Havilah Resources has announced it will begin mining at the Portia gold mine 120km north-west of Broken Hill (SA) following the lodgement of an unconditional bank guarantee with the South Australian Department for State Development (DSD).
Havilah and Consolidated Mining & Civil Pty Ltd (CMC) are preparing the site with the installation of dewatering pumps and the construction of pipeline corridors to take place in the next few weeks.
Havilah has notified the SA Department of State Development of its intention to commence mining at Portia in February.
CMC have completed substantial road access upgrading work. This will be followed over the next few weeks by:
- Establishment of a 50 person camp and workshop facilities on site.
- Surveying the mine site and commencement of required siteworks.
- Installation of dewatering pumps, construction of pipeline corridors and a water storage dam, and commencement of de‐watering ahead of mining.
- Re‐establishment of a nearby airstrip.
- Mobilisation of heavy earthmoving equipment to site.
Commenting on the latest progress, Havilah’s Managing Director, Dr Chris Giles, said that the company’s notification to DSD of its intention to commence mining was an important statutory requirement.
“Since signing the mining agreement CMC and Havilah have been working tirelessly to complete all the documentation required to allow commencement of mining activities.
“At this stage CMC remains on track to commence mining and removal of overburden in mid‐March, with a lot of preparatory work continuing at site by both parties in the meantime,” he said.
CMC is a well‐respected and experienced Broken Hill‐based mining and civil contracting company with additional mining contracts currently in place with Cristal Mining and Perilya Limited. Havilah received full operational approval from the South Australian mining regulator in October, 2014 for the Portia project.
The mining plan is based on an optimised open pit design that aims to recover at least 80 per cent of the 67,000 ounce Portia JORC Inferred Resource (comprising 720,000 tonnes @ 2.9g/t of gravity recoverable gold. Under the terms of the mining agreement CMC will be responsible for all mining and related costs and will be entitled to 50 per cent of the revenue from the gravity recoverable gold.
