Horizon Minerals has promoted chief operating officer Grant Haywood to the position of chief executive officer – effective from the start of July – as the company eyes production at its Cannon gold project.
Mr Haywood has been in his current role with Horizon for more than five years and brings years of experience in underground gold projects to coincide with the development of the company’s promising Cannon underground mine.
Horizon says Mr Haywood has a deep understanding of the planning and operation of WA gold projects after working for companies including Gold Fields, Saracen Mineral Holdings and Phoenix Gold.
In other Horizon board movements, current managing director Jon Price will step down from his role after more than seven years at the head of the organisation. Mr Price will move into the position of non-executive director, effective from the end of June.
Horizon Minerals chairman Ashok Parekh said: “Grant’s wealth of knowledge and experience in underground mining is extensive and he will play a pivotal role in the successful development of Cannon and our planned future underground and open pit mines.”
The Cannon mine near Kalgoorlie is fully-permitted, while final mining contract and joint venture negotiations are in progress. Horizon has agreed to a toll-milling allocation at its one-million-tonne per annum Greenfields mill, 3km east of Coolgardie.
A prefeasibility study into the development of an underground operation at Cannon, tabled in March last year, demonstrated positive economic results under a contract mining and toll-milling model. The study found the operation could generate a net free cash flow of $10.1 million over a 16-month mine life at an Australian gold price of $2600 per ounce, while requiring a capital investment of just $4.3 million.
Prior to Horizon acquiring Cannon in 2021, the deposit had been mined as an open pit up until 2017, producing 55,143 ounces of gold at a grade of 2.98g/t.
The company sees the broader area surrounding Cannon as highly-prospective, with several historical deposits within a 1km radius of the open-pit mine.
Two of its more advanced prospects, Monument and Homerton, were drilled last year to validate historical work while testing for potential strike and depth extensions. Significant gold results were picked up with one hole delivering 4m at 4.63g/t from 68m and 4m at 7.76g/t from 80m.
With Mr Hayman set to take on the lead role to start the new financial year, the market may be keeping a closer-than-normal eye on Horizon’s development of Cannon.
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By Michael Philipps
