The material was transported to two toll milling facilities local to the project after workers nearly completed a 26km rehabilitation and upgrade project to the main access road.

About 6,000t has been transported so far.

Officials added that, as of the company's update on August 21, it has extracted about 6,500t of material from the 3400 level, 3430 sublevel and relief raise at Invicta, then stockpiled at the surface. Sampling returned an average 7.21g per tonne.

Next month, Lupaka is planning another transport to a third milling facility totalling 6,000t. Before the close of October, the company is expecting an inspection by the Ministry of Mines and Energy for its mining exploitation license, and it has targeted the September quarter for production from the first test mining stope.

Once online, it has set a production goal of 400t per day, or 12,000t monthly, from Invicta; the mine's environmental impact assessment allows for up to 1,000t daily.

"We are encouraged by the development activities achieved to date at Invicta," CEO and president Will Ansley said.

"Substantial completion of the road rehabilitation project has allowed us to commence the evaluation of local toll processing facilities and the ability to generate some initial cash flow ahead of production. Our operations team have been working diligently on all fronts, and we are on track to commence test mining within our budgeted timeline."

The Invicta gold-copper project is 100% owned by Lupaka.