With mineral prices, particularly gold, remaining at near record levels, several miners have turned their focus on rejuvenating decommissioned or suspended mines.
A number of these “zombie” mines have been or are being resurrected across the globe, with developers taking advantage of significantly higher prices than when the mines were previously in operation.
They are also making use of the quicker turn-around times available to bring zombie mines back to commercial levels.
Ximen ready to bring historic BC mine back to life
Ximen Mining Corp. (TSXV: XIM) has received the Final Mines Act Permit for its Kenville gold mine project in south-eastern British Columbia.
“The Kenville gold mine, which began operations in 1888, was one of the first underground gold mines in British Columbia. After years of working on this permit, the Kenville gold mine is now on track to becoming one of the greenest and environmentally friendly gold mines in Southern BC. While there is still very much to do, our team’s tenacity has brought us this far, and we are ready for the next phase of milestones that will finally bring this gold mine to fruition.” CEO, Christopher Anderson, said.
Bellevue commences open pit gold mining
Bellevue Gold Limited (ASX: BGL) recently commenced open pit mining with its development at the Bellevue Gold project in Western Australia.
The mine was in operation from 1986 to 1997 and was one of Australia’s highest-grade gold mines, producing ~800,000oz.
Mining has again started at the Vanguard open pit and clearing is underway at the tailings storage facility (TSF).
Mining here will offer Bellevue the opportunity to generate early cashflow via a toll treating arrangement. The pit is scheduled to provide approximately 10,000oz gold, which is expected to be available for processing in mid-2023, in advance of the forecast completion of the Bellevue processing facility.
When operational the Bellevue Gold project is forecast to be one of the highest-grade, lowest cost mines in Australia, with the first five years producing an average of more than 200,000 oz/year at an all-in sustaining cost (AISC) of A$1,000-1,100/oz.
The high-grade nature of the mine at Bellevue is conducive to profitability and the mine is forecast to produce A$2.1B of free cashflow (pre-tax) over the life of mine (assuming gold price of A$2,500/oz).
Besra Gold raises US$300M to bring historic Malaysian Mine back into production
Besra Gold (ASX: BEZ) has finalized a major funding deal believed to be one of the largest of its kind signed by an ASX-listed junior.
Shares shot up over 150% on the initial announcement back in March and jumped up over 25% on the confirmation of the fund raising success.
The Bau Goldfield is a world-class gold project with a century long history of successful gold mining.
In March, Besra Gold signed a milestone US$300M gold pre-purchase and offtake funding deal with major shareholder Quantum Metal Recovery, which on completion fully funds the junior to bring its 3Moz Bau gold project in Malaysia into production.
The company has now received the first US$2M instalment of the $US5M initial deposit. Quantum is one of the largest gold distributors in Malaysia.
Hillgrove begins works for Kanmantoo copper mine restart
Hillgrove Resources (ASX: HGO) has engaged specialized contractors to commence early works activities in preparation for the commencement of underground development at the Kanmantoo copper mine in South Australia; including geotechnical remediation of the pit walls, haul road preparation, and pit dewatering.
Copper was first discovered and mined here in the 1840s. The town was established to house workers, which at that time was an underground mine. The original mine was active from 1846 to 1874 and a new open cut mine operated from 1970 to 1976.
Early preparation enables underground development to commence immediately on mobilization. Contracts for equipment, personnel, and services for the development are nearing finalization.
The mine is already well advanced, with a fully permitted and operational processing plant, tailings storage facility, and all necessary infrastructure at portal, including power, water, and ventilation.
Underground development to access ore is scheduled to commence next quarter.
The underground development and restart of the Kanmantoo Copper mine represents Australia’s next copper producer, with first copper sales on track for early 2024.
Black Cat pounces at Paulsens
Black Cat Syndicate Limited (ASX: BC8) has increased its high-grade resource at Paulsens underground operation in Western Australia by a further 25% to 322Koz @ 10.1g/t Au, including an increase to 58% measured and indicated:
- The resource is >360% higher than when Paulsens was acquired in June 2022
- The high-grade Gabbro Veins continue to grow, increasing by 55% to 133Koz @ 9.2g/t Au
- During its operating life, the resource at Paulsens averaged ~270Koz which has now been surpassed after only six months of drilling
Significant opportunities remain to grow the underground resource within proximity of the existing decline.
The Paulsens gold mine is located 105km south of Pannawonica, Western Australia, within the pastoral lease of the Mount Stuart Station. It is fully owned by Black Cat Syndicate, having purchased the mine from Northern Star Resources in June 2022. Production at the mine was halted in December 2017.
Poseidon Nickel progressing black swan to take off again
Poseidon Nickel Ltd (ASX: POS) continues to progress towards the restart of the Black Swan project in Western Australia after the November 2022 bankable feasibility study.
Numerous work streams are being progressed as the company moves towards the restart final investment decision (FID), which is on track to be made in Q2 2023.
“Our primary focus remains on offtake and project financing work streams, with strong interest having been received. The most attractive structure is currently combining offtake and project financing,” Managing director and CEO, Peter Harold, said.
“A shortlist of parties has been given access to the data room and are undertaking site visits as required. We are planning to finalize the preferred partner/s early in Q2 2023 and we remain on track to announce the FID for the restart during Q2,”
“We are also progressing the expansion project study with metallurgical test work well underway to determine the optimum nickel recovery and grade of nickel in the rougher concentrate,”
“The key attraction of the expansion project is that annual production of nickel in concentrate could increase significantly, and the mine life could be extended due to the ability to treat talc carbonate ores which are not included in the current ore reserves,”
“The key to unlocking the value of the talc carbonate material is to find a non-conventional smelter customer/s i.e., POX, HPAL or pCAM producer for the proposed product which is a main focus of the expansion study.”
