Golden Grove mine life extension: planning and scheduling notes for engineers
Reviewed by Tom Sullivan

First reported on Australian Mining
30 Second Briefing
29Metals has reported strong final results from its 2025 resource definition drilling program at the Golden Grove copper–zinc operation in Western Australia, extending mine life and supporting plans to lift underground production rates. Drilling targeted the Gossan Hill and Scuddles lenses, with step-out holes confirming down-plunge continuity of high-grade massive sulphide mineralisation beyond current reserve envelopes. The results support updated JORC resource and reserve estimates in 2025, giving mine planners greater confidence for long-hole stoping schedules, ventilation upgrades and potential mill throughput optimisation.
Technical Brief
- Massive sulphide intersections confirm mineralisation persists beyond current stope designs at depth and along strike.
- Updated models will directly influence long-hole stoping geometry, sequencing and crown pillar retention strategies.
- Ventilation planning will be revised for deeper mining horizons, affecting primary fans, raises and intake–return circuits.
- Mill circuit debottlenecking and throughput changes will be evaluated against revised ore blend forecasts from new lenses.
Our Take
Within our 1215 Mining stories, Western Australian base‑metal underground operations like Golden Grove feature frequently in discussions of seismicity and geotechnical risk, so the timing and design of the 2025 drilling program will matter for both resource growth and ground‑control modelling around existing stopes.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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