The mine has grown from 12 employees to 45 since Arete Capital Partners acquired 100 per cent of controlling interest from Canadian-based owner, Kirkland Lake Gold, for an undisclosed amount last year.

“We’ve hired drillers, technical staff and staff for other roles,” the mine’s general manager Troy Cole said.

The recommencement will focus on an exploration project of the east flank of the mine – an area which has not previously been worked on. It will also assist with the aim to strengthen the geological understanding of that area of the mine.

Northern Grampians Mayor Tony Driscoll said the exploration works were a positive move.

“Already we are seeing an increase in the number of people employed on-site which provides immediate economic benefits for the wider Northern Grampians Shire community,” he said. 

Mr Cole said to explore the mine, the team would be required to use development blasting for further exploration drilling at 343RL. Development blasting is used to construct the underground access tunnels. He said the blasting might cause some people to feel vibrations depending on the location of the blasting, the type of blasting and other variables.

He said the vibration was caused by the release of energy from an explosive as it was detonated. Each hole is timed to detonate in a sequence so the vibrations can cancel each other out.

He said the resulting vibrations from each firing did not continue for more than 10 seconds because the mine has strict regulations.

Stawell Gold Mines will provide a recommendation to shareholders in 12 months’ time, discussing whether it was economically viable to continue to mine.

“Longer term, we are hopeful that there is sufficient gold levels that make it a viable option for the mine to commence full operations once again,” Cr Driscoll said.