Greatland Gold plc, a mining development and exploration company with a focus on precious and base metals, has noted the release of an ASX announcement titled ‘Annual Results and Annual mineral resources and Ore Reserves Statement’ by Newcrest Mining Ltd, providing an update on the Havieron joint venture (JV).
Greatland retains 30% ownership of Havieron
Further to Greatland's announcement of 21 July 2022, Greatland is pleased to advise that Newcrest has elected not to exercise the option under the Havieron JV agreement to acquire an additional 5% interest in the JV from Greatland at the price of US$60 million determined by the independent adjudicator, which was based on data up to 15 December 2021.
The Board is delighted that Greatland will retain 30% ownership in the company's flagship asset and believes this outcome delivers substantial medium to long term value to Greatland. Greatland had previously made a non-binding offer to Newcrest to acquire for US$85 million a 5% stake in Havieron which, in the opinion of the directors, still presented a financially compelling outcome to Greatland shareholders.
This outcome concludes the JV process for Newcrest's 5% option. Havieron still has significant growth potential as the ongoing drill campaign consistently delivers excellent results that enhance the JV partners' understanding of the size and scale of Havieron.
Newcrest updated mineral resource
Newcrest has released an updated mineral resource for Havieron, which is within 1% of the total gold metal content and within 3% total copper metal content of Greatland's previously announced updated mineral resource.
Newcrest's updated mineral resource for the Havieron Deposit defines a total 85 million t at 2 g/t gold (Au) and 0.26% copper (Cu) for a total of 5.5 million oz of Au and 223 000 t of Cu. This updated Newcrest mineral resource was based on a 16 November 2021 drilling cut-off date similar to the Greatland updated mineral resource announced on 3 March 2022 based on a 2 December 2021 drilling cut-off date.
On 3 March 2022, Greatland published an updated mineral resources (including ore reserves) based on the same data, which demonstrated an increase to 92 million t at 1.9 g/t Au and 0.24% Cu for a total of 5.5 million oz Au and 218 000 t Cu or 6.5 million oz AuEq.
Havieron exploration and development update
The drill programme at Havieron is progressing at pace with up to seven drill rigs in operation. The growth drilling programme continues to identify and expand high grade extensions to the mineralisation in the Eastern Breccia, South East Crescent Zone and Northern Breccia.
Additionally, the development of the exploration decline has improved with advancement rates accelerating during the June 2022 quarter. Improvements are expected to continue.
Shaun Day, Managing Director of Greatland Gold plc, commented: “We are simply delighted that Greatland will retain its 30% interest in Havieron. This was the best possible outcome for the company and its shareholders which delivers substantial medium to long term value.
“Greatland had previously offered Newcrest significantly higher value to acquire a 5% stake from Newcrest which, in the opinion of the directors, still presented a financially compelling outcome to Greatland shareholders. Accordingly, today's outcome is tremendous, particularly in the context of the ongoing potential of Havieron.
“This outcome also concludes the JV process for Newcrest's 5% option and aligns both JV parties to focus on developing Havieron and work towards first production without the distraction of the process. We respect the Newcrest decision, which as a global major with over 35-years of experience in the Paterson, is an excellent joint venture partner and provides Havieron the benefit of leveraging the existing infrastructure just down the road at Telfer.
“We welcome Newcrest's update to the Havieron JORC resource today, which delivers around a 51% increase on their previous update. This update, with a December 2021 drill cut-off, is within around 1% for total gold metal content of Greatland's independent update released on 3 March 2022. This validation is a great credit to the quality of our technical team and their ability to deliver within compressed timeframes.
“An additional almost nine months has passed since the cut-off date, with drilling results over the course of 2022 being outstanding. Accordingly, there remains exceptional potential for ongoing growth.
“It is also pleasing to share today's update with respect to the positive progress on the Havieron decline, whereby development advance rates have accelerated towards the end of the June 2022 quarter and steady improvement is expected to continue.
“With excellent progress at Havieron continuing and the publication of the feasibility study on track for the December 2022 quarter, we are confident that Havieron represents a world-class, low-cost development expected to be fast-tracked to commercial production.”