PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed junior developer Kin Mining would launch resource evaluation, drilling and feasibility activities at the Leonora gold project, in Western Australia, after completing the project acquisition this week.
Kin reached an agreement with the administrators of Navigator Resources to purchase the Leonora project in April this year, settling the acquisition on Monday with the payment of A$1-million in cash, and the issue of one-million Kin shares to secured creditor Waterton Global Value.
Kin had already embarked on technical studies aimed at converting the existing indicated and inferred resource base to Joint Ore Reserves Committee- (Jorc-) compliant status, and this work would likely be completed by the first quarter of 2015.
The company had also identified a possible early-stage production opportunity which it intended to drill-out, following the completion of the current drilling programme at the Kingfisher nickel/copper prospect.
Kin MD Trevor Dixon said on Tuesday that the settling of the transaction represented the culmination of a great deal of work for the company, and had the potential to be a company-making milestone.
“Kin now has a very large gold inventory totalling around one-million ounces in its books, with optimisations completed on several high-grade pits, which represent near-term production opportunities.
“We are confident that we can convert a significant proportion of our very large gold inventory, firstly into Jorc ounces and then into mineable ounces and reserves, allowing us to make the transition to gold producer in the near term.”