History

History

Discovery

Gold mineralisation at Hog Ranch was first discovered in 1980 as part of a Joint Venture between Noranda Exploration and Ferret Exploration. After a few years of exploration and economic analysis by Ferret Exploration, a consortium made up of Western Goldfields, Geomax (Parent Company of Ferret Exploration) and Royal Resources ultimately provided the funding to commence gold production in 1986 via open pit mining and heap leach methods under the name of Western Hog Ranch Inc.

Historical Mining

Ore production was from 1985 to 1992. After approximately 18 months of production, the Property was subsequently sold to Western Mining Corporation (WMC), who purchased 100% of Hog Ranch in early 1988.  During that time the average gold price was US$394 per ounce. At the end of 1992 the gold price had fallen to US$333 per ounce and mining was terminated.

Ore was mined from six pits namely Bells, East, Krista, Geib, 139 and West. The total production from those pits was 7.7 million tonnes at 1.23 grams per tonne. The Bells pit had the highest grade of 1.41 grams per tonne. Gold was recovered by heap leach with historical recoveries of 80%. Approximately 200,000 ounces was produced.

Site rehabilitation was completed in 1994.