JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The proposed listing of Heron Resources’ wholly-owned subsidiary, Ardea Resources, will see the company restructure its non-Woodlawn asset portfolio in New South Wales and Western Australia, with a focus on gold and nickel.
Ardea’s development focus will be on the 6.62-million tonnes at 1.5 g/t Lewis Ponds gold/zinc project in central New South Wales, where it has an “aggressive” drilling and metallurgical programme planned, while its exploration focus will fall on Mount Zephyr and the Bardoc tectonic zone gold project in Western Australia.
Meanwhile, Heron will now solely focus and fast track the development of the Woodlawn zinc/copper project, aimed at starting production in 2018. A recently completed $11-million prefeasibility study shows underground mineral reserves of 2.8-million tons, with steady state production of 40 000 t/y of zinc and 10 000 t/y of copper over its nine-year mine life.
“The commissioning of Woodlawn is best expedited with the non-Woodlawn assets in a separate vehicle, which will allow them to be valued and advanced through a more focused offering.
“We understand that different investors in Heron have preferences for different asset exposure and with the Ardea spin-out, we can clearly separate the Woodlawn production opportunity while seeking to drive superior value for shareholders,” Heron MD Wayne Taylor said in a statement on Wednesday.