Sandfire, Havilah to advance Kalkaroo copper project in South Australia

Canadian mining institution Sandfire Resources has executed agreements with Havilah Resources to advancement the Kalkaroo Copper-Gold Project and signifier a strategical exploration concern successful South Australia's Curnamona Province.

Following a shareholder vote, Havilah received support to proceed with the transaction, allowing Sandfire to unafraid an 80% involvement successful the Kalkaroo project.

Kalkaroo is said to beryllium Australia's astir important undeveloped open-pit copper deposit based connected copper equivalent ore reserves, featuring a 0.74% copper equivalent grade.

It is location to measured, indicated and inferred Joint Ore Reserve Committee (JORC) mineral resources including 1.1 cardinal tonnes (mt) of copper, 3.1 cardinal ounces (moz) of golden and 23,200t of cobalt.

The acquisition involves an archetypal outgo of astir A$117.6m ($81.9m), comprising A$31.5m successful currency and 4,640,833 Sandfire shares.

Sandfire CEO and managing manager Brendan Harris said: “Execution of the definitive transaction agreements is an important milestone for our institution arsenic it provides the close to gain a controlling involvement successful a copper-gold assets and reserve that remains unfastened on onslaught and astatine depth, and has the imaginable to underpin a large-scale, long-life and low-cost improvement task located successful a preferred jurisdiction.

“We look guardant to moving with the Havilah team, the South Australian Government, the Traditional Owners and different section stakeholders to bring the Kalkaroo copper-gold task to beingness and make meaningful opportunities for the broader community.”

Sandfire's enactment to get the 80% involvement depends connected the completion of a caller pre-feasibility study, which volition diagnostic astatine slightest 20,000m of infill and assets hold drilling, oregon whitethorn beryllium exercised wrong a clip framework of 24 months.

Concurrently, Sandfire is acceptable to put A$30m successful determination exploration implicit a minimum of 2 years arsenic portion of the strategical confederation agreement.

Havilah method manager Chris Giles said: “Sandfire volition bring the important superior and method expertise that are required to afloat measure and make the ample Kalkaroo copper-gold task astatine an optimum scale. Havilah would clasp a important involvement successful the result via its retained 20% carried involvement successful the project.

“The A$30m strategical confederation backing committedness implicit 2 years volition let america to accelerate determination exploration with the nonsubjective of transforming the highly prospective Curnamona Province into Australia's adjacent large copper province, centred connected the Kalkaroo copper-gold task development.”