On 16 June 2026, Aurelia Metals announced the completion of a Prefeasibility Study (PFS) for its New Occidental Tailings Retreatment Project at the Company's Peak Operation near Cobar in central west New South Wales.
The Company also declared a maiden Mineral Resource Estimate of 2.6Mt at 0.65g/t Au and a maiden Ore Reserve Estimate of 2.3Mt at 0.64g/t Au for the New Occidental Tailings stockpiles.
The Project involves reclaiming and retreating two historical gold-bearing dry-stacked tailings stockpiles located approximately 3km north-west of the Peak processing plant. The tailings were originally processed during the late 1980s before being deposited into the stockpiles.
Significantly, the Project leverages existing infrastructure and processing capacity at Peak, including the tertiary ball mill currently being installed as part of the Cobar Optimisation Project. Tailings material will be transported along an existing haul road and processed through the existing carbon-in-leach circuit alongside Pb/Zn ore campaigns.
The Project is forecast to produce approximately 32koz of saleable gold over a 10-year period and has been modelled to deliver a post-tax NPV8 of $42 million using an average gold price of A$5,017/oz and an IRR of 258%.
The retreatment of the historical tailings is also expected to deliver environmental and rehabilitation benefits by reducing long-term rehabilitation requirements at the New Occidental site through relocation of material into the existing Peak Tailings Storage Facility.
Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Bryan Quinn said the Project is a great example of Aurelia's technical and operational teams continuing to unlock additional value from existing infrastructure at Peak.
"The Project capitalises on recent optimisation initiatives, particularly the installation of the tertiary ball mill from Dargues, which creates the opportunity to process the tailings material concurrently with Pb/Zn ore processing campaigns at low incremental capital and operating costs," Bryan explained.
"In addition to generating gold production and cash flow, the Project also delivers rehabilitation and environmental benefits, while the maiden Mineral Resource and Ore Reserve provide another source of operational flexibility within Aurelia's Cobar region strategy.
"Finally, I'd like to acknowledge the significant work from teams across the business in progressing the PFS and supporting today's announcement. Outcomes like this are only possible through strong collaboration and a continued shared commitment to unlocking value across our operations," Bryan concluded.
Aurelia has now gated the Project into the Feasibility Study stage, with detailed engineering and permitting planned for H1 FY27, construction targeted for H2 FY27 and production expected to commence in FY28.
Further Project details are available in the ASX announcement: New Occidental Tailings Prefeasibility Study and Maiden Ore Reserve.