Havilah Resources Limited has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with its mining partner Consolidated Mining and Civil Pty Ltd (CMC) for mining of the southern extension of Portia gold deposit near Broken Hill, Australia.
Under the deal, both parties have agreed for an equal revenue sharing arrangement.
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The campaign will expand Portia open-pit another 120m to the south of its current position.
It is expected to procure a significant volume of high-grade and medium grade gold mineralisation as outlined by recent drilling.
The deal extends the mine’s life by another year.
CMC nearly completed mining within the estimated timeframe according to the original open-pit design that began in April 2015.
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By GlobalDataDuring this period, nearly 320,000t of ore material was mined to surface. Appreciable ore stockpiles are available that will continue to be processed until at least February 2017 based on current throughput rates.
Recently, Havilah has been working closely with the South Australian Department of State Development (DSD) to receive approvals for the extension and ensure smooth mining activity.
The company also submitted a revised programme for environmental protection and rehabilitation (PEPR) document that includes redesign of waste dump and tailings storage facility. The redesign will help accommodate additional processed ore that will be generated by the mining expansion.
Havilah intends to maintain an active drilling programme with two drilling rigs that are currently operating at the southern end of the open-pit.
Havilah managing director Chris Giles said: “We are very pleased to announce this extension of the Portia Gold Mine, which will result in continuing gold production for at least another 12 months.
“Our joint hard-won mining experience at Portia combined with the infrastructure support now in place means that we have de-risked this second stage of the project to a large degree.
“We are hopeful that our ongoing drilling will outline additional economic gold mineralisation that will allow continued expansion of Portia going forward.
“Our recent pit floor drilling shows we are also in the fortunate position of having significant amounts of gold bearing saprolite material immediately below the current open-pit floor that was not included in the original resource.”
Image: Portia open-pit south end action. Photo: courtesy of Havilah-resources.com.au.
