F E AT U R E D
The Havieron gold project site in Western Australia.
AN OPPORTUNE TIME FOR HAVIERON
The Havieron joint venture project in Western Australia between Newcrest Mining and Greatland Gold is shaping up to be a frontrunner in Australia’s gold industry.
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old and copper mining in Australia is showing no signs of slowing down with demand for both metals strong and exploration activity around the country peaking. The Havieron gold-copper project in the highly prospective Paterson Province of Western Australia, adjacent to Newcrest Mining’s Telfer mine, is shaping up as one of the standout future operations that will start production in Australia this decade. London-based explorer Greatland Gold discovered Havieron in 2018, setting the scene for a $US65 million ($86.8 million) farm-in agreement with Newcrest in 2019, followed by a joint venture (JV) being formed in November 2020. The partnership has delivered an initial inferred resource of 3.4 million ounces of gold and 160,000 tonnes of copper from the site’s South East Crescent zone. In October, Newcrest delivered the stage one pre-feasibility study (PFS), which focusses on the South East Crescent zone, adding
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more promise that Havieron will enter first production in the 2024 financial year. By completing the stage one PFS, Newcrest is entitled to 70 per cent of the JV, which is up from its initial 60 per cent interest. With Newcrest and Greatland now entering the stage two PFS, there is already strong potential for Havieron to be developed into an operation that delivers a mining and milling rate of more than three million tonnes per annum. “The stage one PFS is based on the currently defined indicated mineral resource located in the upper sections of the South East Crescent, which is a small portion of the existing resource inventory and excludes inferred mineral resources,” A Newcrest spokesperson tells Australian Resources & Investment. “The feasibility study scope is expected to include the completion of a further infill drilling program by the end of calendar year 2021 to increase the indicated mineral resource base for potential ore reserve expansion,
and completion of the growth drill program immediately below the Crescent Zone for potential mineral resource expansion. “Further opportunities include an enhanced development option which will consider increasing mining and milling rates to three million tonnes per annum or higher compared to the two million tonnes per annum assumption upon which the PFS has been based.” Newcrest flagged in August it is aiming to find more high-grade gold deposits around the Havieron area, including the Northern and Eastern Breccia targets, which contain open high-grade mineralisation. Both Newcrest and Greatland’s exploration foothold in the Paterson is shown through the Juri JV, an agreement which entered stage two in October. Newcrest’s total investment at Juri could grow from $3 million to $20 million, which would see the project become the next Havieron as exploration advances next year. According to Greatland chief executive
