Canadian junior Havilah Mining has appointed former Tahoe Resources CEO Ron Clayton, who has previous experience at the True North underground mining operation in Manitoba, to its board of directors as it seeks to tap into further expansion by testing its 43 000 ha of highly prospective land in and adjacent to the Rice Lake belt.

Havilah was created when precious metals producer Hecla Mining spun out Klondex Mines’ Canadian assets following its acquisition earlier this year.

Prior to his time at Tahoe, Clayton was senior VP for operations and the GM of several underground mines for Hecla.

“Having spent time on the property and also based on my prior knowledge of the asset, I believe there is significant potential in the existing land holdings together with the high-quality infrastructure already in place. The previous owner's consolidation of the land package within this historic and robust district is extremely beneficial to us.  Much of that property has had a significant amount of early exploration work already completed, which simply requires targeted follow-up, that we have already begun to carry out. I believe we can leverage our cumulative experience and our strong balance sheet to expand our knowledge of the area and identify multiple sources of ore,” said Clayton.

Havilah’s focus is shifting to exploration in its land package, following the completion of the reprocessing of tailings material at True North. This has placed the company in a strong financial position with $7.7-million in cash and $14.1-million of working capital at the end of the third quarter.

The prospective land in the Rice Lake belt has the potential to be developed into a mining district with a central milling facility.

Meanwhile, the TSX-V-listed miner said it was continuing with the acquisition of 55 North’s (SGX Resources’) 50% interest in the Tully mining claims and mining lease in Timmins, Ontario. The companies would aim to complete the transaction, first announced in August, by the end of December.