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Thailand

Chatree Mine

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Overview

Mine TypeOpen Pit
StatusActive
Commodities
  • Gold
  • Silver
Mining Method
  • Truck & Shovel / Loader
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SnapshotKingsgate Consolidated Limited officially reopened the Chatree Gold Mine in March 2023 following approval by the Department of Primary Industries and Mines in Thailand.

Between restart in March 2023 to 29 November 2023 were produced approximately 27,000 ounces of gold and 290,000 ounces of silver from low-grade stockpiles.

16 October, 2023 - mining operations have started in the A Pit West at the Chatree Gold Mine. Initial works are focussing on mining approximately 200,000 tonnes of broken waste rock and ore that remained when Chatree was closed at the end of 2016.

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnership
Akara Resources Public Company Ltd. (operator) 100 % Direct
Kingsgate Consolidated Ltd. 100 % Indirect
Akara Resources, Kingsgate’s wholly owned Thai subsidiary owns and operates the Chatree gold mine.

Contractors

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Deposit type

  • Epithermal
  • Vein / narrow vein

Summary:

The geology of the host rocks and the mineralisation is exposed in the open pit mines in the Chatree leases and the area has been the subject of a number of geological investigations commissioned by Akara.

In the mine area, the host volcanic sequence comprises four main units. The basal unit is dominated by andesite lavas and breccias, containing dacite dome complexes. This is followed by a thick sequence dominated by andesitic breccia. Overlying this is a largely sedimentary package with interfingering rhyolitic breccias. The uppermost unit in the mine area is a lithic rich fiamme breccia. As the lithologies interfinger, the locations of some unit boundaries in core, and especially in chips, are not always clear. All units are cut by dykes, predominantly andesitic, and typically less than 10 metres wide.

Mineralisation
Epithermal gold deposits, such as those at Chatree, are generally formed in areas of active volcanism around the margins of continents, and may be associated with “bonanza” or high grade style mineralisation. Mineralisation in such deposits is deposited from hot fluids which are estimated to range in temperatures from less than 100 degrees centigrade to approximately 300 degrees centigrade. The mineralisation contained in these fluids is deposited as they rise to elevated crustal settings and boil, cool or mix with evolved nearsurface waters which oxidise the fluids to promote high grade gold deposition. The fluids usually travel toward the surface via fractures in the rocks and the resulting mineralisation often occurs at the intersection of these fractures and brittle host rocks in layered volcanic sequences.

The gold mineralisation is closely associated with a variety of types of quartz carbonate veins, some of which contain sulphides. They vary in width from millimetres to tens of metres. Significant amounts of silver and very minor amounts of zinc and lead are also associated with the mineralisation. The deposit is classed as low sulphidation epithermal, and sulphides tend to comprise less than 3% of the ore mass (Cumming, et al). Visible gold is rare within the system. Chlorite is common both in the veins and as alteration in the host rock.

The style of quartz carbonate gold mineralisation found at Chatree is common to a number of the most prolific gold producers in the Pacific rim, including Porgera and Misima in Papua New Guinea, Kelian and Mount Muro in Indonesia (Corbett). The variety of low sulphidation epithermal gold deposits all display controls dominated by structure, competent host rocks and efficient mechanisms of Au deposition.

The gold silver ratios vary significantly at different levels of mineralisation (del Carmen, et al).

The largest prospect in terms of the currently defined mineral resource is A Prospect. Here, the sedimentary unit in the middle of the package of volcanics appears to have acted as a favourable rock unit for mineralisation, with the overlying fiamme breccia acting as a lithological trap to fluid movement, due to low permeability and/or competence contrast. The stockworks and sheeted quartz veins which host gold mineralisation are mainly vertical to steeply west dipping and are best developed in the sedimentary unit which itself dips at 20o to the east. Veining outside this unit tends to be sparser in density, but may still contain gold.

At Q Prospect, in the most northern section of the mining leases, the mineralisation is characterised by brecciation of the host silicified sediments, and has been interpreted as including both strata bound and sub-vertical feeder like zones.

In the southern leases, mineralisation tends to be in fewer discrete veins, with fewer stockworks, and in the C and H Pits area the veins dip northwest at 30 to 70.

Barren andesite dykes and some porphyritic dykes crosscut mineralisation. These occur on a number of orientations and vary in width from less than one metre to several tens of metres thick. There are at least two ages of dyke emplacement (del Carmen, et al). Earlier dykes are often altered and may be associated with elevated gold grades, but the majority of dykes are later, barren and do not affect surrounding mineralised grades. The volume of barren dykes can create significant dilution in some mining areas, being 13% to 14% of drill intersections in the A and Q Prospects. Barren crosscutting massive carbonate veins are another source of dilution.

The mineralisation is considered by Akara to be of Early Triassic Age with dating indicating an age of about 251 million years (del Carmen, et al), close to the age of the host volcanic sequence. Mineralised veining is interpreted to have been emplaced into host rocks which had been previously subjected to intense silicification. The silicification has preferentially altered the andesitic breccia and the epiclastic sedimentary rocks, which tend to host mineralisation in the southern and northern portions of the mine leases respectively.

Reserves

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Mining Methods

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Comminution

Crushers and Mills

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Processing

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Production

FY 2023: The Chatree Gold Mine reopened in March 2023. Low-grade stockpiles were processed.
CommodityUnits202320172016
Gold oz  ....  Subscribe89,87597,510
Silver oz  ....  Subscribe
All production numbers are expressed as metal in doré.

Operational metrics

Metrics202320172016
Annual processing capacity  ....  Subscribe
Tonnes processed  ....  Subscribe2,773 kt5,515 kt
Stripping / waste ratio  ....  Subscribe0.9 2.5
Ore tonnes mined  ....  Subscribe2,589 kt3,168 kt

Production Costs

CommodityUnits2017
Total cash costs Gold USD 549 / oz  

Financials

Units20232017
Revenue M USD  ....  Subscribe 191.5  
Pre-tax Income M USD 39.5  
EBIT M USD  ....  Subscribe
EBITDA M USD  ....  Subscribe 90.7  

Heavy Mobile Equipment

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Personnel

Mine Management

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Aerial view:

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