The 60-tonne unit, purchased last October, made a six-day journey to the site from Rustenburg, and has been incorporated into the mine's revised, optimised plant design.

The new mill could help the project expand its production to 1.2 million tonnes per year should the operation grow.

With the ball mill now on-site, Theta has commenced a tender process based on a lump-sum turnkey (LSTK) contract for the initial phase of the construction of its gold plant, which will process about 600,000t per year.

The tenders for the plant build should be complete by the latter part of the June quarter, Theta confirmed.

Chairman Bill Guy said: "The company has achieved another milestone in the development of the Theta project. The mill arrival and a welcome march from the local community was very heartening. The mill was placed on the permitted mine site, ready for future installation.

"During this quarter, the team has issued tenders for the plant construction, completed submission of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for 'Starter Theta open-pit project' (which includes the amendment of MR83 from an underground to open-pit mining method), completed a draft mining contract and now has transported this 60t mill to the mine site. "