Rio Tinto reveals new gold resource in WA

Rio Tinto has announced that it has made a promising gold discovery two kilometres east of the Winu copper-gold deposit in Western Australia.

Study work to date suggests the copper mineralisation supports the development of a relatively shallow open-pit mine, combined with industry-standard processing technology that is used at other Rio Tinto sites.

The discovery of a new zone of gold dominant mineralisation approximately 2 km east of the Winu deposit, at a prospect called Ngapakarra, as well as a number of other encouraging drilling results in close proximity to the maiden Winu Resource, provides further encouragement about the potential for the development of multiple ore bodies within one system.

“We’re taking a more agile and innovative approach at Winu, and are working on the studies for a small-scale, start-up operation focused on Winu’s higher-grade core as we take another step towards commercialising this deposit,” said Stephen McIntosh, Rio Tinto Group Executive of Growth & Innovation and Health, Safety & Environment (HSE). “We are also assessing options for future expansion in the Paterson region given the extent of mineralisation identified to date and our large land package.

“The additional exploration results reported today support our view that there is potential to develop the Paterson region into a large-scale operation over time through both our 100% owned tenements and joint ventures.

“We’ve so far carried out exploration activity in just 2% of our tenements in the region and we’re building on this discovery at Winu with further encouraging results.”

A copy of the full announcement to the ASX is available on Rio Tinto's website at riotinto.com/invest/financial-news-performance/resources-and-reserves.

Image: Rio Tinto