Gold developer is negotiating to use its Sandstone gold mill as a processing facility

Gold developer Middle Island Resources is negotiating to make Sandstone a satellite gold hub.

The company issued a statement saying it was negotiating with five other firms to use its Sandstone gold mill as a processing facility.

If successful this would then make it possible to mine “stranded” gold deposits which may be too far from the nearest mill to be profitable.

Managing director Rick Yeates said it would take about four months to recommission the old mill at a cost of $10.3 million once Middle Island decided to proceed.

After considerable exploration work the company also has plans to extract ore from the old Sandstone Mine located about 6km south-east of Sandstone township.