Northern Star Resources has approved a long-awaited $1.5 billion expansion to its Fimiston Mill in the Western Australian Goldfields, paving the way for the miner to join the world's top five gold producers.
The expansion of the mill, which forms part of Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines' (KCGM) Super Pit, a subsidiary of Northern Star, is expected to more than double Fimiston's processing capacity from 13 million tonnes a year to 27 million.
The self-funded expansion is already underway and is due to be completed in 2026.
Northern Star managing director Stuart Tonkin said the expansion was the next step in maximising the mine's processing capabilities.
"This is absolutely a historic new chapter for these tier one assets and it culminated from the efforts to consolidate it through the joint venture and in the merger with Saracen," he said.
"Now it's time to evaluate the opportunities."
Northern Star Resources CEO Stuart Tonkin at the Fimiston Mill.(ABC Goldfields: Jarrod Lucas)
The 35-year-old Fimiston Mill has struggled to meet the output of operations in the area, which includes a backlog of about 120 million tonnes of pre-mined ore, estimated to hold about 3 million ounces of gold.
However, chief technical officer Steven McClare said the stockpile would be a "key feed source" for the new mill and provide certainty for the miner.
"If we stopped mining today, we could process that material and it would take more than nine years to actually get through that stockpile," he said.
"As we are continuing to mine in the open pit and underground, that stockpile continues to build."
He said production across the Goldfields would ramp up from 2027 to 2028 in order for Northern Star to reach its target of 27 million tonnes a year by 2029.
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