GR Engineering Services says it has received a letter of intent from a subsidiary of Silver Lake Resources for the award of upgrade works involving the flotation tailings leach process at the Deflector gold-copper operations in Western Australia.

The project is located in the southern Murchison region of Western Australia, 450 km north of Perth and 160 km east of Geraldton.

Silver Lake previously said it planned to upgrade process infrastructure at Deflector to include a carbon-in-pulp circuit to broaden available ore sources and enhance recoveries, providing potential upside to current production levels.

The contract sum is A$23 million ($16 million) and will be undertaken on an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) basis, the company said, adding that the contract for the works will be finalised next month and GR Engineering will commence early works immediately.

Geoff Jones, GR Engineering Managing Director, said: “This letter of intent award represents GR Engineering’s first major project with Silver Lake. We are looking forward to engaging closely with the Silver Lake team to deliver safe and successful outcomes for the project.”