Good morning, everyone, and thank you for your time today for a discussion on the results of the Definitive Feasibility Study for the Katanning Gold Project. We are very pleased with the results of the Definitive Feasibility Study, as it confirms our thesis that the Katanning Gold Project will form the foundation stone to host a regionally significant gold production centre. This study confirms the initial goals we had for Katanning, including a low-risk and technically straightforward project, meaningful production levels with robust cash flows, especially in the early years, and a fulcrum to fully leverage Ausgold's commanding land position on the Katanning Greenstone Belt. The Katanning Gold Project is located approximately 3.5 hours' drive southeast of Perth in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, one of the premier mining jurisdictions in the world.
Ausgold has begun building out its owners' team with key technical, permitting, and financial appointments and assembled a strong roster of experienced consultants to deliver the Katanning DFS. These names will be familiar to listeners and represent significant experience with delivering open-pit gold mines in Western Australia. I would also like to take the opportunity to acknowledge the contribution of Royce McAuslane, along with the team at MineScope Services, who stepped in as Project Director last year to corral the delivery of this study. Turning to some of the key metrics, you can see that Katanning presents as a robust project on a number of important fronts. While I will talk in more detail in later slides, we believe it is important to note that this study has been designed to deliver a credible development-ready opportunity, which is low-risk and resilient across a range of different scenarios.
The mineral resource estimate has been constrained within an economic pit shell at AUD 4,500 per ounce, which is a much more conservative approach compared to the previous estimate, which was only depth constrained. The decision to constrain the resource within a pit shell reflects a desire to present a more appropriate resource for a feasibility stage project. 91 % of the mineral resource estimate is in the measured and indicated classifications, which speaks to the significant amount of drilling—290,000 m in 3,700 holes—which contribute to the resource estimate. The mineral reserve of 1.25 million ounces at 1.11 grams per tonne underwrites a 10-year mine life which, importantly, delivers very strong production levels of over 140,000 ounces for the first four years.
An initial development CapEx spend, including pre-production OpEx, pre-strip, and contingency of AUD 355 million, delivers a 3.6 million tonnes per annum CIL processing facility, which is readily expandable in the event of future exploration success. Production costs are very competitive with current large Australian producers and demonstrate all in sustaining costs in year 1-4 of AUD 2,180 and AUD 2,265 per ounce over the life of mine. These results place Katanning squarely in the lower portion of the second quartile for Australian gold producers. Utilising an Australian dollar gold price of AUD 4,300 per ounce, which is substantially below the current spot price, yields an after-tax net present value of AUD 954 million, an internal rate of return of 53%, and a 13-month payback.
Using a gold price assumption closer to spot of AUD 5,000 per ounce, yields an after-tax NPV of AUD 1.355 billion, an after-tax IRR of 68%, and payback within 12 months. A smooth schedule with significant grade-driven gold production in the first seven years lends itself to rapid payback and an attractive financing opportunity. The schedule in year eight and beyond highlights the key attraction of Katanning as a standalone gold production hub. A fill-the-mill strategy, the ability to readily expand planned throughput, and the potential to displace stockpile feed from the extensive 3,500 sq km tenure package has always been the key driver to Katanning's long-term potential. The strong financial returns for the KGP are driven in the early years by the head grade of 1.31 grams per tonne.
Recovered gold of over 140,000 ounces per annum underwrites an early payback, which we believe greatly enhances the bankability of this project compared to peers. At an assumed Australian gold price of AUD 4,300 per ounce, or $2,795, which conforms to consensus forecasts, the KGP delivers an after-tax NPV of AUD 954 million, which compares favorably to Ausgold's current enterprise value of around AUD 250 million. As I mentioned earlier, the Katanning Gold Project sits comfortably in the second quartile of domestic Australian gold producers amongst a suite of world-class mines which are household names to international mining investors. The production schedule and cost profile drive a robust and resilient project across a broad range of scenarios. We have endeavored to present a credible development opportunity which is appropriately conservative.
Downside risks have been mitigated where possible with several key areas such as pre-production CapEx and mine grades presenting significant opportunities for improvement beyond what is presented today. At a gold price 30% lower than what prevails today, the KGP still generates an internal rate of return of over 30% and significant after-tax cash flows. Significant benefits are expected to flow to stakeholders in the form of wages, taxes, royalties, and importantly, expenditures to local businesses in Katanning and the surrounding region. Development of the KGP envisages the construction of an accommodation village on the outskirts of Katanning to house mine workers. We are working closely with the Shire of Katanning on a site on the outskirts of town. We have initiated forums with local governments and residents to identify and mitigate the impact of developing a large mining enterprise in the region.
In addition, we are keen to continue exploring how we can share the benefits of the project with local traditional owners in the form of training, employment, and contracting opportunities. The updated mineral resource estimate stands at 68.6 million tonnes at 1.11 grams per tonne for a total of 2.44 million ounces. 2.2 million ounces, or 91% of the total, sit within the higher confidence measured and indicated categories. As part of the DFS process, the new management team at Ausgold elected to apply more rigorous constraints to the mineral resource estimate by constraining it within a pit shell. This is considered a more robust approach and more in keeping with a development-ready opportunity as opposed to the RL or depth constraint of the previous mineral resource estimate. It should be noted that the difference in tonnes and ounces has not disappeared.
The excluded resources typically sit within the further lateral extent of the deposits and could be expected to return to future resource estimates in the event of higher prevailing gold prices. Further to the robustness of the resource, the company recently completed an intensive infill drilling program of 90 holes in the central part of the deposit, which indicated the potential for improvements in grade. It should also be noted that the current resource estimate does not incorporate this drilling, nor does it include, due to timing constraints, the successful programs undertaken over the past six months or so in the central and southern zones of the Katanning Gold Project. These results will be included in the next resource update, which is expected early next year. The updated reserve estimates for the Katanning Gold Project stand at 35.2 million tonnes at 1.11 grams per tonne for 1.25 million ounces.
A conservative gold price of AUD 3,000 per ounce was used for the calculation of reserves, which points to the longer-term potential for additions. Mine scheduling has achieved a very even material movement requirement during the key portion of the mine life of around 35 million tonnes per annum and a life-of-mine strip ratio of 6.8. A very high 84% of reserves are classified as proven, which further speaks to the robustness of the project. From a technical perspective, the Katanning Gold Project presents as a straightforward open-pit mining proposition. Processing is conventional and features a single-stage crush, SAG, and ball mill configuration designed to produce 80% passing 75 micron. The design criteria feature a requirement for the consideration of future expandability to provide flexibility for exploration success on the company's large exploration package.
Power for the project is envisaged to be supplied under a standard build-own-operate arrangement with a specialist third-party power supplier. While grid access is a possibility in the future, on-site generation has been selected at this time to minimize the risks of delay. Power will be generated by a gas-solar-battery hybrid configuration, with 42% of the project's power anticipated to be renewable. Permitting for the project is underway, and the design has been managed to minimize disturbance, with key areas of established eucalyptus woodland avoided by the project footprint. The tailings storage facility is integrated with the main waste rock dump to form a single landform, which minimizes the footprint size and enhances post-closure outcomes. Given the location of the KGP in an agricultural region, Ausgold has elected to incorporate an engineered liner for the tailings impoundment and utilize conservative construction angles.
Turning to upside opportunities, there are numerous levers for us to pull on to further improve the compelling economics of the Katanning Gold Project. Resource and reserve additions will be targeted through down-dip and down-plunge extensions in the principal Jinkas-White Dam lodes. As you can see from the long section, there is a significant area of down-plunge mineralization to chase in the central zone. Highlights here include the potential to extend the mineralization and open up an underground frontier. Some of the highest-grade material at the KGP points towards this potential to go underground, with drilling being the limiting factor to date. Following on from the successful infill program earlier this year, we are planning another round of close-space drilling in the December quarter. This has the potential to increase grades and further underwrite confidence in the first two years of production.
Regional drilling will start again in the December quarter, with a focus being on the emerging Zinger Nanicup Bridge area, along with the recently consolidated Kulin Project. Further drilling to define the potential for a high-grade satellite deposit at Datatine, located 4 km from the principal deposit, will also be pursued. Next steps for the Katanning Gold Project include entering the permitting phase, which we are formally commencing this week. Initial briefings with key regulators have been positive, and we look forward to working constructively with stakeholders to deliver a successful modern gold project. Detailed engineering and FEED studies are planned to commence now, with a focus on protecting the critical path. Land access negotiations are ongoing, and a hearing in the Wardens Court for plaints 688801 and 719694 are scheduled for mid-August.
A final investment decision is scheduled to be made in the first half of next year and, following an 18-month construction period, Ausgold is targeting first gold from Katanning in late 2027. I hope that today we've been able to give you a flavor for what the Katanning Gold Project looks like, and with that, I'll open it up to questions.
Thank you. If you wish to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. If you wish to cancel your request, please press star two. If you're on a speakerphone, please pick up the handset to ask your question. Your first question comes from Tim McCormack from Canaccord Genuity. Please go ahead.
Thanks. Morning, guys, and well done on a really solid set of numbers this morning.
I'd like to just tease out a little bit, I guess, obviously, we're kind of going into the financing phase. Just the logic around the extent to which you want to grade control that kind of 18-month to first two years. Is that something that's being driven by the banks and has the appetite for lending money to you guys for this project?
Sure, thanks, Tim. Thanks for calling in. I might tackle the little bit about infill drilling, and then Ben can have a crack at the financing. The infill drilling, the program we did earlier this year, the 90 holes, was really, I think, an important step in terms of de-risking the project.
That spacing was down to less than 10 by 10, and we had a sort of a high-level study undertaken by SRK where they took the original block model, looked at what the block model predicted for that area, and then how that was informed by that additional drilling. We do see the pathway for a sort of a modest increase in grade, probably sort of mid-single digits in terms of grade. Tonnes stayed the same, positive for grade. We think that that over and above for the economics is obviously very positive.
I think when we turn to sort of coming to the sort of more conservative banker types who tend to be more focused on the downside than certainly someone like myself, we can point to that by saying, look, when you really upgrade the amount of data that you have when you go to a really granular level, this deposit really performs really well, actually performs a little better. The worst thing that can happen is the more you get to know your deposit, the worse it gets. I think this is definitely not the case for Katanning. As we go down our journey, the more we've found out about it, the better it looks, which is exactly what you want. In terms of sort of the appetite for financing and its prospects, I might hand over to Ben Stockdale, our Chief Financial Officer.
Thanks, John, and thanks, Tim. Further to what John said, Tim, I would note also that we already have 84% of our gold in the proved category of reserves, which is a really high proportion for a project at this stage of feasibility. Very strong outlook in that regard. In terms of the demand and the appetite from the lending market, the marketing that we have done to date has been very positive, very strong from both bank and non-bank lenders, given what you are seeing here is an incredibly robust project in a tier-one location with open-pit mining and simple processing and a very long life with high-margin gold and very strong production in the early years. We expect that there will be very strong demand on the back of this feasibility study from the lending markets to take us into financing.
Yeah, it is awesome.
I think it should be pretty comforting for the investor side of the market to see the amount of de-risking and the holes you're putting into that initial few years. It's been the fate of a couple of others of your peers. Just one other sort of question that's sort of more medium term. If the company was looking to sustain that kind of 140,000-150,000-ounce run rate, is it a function of exploration defining more high grade, or is there the opportunity to kind of incrementally increase that plant scale to maintain that with cash flow out in the medium term?
Sure, Tim. I mean, there's quite a few levers for us.
If you look at the sort of the plan view, you can sort of see that the majority of the deposit is contained within the one central pit around the White Dam Jinkas, Jinkas South, with smaller satellite contributions from Jackson and Olympia in the north, and then Dingo to the south. We did do a round of drilling at Lucan, which was more, I think, proof of concept. We are probably not a high priority for us because what we are able to demonstrate is that the mineralisation does continue to the south. I think from there, that is very much first cab off the rank will be that is where we probably go looking for our resource reserve replacement, as we might. I think there is definitely more of the same to the south. That is very positive to have that avenue open for us.
When you sort of look at the initial 10-year mine life, you can see that going for a lot longer. I certainly can. I think in terms of where we go to maintain that 140,000 ounces, again, probably the first cab off the rank there would be potentially underground at the main zone in the central zone. We've got some really some of the best drilling, as I mentioned, is at depth there. The opportunity for us to continue drilling down there, adding some more ounces, and then having a study as to where's the best place to put a portal off the pit is going to be a very live one for us. I think if we can see a way where we can bring that forward to the medium part of the ore body, then that 140,000+ ounces is very much maintainable.
Potentially, if you can grow it, if you're putting 3 gram material, 3.5 gram material in instead of 1.3 gram, then obviously it is much stronger economics. Probably the other near-term opportunity is really around Datatine, which we like. It is about 4 km north just off this map here. It is coming together as a really nice satellite feed for us, proof of concept. It is the first one that we have really been able to define and delineate as potential mine feed. I think you can sort of see a scenario there where even 25,000-30,000 ounces a year comes down the road at potentially 4 or 5 gram, which is what we have seen in the drilling to date. I mean, work to be done, but I think that is where we see it.
I mean, the opportunity for us is not necessarily expanding the mine life as it currently sits. It's about finding that high-grade material to feed in and displace lower-grade ore. Then we have the framework of certainly Zinger Nanicup Bridge, where we've already been able to find a really coherent 2.2 km oxide surface deposit or property that we think we can work on, and then with some high grade underneath that. Big target at Nanicup Bridge with potential high grade, some smaller satellite high grades very close to the deposit and extensions down plunge and to the south through Lucan. I mean, it's wide open.
I think we can probably tick all of those boxes, replace reserves, expand production through putting high grade through in the early stages, and then potentially looking at an expansion by bringing in one of these deposits like a Zinger Nanicup bridge into the mix, which should be a lot of tonnes. Hopefully I think we can be all things to all people.
Fantastic. I'll leave it there and open to some other people's questions.
Thanks, Tim.
Thank you. Once again, if you wish to ask a question on the phone, please press star one. Your next question comes from [Mike Millican] from Euroz Hartleys. Please go ahead.
Congrats, guys, on the study. Great level of detail. Thanks very much for that today. Just a couple of easy ones for me.
Just firstly, could you talk through times seem to be slightly excessive dilution or loss in the reserve, like 26 and 25? I know it's a bit of a change on that selective mining units, but could you just give us some comments on that?
Thanks. Yeah. So this is Mark Mitchell speaking. The ore body, the model, the way the resource is modeled is a large number of sort of lodes that are brought together in the model. That effectively translates into a lot of edge when we're looking at the way the resource hangs together. When we model in edge dilution, so dilution and ore loss, you get a fairly large number of blocks that have got a lot of edges, so a lot of edge distance. You end up with this sort of large, relatively large dilution and ore loss.
I think that's appropriate for the way the model is currently built, the resource is currently understood. I'd point back to what John said earlier, which is as we've been infilling some of these areas, the continuity and the ore body hangs together a little better, and we get better grades than have been previously modelled. I think that speaks to as we get more information and more experience, and particularly when we start mining it, and we can demonstrate that we can mine this ore body perhaps cleaner than the model gives us credit for, I think that can improve. I think the way it's been modelled is appropriate for why this resource is understood.
Yeah, cool. Thanks very much. Just on a couple of the regional targets, obviously Zinger and data time.
Zinger, I suppose, should we be looking at as nice oxide material that could come through the plant, lift throughputs a little bit as well over the journey? I know it's obviously subject to a bit more drilling that's going to be happening in December quarter, but can you chat us through that?
Thanks. Sure. Graham Conner, our General Manager of Exploration, is not on the call, so I can sort of wax lyrical here. Take it with a grain of salt, and Graham might get a bit upset with me, but it does definitely look like it has the potential. This is reasonably recent sort of interpretation that you have, as you can see from this slide, 2.2 km of that modelled oxide, which hangs together really well at sort of around the gram mark.
Then you've seen, then we've seen in the drilling, and it's still very shallow, just below that oxide cap, some really high results. The idea there is that, hey, there's a big prize here in terms of quite a substantial target in terms of volume, but there's also the opportunities. I think this is probably because we're early in the journey to really understand what those sort of high-grade structures and controls are and to sort of see which is the best way to do this. Now, hopefully, if everything comes together, this is driving down the road 20 km or so on a very well-established road network and going into a much larger processing facility at Katanning, or potentially earlier, maybe bringing in some sort of high-grade opportunities that we've sort of once we've worked out those controls.
It's sort of wide open, but what we really like about it is its size. It's got some scale to it already. It's got some very nice continuity to it, and it's got some really nice high-grade popping around as well. If you go back, I think, as I understand it, in the earlier years at Katanning, it was similar. There was good continuity to the ore body, but it was really only in the later parts of the journey where some of that underground or the controls were really better understood and then being able to target. That's where you see it with a nice 2.5 million ounce deposit today. I think this one, again, early in its journey, but it's certainly presenting as everything that you'd like to see.
There is definitely a number of frontiers where this can be a winner for us.
Yeah, great. Thanks very much for that. Just the resource update that you are flagging for early next year, obviously, it is going to be including all the grade control and some other prospects that you might get to drilling before the end of the year. How should we think about that one? Is that just something that would be feeding into the early mine plan to start a bit more at after year four, if you like, in regards to some of that additional ore feed?
Yeah, look, I think it is a bit more. I mean, the drilling that we did in the first part of this year, I mean, it has gone really well for us.
I mean, I think what we'd like to do is, I mean, we'd like to, we think we've tabled a conservative study here, but we don't want to wear a sackcloth shirt forever. I mean, if there's high grade that we can bring to account appropriately with additional data and modelling, then we'd like to do that just to be able to present the project as best as we can. I think there's more of that to be done. I think certainly experience tells me that with dealing with financiers, they are conservative creatures. The more that we can have of that payback and beyond and sort of drill to that sort of tighter density, the better. That only makes things better for us from a bankability perspective.
It is really about just unwrapping and trying to, I guess, thread the needle between spending relatively high cost of capital dollars today, which we rely on equity financing versus deferring that until we are cash flowing and we have a lower cost of capital because we are a producer. I think I am not saying we are going to get that balance perfect, but we would like to. We probably have a bias for trying to get into the secrets a little earlier than just sitting back and waiting for in production. I think that hopefully gives you a little bit of a flavour of the thought process. Some infill drilling, but then aggressively targeting to see if we can bring a data time into the mine plan early and underground down plunge extensions are very important for us.
That does rely a little bit on land access arrangements. And then moving Nanicup Bridge and Zinger along as potentially the sort of the argument or the rationale for expanding the project in its own right. There are quite a few different potential levers for us to draw to pull value on there. That is what we'd like to, again, do in the second half of the year.
Brilliant. Thank you very much for that. Like I said before, congrats on the study. Thank you very much.
Thanks, Matt. Thank you very much.
Thank you. There are no further phone questions at this time. I'll now hand back for any webcast questions.
Thank you very much, Darcy. Nicholas Reed here again. John and team, we have a number of webcast questions, which we'll deal with now.
Just a note that if anyone on the teleconference does have a follow-up, just feel free to log that and we can go back to Darcy if you do have any additional questions. John, the first question on the online webcast here is the question is the prior management team looked at a 5 million tonne per annum scenario. After more evaluation during your time, what was the ultimate rationale for the 3.6 million tonne per annum used in the DFS?
Sure. Thanks, Nicholas. Look, I think it was, I mean, sitting back and really doing a little bit of a sort of a high-level trade-off study. Maybe the listeners can call back if they're familiar with the story. The pre-feasibility study was at 3 million tonne per annum. The scoping study was at 5 million tonne per annum. Now we've settled on 3.6 million tonnes.
There are some natural sort of breaks in throughput just because of equipment sizing. You sort of, it's not totally choose your own adventure. I think when we looked at the 5 million tonne case, and this is again stepping it up from a scoping study level of sort of visibility to a definitive feasibility study, which is obviously a lot more definitive, as it says in the title, it became clear that from what we have in the ore body today, 5 million tonnes, probably pushing it a little fast. We looked at it and we thought the way to best balance pre-production capital versus that sort of production levels and cash flow and ultimately returns was to land at the 3.6 million tonnes. I think what we've seen here is, and I think with the study, the costs are higher.
With that extra level of sort of precision that you see in a definitive feasibility study, I think the 5 million tonne case would have been quite a lot more of upfront CapEx and just sort of probably push the project, push the resource and the reserves a little faster. You would have had the not atypical situation where you have a hungry mill chasing an ore body rather than sort of your mill being the bottleneck, which is generally something that's a little easier to fix. We thought that 3.6 with significant aspirations to go bigger was the best place to start rather than starting at 5 million tonnes and really being under the pump and having to try and push the mining probably a little faster than was sort of its natural limit.
I don't know, Mark, do you have anything to add on that?
I think that covers it, John. I think the ability to expand this mill up towards 5 million tonnes will allow space for that. We've thought we've sort of done the thinking that supports that. Once we work our way through the drilling around this ore body and the potential exploration, then we can bring that onto the books.
Thanks very much, Mark and John. The next online question here relates to CapEx and OpEx. The question is the capital intensity and operating costs appear to be above peers and previous studies. Can you talk to the key drivers of the CapEx and OpEx inputs?
Look, I think it's, yeah, look, I mean, I think what we've, for certainly, it's unusual to see a Definitive Feasibility Study delivered where the all in sustaining cost is not in the first quartile. We will put our hand up and acknowledge that this one is firmly in the second quartile. That is really because I think if you look at studies, and this is not throwing shade at anyone in particular, but if you look at often studies, the universe of studies versus the universe of operating gold mines, you would take the studies every day because they are always lower CapEx and lower operating costs and better returns. What we have tried to do here is be very credible, try and present something that people will look at and go, "Okay, we can do that." Potentially there is upside.
Look, there are opportunities for us around the capital side to bring it in. What we've done here is table a project and a construction philosophy appropriate, we think, for a small company that doesn't have its own builders team yet. Now, as we start to build out our capacity, hire people, we could well make the decision to take some of the scopes of work off a contractor and self-perform them. That is certainly what I've done in the past with previous mines and different operations. Mark has experience doing that as well. That comes down to really a risk and reward trade-off.
I think if you were an operating gold mining company active in Australia today and you had your own build team and operating team, I think you would be able to look at this and take some of the dollars out of the CapEx for sure. Now, for us, Ausgold, as a AUD 250 million market cap company with the team that we have, I think that would be challenging, and I would be probably pushing back if I was a reader. What we've tried to do is thread the middle ground of something that's not, we're not sandbagging this. We're not being overly conservative, I don't think, but we're also being reflective of where we are.
Now, what we want to be able to do, and as Mark touched on this, as we move through the detailed engineering and into the feed studies, and we can make a clear-eyed assessment of where the risk and returns are, I think we'll probably start to look at doing some of those things ourselves. I think you'll see a reduction in that capital. We'd rather be sort of coming back when we're about to push the button with final costing, etc., and have a win rather than be trying to explain why we've now had to start counting stuff that we left out of the feasibility study and blaming inflation for it being more expensive. I guess that's sort of a little bit of just an insight into the thought process.
Good luck to some of the companies that are going to deliver projects of a similar scale for a lot less than us. We'll see how they go.
Great. Thanks, John. Makes sense. There's a very much related question that follows up here. Do you envisage being an owner miner, or will you go down the contract mining route, and does that affect the financing prospects?
Look, our plans are to have a contractor provide the mining fleet and the mining services. That's a fairly standard approach. It does defer the capital. If we had to go and finance the fleet, that would be another significant amount of capital that we would have to find. I think going forward now in the modern concept of it, the mining contractor is a pretty typical way of doing it.
Now, when we developed, when we built the Yaramoko Gold Project, we started with an underground mining contractor, and then very much the direction of travel was to start doing more and more as an owners team as the mine life goes on. You're doing that with a company that's experienced, it's in production, it has cash flow and a strong balance sheet. I think a junior mining company that's looking to build its first source of cash flow has to be, I think, mindful of not biting off more than it can chew. Look, there are very good mining contractors in Western Australia. We ran a competitive process. We didn't pick the lowest cost, but we picked the most appropriate one, and I think we've got a good outcome.
I think it would be very, I'd be surprised if we moved away from a contractor strategy, certainly for the first component of the mine life. If this mine goes as we hope and it's in production in many decades to come, then there will be obviously a much better opportunity for us to look at going with an owner mining fleet.
Fantastic, John. I think there's just one more online question here. In an ideal world, how much more would you like to raise on top of development CapEx to drill regional targets or resource extension targets? And which would you prioritize of those exploration upside opportunities?
Look, that's a good question.
I think probably from my perspective, being able to bring something like Datatine in early to serve as a proof of concept and a demonstration of just how fertile this very large land package is would be sort of my first wish list. Now, that might not be a giant deposit, but it could be a very, very profitable one, and it's 4 km up the road from us. That would probably be a very good priority for us. I think the down plunge extensions are also interesting. That is potentially where this project has a real game change and becomes a much larger deposit. I think it's down plunge with those high grades that we've seen sort of initial indication of.
If we can end up being able to justify that and continue, then this could become a very, very significant gold deposit in its own right. I'm quite keen to put some of those deep holes in to see if that underground really has the potential that we think it does. That would be what really puts this project on the map.
Fantastic. Thanks, John. I think we've cleared both of those Q&A queues, both on the teleconference and the online. John, I might just hand back to you for a couple of closing comments and to close us out this morning.
Thank you, Nicholas. In summary, we are very pleased with the results of the Katanning Gold Project Definitive Feasibility Study.
We see this as a conservatively envisaged and robust project, which has been designed to be a credible development opportunity for our company. What has been tabled today can be delivered by Ausgold, and we firmly believe that this is just the first building block of what will ultimately become a very large and long-lived gold mine for decades to come. I look forward to keeping you updated as we progress the Katanning Gold Project and thank everyone for their time today. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for your time today for a discussion on the results of the definitive feasibility study for the Katanning Gold Project. We are very pleased with the results of the definitive feasibility study as it confirms our thesis that the Katanning Gold Project will form the foundation stone to host a regionally significant gold production center.
This study confirms the initial goals we had for Katanning, including a low-risk and technically straightforward project, meaningful production levels with robust cash flows, especially in the early years, and a fulcrum to fully leverage Ausgold's commanding land position on the Katanning Greenstone Belt. The Katanning Gold Project is located approximately 3.5 hours' drive southeast of Perth in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, one of the premier mining jurisdictions in the world. Ausgold has begun building out its owners team with key technical, permitting, and financial appointments and assembled a strong roster of experienced consultants to deliver the Katanning DFS. These names will be familiar to listeners and represent significant experience with delivering open-pit gold mines in Western Australia.
I would also like to take the opportunity to acknowledge the contribution of Royce McAuslane, along with the team at MineScope Services, who stepped in as project director last year to corral the delivery of this study. Turning to some of the key metrics, you can see that Katanning presents as a robust project on a number of important.