PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Junior Havilah Resources has been granted approval by the South Australian government to start mining at its Portia gold project.
ASX-listed Havilah told shareholders on Tuesday that the Department of State Development had approved the programme for environmental protection and rehabilitation (PEPR), allowing Havilah to proceed with mining at Portia, subject to certain conditions.
These included providing a A$1.9-million mine closure rehabilitation bond, a significant environmental benefit vegetation clearance offset, and obtaining other follow-on routine licence and permit approvals required from other government agencies.
Havilah MD Chris Giles said that the approval of the PEPR was the culmination of several years of hard work.
“We acquired the project in 2003, and following three years of exploration and feasibility work and the grant of the Portia mining lease, we began work on obtaining the final mining approvals, so it has been quite a long process.”
Giles said that the company’s challenge now would be to finance and mine the Portia project, without placing Havilah under any undue risk, and without excessively diluting shareholders interest.
“We are determined to develop Portia as soon as possible because the project is able to generate meaningful cash flow that will facilitate the development of our nearby and much larger Kalkaroo copper/gold project.”
Portia has a resource of some 11.36-million tonnes, estimated to contain some 101 000 t of copper and 234 500 oz of gold.