back in 2019. MMS is making excellent progress both on a safety and productivity front in developing Myhree/Boundary, with 24-hour load and haul operations under way and ore stockpile construction under way.

“Having commenced underground development at Paulsens and first ore mining at Kal East, we are only a gold pour away from being rerated from an explorer to a producer.”

Kal East is hosted in the Kurnalpi Terrane, part of the Norseman-Wuiluna Archean Greenstone Belt.