Great Western Mining announced that the construction of its gold and silver processing mill in Nevada, developed through its 50-50 Western Milling joint venture, is now substantially complete and ready for trial production. The facility, located in Sodaville near Mina, in Mineral County, has received all the necessary environmental permits and clearance from the Nevada State Mine Inspector, which paves the way for operations to begin once minor final adjustments are made.

The mill, designed to process mine waste and shallow ore from Great Western and its partner Muletown Enterprises’ claims, has been built with future capacity expansion in mind. While trial production using a gravity circuit is technically possible, the full operational launch has been delayed due to limited staffing on Muletown’s side, which currently makes continuous operations unfeasible.

“With gold prices at record highs and strong regional interest from other claim holders lacking access to local milling capacity, the joint venture is now planning a commercial scale-up of the project,” the company said. The next phase of development will require third-party financing and collaboration with a specialist mine engineering firm. Discussions with financing providers are already underway, and initial proposals have been received from two engineering firms with the necessary expertise.

Great Western Mining’s aim is to bring the mill into full commercial production without imposing further capital demands on shareholders. This will enable the company to maintain its strategic focus on its copper assets and broader gold exploration activities in Nevada.

“The price of gold has never been higher than it is today,” said Brian Hall, Chairman of Great Western Mining. “The Western Milling Joint Venture began as a very low-cost project to process its partners’ own material and has achieved a great deal with limited funds, despite frustrating delays. Initial trial production could begin at any time, but to become an effective and significant revenue generator, we now consider that Western Milling's capacity should be expanded with external finance and independent engineering, and we are in early-stage discussions to achieve this.”

At 1000 BST, shares in Great Western Mining Corporation were up 2.23% at 1.83p.

Originally Reported by Josh White in Share Cast.