Zenith Energy says it will add a further 6 MW of installed capacity at Billabong Gold’s Plutonic project power station.

The two companies’ agreement will see the remote power generation specialist build, own and operate (BOO) the power station expansion to increase its capacity to 12 MW, while the current power purchase agreement term between the two companies will be extended by 52 months.

Located in the Archaean Plutonic Marymia Greenstone Belt, 800 km northeast of Perth in Western Australia, the Plutonic mine has been powered by Zenith since 2014.

The increased generating capacity will be delivered by the installation of an additional 6 MW of power via Jenbacher 620 Spark Ignition gas generator technology.

Upon installation, which is set to be completed in the June quarter, Zenith’s total BOO capacity will increase from circa-226 MW to more than 232 MW, it said.

Since Superior Gold, the parent company of Billabong Gold, acquired the Plutonic gold mine from Northern Star Resources in September 2016, it has achieved cumulative production of more than 276,000 oz of gold, according to Superior. The mine produced 83,035 oz of gold in 2019.

Back in October, the company delivered a five-year underground mine plan at Plutonic that would see the operation produce at least 100,000 oz/y of gold over this time frame.