ASX-listed Pacgold has poured first gold and produced its maiden gold doré bar at the White Dam gold project, in South Australia’s Olary province.

The company delivered the first gold doré within five months of it acquiring and refurbishing the existing plant and mine facilities on site.

The achievement represents a significant milestone in Pacgold’s execution of its Phase 1 restart strategy for the White Dam heap leach operation.

The maiden gold doré bar weighed about 3 kg for an estimated 80 oz of gold, which has been shipped to Perth Mint Refinery for completion of final refining and subsequent sale.

This first cash flow anticipated from the gold sale will effectively complete Pacgold’s transition from explorer to producer and provide Pacgold with cash flow to fund growth activities on site.

“As we continue to ramp up production and optimize the heap leach circuits, we look forward to increasing the frequency and size of our gold pours in the coming months with the return from the first 40 000 t parcel of re-crushed ore now expected within three weeks, and then a further 200 000 t by late May.

“We are very well financed going forward to deliver on our promised goals and will continue to deliver milestones as we grow,” confirms MD Matthew Boyes.

The Pacgold team is now focused on achieving gold production from previously uncrushed material, with the company continuing its ramp-up of re-crushing and leaching to a targeted 90 000 t a month.

Ore leaching will continue unabated as the majority of the plant refurbishment is now complete, with the exception of the construction of one final new CIC column to complete the return to full capacity of the circuit.

Design work is ongoing on the proposed pad expansion area with engineers from highly experienced North American group NewFields carrying out the design work.

The company expects this work to be completed by late July, after which the company will tender for the construction and liner installation works.

Additionally, Boyes says vertigo deposit resource drilling is now complete, with final assays awaited and scheduled to arrive over the coming week.

Once all data is collated, Pacgold will complete and publish an updated resource and mine design as part of the planned expansion to full production in 2027.