Brightstar

Brightstar Gamma is a gold bearing orebody that has been mined as an open pit at the Brightstar Gold Mine situated 35 kilometres south east of Laverton in Western Australia. It had been mined by A1 Minerals Limited, an exploration and mining company that was acquired by Chinese based mining company Stone Resources through its fully owned subsidiary Stone Resources Australia Limited.

Brightstar Gamma Gold Deposit Exists on Native Title Land
A1 Minerals Limited commenced production at the Brightstar Gold Mine in December 2009. The mine is situated on land that is owned under native title by the Wongatha indigenous people. The Wongatha people have allowed mining to take place on their land under an agreement that they become shareholders in A1 Minerals Limited and they be fully consulted regarding their consent, before any mining takes place on any of the tenements. A1 Minerals Limited agreed to protect all Aboriginal sites they may encounter during their mining activities and offer training and employment opportunities to their people.

CPC Engineering Win Contract to Refurbish Brightstar Gold Treatment Plant
A1 Minerals Limited acquired the Mikado gold mining operation in 2005 from Deep Yellow Limited, a deposit that had been briefly mined in the early 1900's. In 2008 A1 Minerals Limited purchased a used gold processing plant in Kalgoorlie and had it moved to its Brightstar gold mining project. CPC Engineering were given the job of refurbishind the gold processing plant and in 2009 all government approvals were granted to the company to allow it to proceed with its Brightstar gold mining operation.

Brightstar Gamma Gold Deposit Developed After Alpha and Delta Open Pits
When the Brightstar Gold Mine began production it started with the Alpha and Beta open pits, other gold deposits such as the Brightstar Gamma, Epsilon, Delta, Theta, Eta and Zeta were listed as prospects to be mined at a future date. Gold production from the Brighstar Mine began in May 2010 with 2,700 ounces being produced in the second quarter of the same year.

Brightstar Mine Gold Production Unable to Reach Targets
The Brightstar Gold Mine was unfortunately unable to reach its production target of 2,500 ounces of gold a month, in fact it only produced 702 ounces in April 2011. This caused A1 Minerals Limited to enter into a trading halt three months later, in July, while it sought further funding. This came when international mining company, Stone Resources, acquired the troubled A1 Minerals Limited. At the A1 Minerals Limited annual general meeting in 2011 the shareholders accepted the acquisition and its name change to Stone Resources Australia Limited.

Stone Resources Australia Up-grade Gold Treatment Mill at Brightstar Mine
Stone Resources upgraded the 300,000 tonnes of ore a year gold treatment mill in the first half of 2012. It also has a gold room, laboratory and mining camp. The Brightstar gold deposits, of which Brightstar Gamma, is one, stretch out over a strike length of more than 110 kilometres to the north and east of the mining town of Laverton.

Brightstar Gamma Gold Deposit on Care and Maintenance
Until 2012 Stone Resources Australia undertook a thorough diamond drilling
exploration program with a focus on as broad a coverage as possible. It also included drilling to depth at the Beta open pit situated close to the company's gold treatment plant as well as the Alpha Pit as both pits had performed well under the management of A1 Minerals Limited but had never been drilled to any real depth. The Brightstar Gold Mine currently remains on care and maintenance.
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