Newcrest presses go on WA mine

Newcrest Mining has approved a $146 million early construction cost for its Havieron gold-copper project in Western Australia, which the company will develop alongside UK’s Greatland Gold.

It comes less than two months after Newcrest announced it had met Stage 3 expenditure requirements (being $US45 million) under its farm-in deal with Greatland, earning a further 20 per cent joint venture interest in Havieron.

Melbourne-based Newcrest now has a 60 per cent JV interest, and Greatland 40 per cent.

Today, Newcrest said it had received regulatory approvals to begin early works on the project, including construction of a box cut, exploration decline and supporting surface infrastructure.

The board has approved funding of $146 million for the remainder of the early works program.

That excludes a $US50 million loan to Greatland to fund its share in the early works program and growth drilling activities up to the completion of a pre-feasibility study for Havieron, expected late in the calendar year.

Newcrest managing director Sandeep Biswas said commercial production would begin within three years from the start of construction.

“Mineralisation remains open in multiple directions outside Havieron’s initial inferred mineral resource estimate and, with infrastructure in place at our nearby Telfer mine, we are excited about this growth project,” he said.

The initial inferred mineral resource estimate for Havieron stands at 52 million tonnes of gold at a grade of 2 grams per tonne of gold and 0.31 per cent copper for 3.4 million ounces of gold and 160,000 tonnes of copper.

Newcrest can earn a 70 per cent interest in the project if it spends a further $US20 million on exploration, and an additional 5 per cent at the end of the farm-in period.

The project sits 45 kilometres east of Newcrest’s Telfer goldmine, in WA’s Paterson Province.

Greatland Gold began exploring Havieron in 2018 before signing a farm-in deal with Newcrest in March 2019. Newcrest began drilling in the June quarter.

Shares in Newcrest were up 2 per cent at 2pm AEST, to trade at $26.57 per share.