Horizon Minerals has inked a land use agreement with the Marlinyu Ghoorlie Native Title Claimant group across almost all of the company’s 240 tenements in Western Australia’s Eastern Goldfields.
The voluntary agreement provides a solid and flexible way to manage how land and resources can be used by setting out the rights and interests of both parties where native title exists or may exist.
Protocols addressing issues such as access, compensation, heritage surveys, safeguards for protecting cultural heritage sites and procedures for activities under Horizon’s tenure are included in the agreement.
Horizon Minerals managing director and chief operating officer Grant Haywood said: “This landmark agreement reflects Horizon’s commitment to working in partnership with the Marlinyu Ghoorlie people in a spirit of goodwill and mutual respect.”
The land use deal allows Horizon Minerals to proceed with its development plans to become a mid-tier gold producer.
In May, the company issued an updated mineral resources statement, which outlined a total gold resource of 1.8 million ounces grading 1.84 grams per tonne (g/t).
The bulk of that inventory, however, sits in the company’s cornerstone Boorara open cut deposit near Northern Star’s giant Super Pit, which contains 428,000 ounces at 1.27g/t gold and its Burbanks project, nine kilometres south of Coolgardie, which holds 466,000 ounces grading 2,4g/t gold.
Ore mined from Boorara is currently processed through the Norton Gold Fields’ Paddington mill, generating a hefty $35.8 million in revenue in the September quarter. The company also collected a further $6.1 million in sales for the quarter from its Phillips Find deposit 45km northeast of Kalgoorlie, after splitting the spoils with its 50:50 joint venture partner, BML Ventures.
In addition to its mining activities, Horizon plans to fast-track the refurbishment of its 100 per cent-owned Black Swan processing plant near Kalgoorlie in preparation for the plant’s conversion from a nickel processing plant to a gold treatment plant. First gold production from Black Swan is slated for the end of 2026.
A pre-feasibility study for Black Swan remains on track for the end of the year. The study is being bolstered by ongoing resource growth drilling across Horizon's project portfolio, including a 30,000m program at Burbanks.
With traditional owner support now firmly in place and cash already flowing from Boorara, Horizon has removed a significant layer of development risk just as it pushes toward production scale.
Backed by a 1.8-million-ounce resource base, a refurbished Black Swan plant on the horizon and aggressive drilling underway, the company is steadily shaping itself into a credible mid-tier gold producer in the heart of WA’s Eastern Goldfields.
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