PERTH (mininwgeekly.com) – Junior Hillgrove Resources has wasted no time in advancing restart work at its Kanmantoo copper project, in South Australia, following a capital raise.
Hillgrove on Friday announced that specialised contractors had been engaged to start early works activities in preparation for the start of underground development, which was targeted for next quarter.
“Following the successful capital raise earlier this month, we have wasted no time in commencing work towards both the underground development at Kanmantoo to get back into production as well as mine life expansion drilling,” said Hillgrove MD and CEO Lachlan Wallace.
“Over the coming weeks, we expect to finalise supply and service contracts and commence mobilisation. We are working towards a smooth mine ramp-up, ensuring that as equipment arrives we can immediately commence mine development. With the portals already established, our miners can walk in on day one and take development cuts. We remain on track to commence copper production in early 2024, making Hillgrove Australia’s next copper producer.”
An updated economic assessment into the Kanmantoo underground copper mine estimates that the Stage 1 operation can deliver free cash flows of up to A$205-million from the restart of operations in 2023.
The economic assessment estimates that the project can be brought online at a capital cost of A$25-million and can produce 43 500 t of copper and 11 500 oz of gold over an initial 45-month mine plan.