PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Gold miner Horizon Minerals has inked a A$5-million agreement to acquire three gold projects near its Boorara project, in Western Australia.
The company on Tuesday announced that it had signed a tenement sales agreement with private mining company Aurenne Group Holdings to acquire the Bulong South, Glandore and Cowarna gold projects.
The Bulong South project contains the development-ready Cannon gold project, which will now join the Boorara project, Rose Hill, Binduli, Teal and Kalpini satellite deposits as core development projects under evaluation to underpin the proposed construction of a standalone processing plant at Boorara.
The Cannon underground deposit hosts a mineral reserve of 117 000 t grading 5.31 g/t of gold for 20 000 oz of contained gold.
“The Cannon underground gold project presents a high-grade, near-term development opportunity that will now be incorporated into the consolidated feasibility study and can provide high grade ore feed in the early years to complement the baseload Boorara deposit and the four advanced openpit and underground satellite projects currently under evaluation,” said Horizon MD Jon Price.
“We also see the potential for significant resource growth and exploration upside from the Bulong South, Glandore and exciting Cowarna project areas with multiple walk-up drill targets on major geological structures. Drill planning is now under way,” he added.
Price said that Horizon’s core focus would remain firmly on the development of a standalone gold production business in the Kalgoorlie and Coolgardie regions, with the acquisition aligning with the company’s strategy of further regional consolidation of advanced, complementary development assets in close proximity to the proposed Boorara mill.
Under the terms of the agreement, Horizon will pay A$2.5-million in cash at the settlement of the transaction, which will be funded from existing cash reserves, and a further A$2.5-million on the earlier of 12 months from settlement or first gold production from the Cannon underground mine.