Wombola pit

The Wombola Pit gold mine is situated in the Kalgoorlie terrane sub- division of the mineral rich Eastern goldfields. The mine is located approximately 50 kilometres south east of Kalgoorlie along the Mount Monger Road. The Mount Monger Road is sealed for the first 15 kilometres out of Kalgoorlie although the remaining 35 kilometres is an all weather road and passable all year. The Mount Monger project area covers 1,728 square kilometres of surrounding country. Features of the project are as follows:

• Gold mineralisation at the Wombola Pit is contained to a depth of 50 metres. It consists of a series of rather steep north west dipping quartz veins hosted in dolerite rock.

• The Wombola deposit is within mining leases that had been mined in the 1980's. During this time 87,000 tones were removed from the site bearing 2.9 grams a tonne producing a total of 8,000 ounces.

• Metallurgical tests prior to mining showed the ore to be free milling. Especially suited for processing at the Silver Lake Resources, Lakewood Gold Processing Facility (LGPF) 40 kilometres from the mine site.

• The Lakewood Mill has been upgraded. This enabled it to handle one million tonnes annually.

• Silver Lake is planning to produce 200,000 ounces of gold by 2014. At its Mount Monger operations from its many open pit and underground mines.

• The Wombola Pit has a JORC gold resource of 460,000 tonnes returning 2.9 grams a tonne which will produce 42,300 ounces of gold. This compares with the whole Mount Monger JORC resources of over five million tonnes of ore grading at 8.9 grams a tonne that is expected to return 1.5 million ounces of gold.

Historical Workings Stayed Close to the Surface
Historic workings in the area around the Wombola Pit show that the field followed a shallow alluvial cover leading to a natural drainage channel. Early miners exploited sub-cropping mineralisation with no mine extending to any depth greater than 80 metres from the surface. Their main aim was to concentrate on near surface oxidised mineralisation that lent itself to open pit mining methods. In doing this they missed ore grades of 10 grams per tonne that lay at a greater depth.

Greater Rewards at Greater Depths Missed
In 2003 a mining company initiated a study of the Mount Monger gold field that identified potential targets that hosted between two million and 4.5 million ounces of gold in nine different zones down to a depth of 500 metres. However, it was never followed up on.
At one time there were 25 mine workings taking place on the Mount Monger tenements many of them either small underground or shallow open pit operations. Very little exploration took place at depths greater than 50 metres. The Mount Monger gold field therefore remained unconsolidated with numerous players taking part along the various tenements.

Silver Lake Resources Acquired the Tenements in 2007
A public company acquired the Daisy Milano Mine in 2003 and soon consolidated the entire Mount Monger gold field by buying out the various prospectors who were independently working their various claims. Silver Lake Resources acquired these Mount Monger tenements in late 2007 and immediately began production at the Daisy Milano Mine. The company
purchased the Lakewood Gold Processing Facility at the same time and began a four month upgrading of the plant. In mid 2010 Silver Lake Resources acquired the North Monger leases from Cortona Resources and the Wombola Pit Mine was born. Surface mining commenced and is currently still operating.
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