Horizon boosts bottom line with toll milling

ASX-listed gold producer Horizon Minerals has boosted its bottom line by $1.35 million after toll milling stockpiled low-grade ore from its Boorara open pit mine in the renowned WA Goldfields.

The company reports the processing of nearly 100,000 tonnes of low-grade stockpiles from the recent trial mining of the Boorara deposit is now complete.

The first campaign processed 69,700 tonnes at a reconciled grade of 0.92  grams per tonne gold for 1,857 ounces at a calculated recovery of 90 per cent and generated approximately $770,000 in cash after costs.

The second drive pushed a further 28,410 tonnes of ore through the toll mill at a reconciled grade of 0.94g/t gold that gave up 781 ounces at a recovery of 91 per cent.

In total, 98,121 tonnes of ore was processed in the two campaigns at a grade of 0.93g/t gold and 90.2 per cent recovery and generated $1.35m in cash after all costs. 

The ore grade reconciled nine per cent above the mine claimed grade and provided further valuable geological information on grade allocation processes. Gravity recovery was again high at 35 per cent with reagent consumption and throughput rates in line with expectation.

Commenting on the Boorara toll milling campaigns, Horizon Minerals Managing Director Jon Price said:

“The toll milling campaigns have provided both cash flow and invaluable geological and metallurgical reconciliation information improving our confidence in the current model for Boorara.”

“Given our close proximity to existing infrastructure in the Kalgoorlie region, we will continue to pursue production and cash generation opportunities from our asset base in parallel with the large-scale new discovery and project generation exploration programs planned for 2022.”

Since the turn of the new year the price of gold has been sitting above $2,500 an ounce that encouragingly exceeds the value of $2,000 an ounce outlined in the company’s Boorara Stage 1 Feasibility Study 2020.

Running the trial mined dirt through the Lakewood toll milling facility generated a welcome pay day in a strong gold price environment. More importantly, the operation aimed to de-risk the company’s larger development plans for the Boorara deposit.

The merger of Interim and Macphersons in 2019 and birth of Horizon Minerals consolidated the Boorara deposit and solid selection of surrounding projects. Since then, Horizon has continued to consolidate, build and develop its assets within a 75km radius of the proposed Boorara Mill.

The company’s central processing strategy will see the Boorara deposit provide a baseload feed of 1million tonnes per annum of ore supplemented by about 400,000 tonnes each year from the surrounding satellite deposits.

The toll mill operation was a solid test of the economics and will help guide the company in its decision to outlay a large amount capital in constructing its own mill. Whist the toll mill campaigns were profitable, pushing its dirt through an inhouse mill could capture more margin for the company and its shareholders.

This was not Horizon’s first toll milling rodeo and whilst the ultimate goal is to build its own mine from its own deposits, every bit of cash banked is a bonus that sidesteps the need to raise those dollars via the market.

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