White Rock Minerals Limited announced that it has successfully re-commissioned the gold processing plant at its Morning Star Underground Gold Mine in Victoria. Three campaigns treating existing low-grade gold stockpiles have now been completed, with name-plate throughputs between 7 and 9 tph achieved, treating approximately 1,700 tonnes of material. White Rock recovered gold concentrate during these campaigns to produce gold doré bars for sale.

This is a major milestone for the Company, which now joins the ranks of ASX listed old producers. White Rock's primary objective at the Morning Star Gold Mine is a low capital cost restart of gold production from multiple reef locations. Initial gold production was delivered on time in Third Quarter 2022 with further gold dore to now continue as more higher-grade gold reefs are mined and processed through the gold processing plant.

Morning Star's existing infrastructure (shaft, headframe and winder, dewatering system and off-shaft development), and a functional gold processing plant has provided White Rock a rapid pathway to gold production. This allows the Company to leapfrog many of the issues associated with a company going from explorer to producer - the time to achieve the necessary approvals and permits, supply chain challenges, ordering and delivering long lead times, and cost inflation and construction risks. With the successful completion of this commissioning step, gold processing will now swing onto the higher-grade gold feed material recently mined and delivered to surface.

High-grade gold material will now be fed through the gold processing plant after the recent re-commencement of underground mining activities, focusing on the McNally Reef on 7 and 8 Level, and on the Dickenson Reef on 4 Level. Pre-production development underground is also seeing activities to access other potential high-grade gold-bearing reefs being the Exhibition Reef and Stacpoole Reef above 4 Level, identified from the recent and substantive diamond drilling campaign. Drilling has also identified a fifth potential reef for exploitation above 9 Level being the Whitelaw's North Reef.

White Rock will commence access to this reef in 2023 once the other reefs have been established for production. White Rock has ordered new equipment to improve the productivity of the mining operations underground, given that multiple reefs are now available for mining across numerous levels. This new equipment includes two new rocker shovels from South Africa and plans to order two electric locomotives to haul ore wagons, one to operate on 4 Level and one on 9 Level.

This will improve productivity and haulage cycle times, reduce manual labour and contribute to minimising the site's carbon footprint. White Rock continues to attract high-quality skilled personnel to allow around the clock underground activities. A further 12 personnel have joined the team over the last month, bolstering the underground workforce.

Key support roles including two chefs and an OHS safety trainer have also been recruited to join the team on site. It is expected that workforce numbers will rise from 37 currently to around 60 employees once operations are in full production over the next 6 months, focusing on underground miners and labourers. The gold processing plant workforce also will increase to nine as the plant gains operating momentum as more high-grade material is brought to the surface for processing.