West Australian Article31 Jan 2020 07:55
https://thewest.com.au/business/mining/havieron-firms-as-new-mine-for-newcrest-ng-b881448004z?utm_campaign=share-icons&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&tid=1580456177693
Here's the text from the article - Thanks to Lester on Hotcopper for providing it.
HAVIERON HOPES HIGH
STUART MCKINNON
Newcrest Mining is growing increasingly confident the Havieron copper-gold discovery in the remote East Pilbara will become its next greenfields underground mine.
The company is ramping up drilling at the deep find 45km east of its existing Telfer operation and is committed to delivering a maiden ore resource by the end of the year.
The Melbourne-based miner announced more high-grade drilling results from Havieron yesterday, including 14.6m at 9.1 grams per tonne gold and 0.48 per cent copper from a depth of 705m.
It plans to drill up to another 30,000m over the next two quarters and continue environmental, geotechnical and metallurgical studies to support the maiden resource estimate and future permitting of the project.
Newcrest managing director Sandeep Biswas said the recent drilling results signalled the potential for renewal of the company’s asset portfolio in the Paterson province. “The grades we are seeing are unique for this region and we are excited to progress and accelerate our evaluation of this opportunity,” he said.
The miner is not deterred by the depth of the resource given its experience with block-cave mining methods at its 1.6kmdeep Cadia goldmine in New South Wales. Mr Biswas said the recent drilling results vindicated the company’s strategy of searching deep undercover and reflected its “unique capability to efficiently mine deep ore bodies”.
The company said its recent drilling, which included 18 holes covering 18,888m, at Havieron had demonstrated continuity of mineralisation over 450m of strike, up to 150m wide and more than 600m deep.
“A zone of higher-grade mineralisation has been defined within the broader mineralised envelope,” the company noted, with the ore body remaining open to the northwest and at depth.
Newcrest is likely to truck ore from Havieron to its existing processing facilities at Telfer, which could transform the future of the ageing operation, having operated for years as a marginal, low-grade mine.
Mr Biswas has previously suggested Telfer could also offer a potential processing option for other regional players in the Paterson province.
The area has become a hot exploration region in recent times after Rio Tinto this year unveiled its Winu copper-gold discovery, about 120km north of Telfer.
Newcrest got its foothold in Havieron in March last year when it entered into a farm-in agreement with London-listed Greatland Gold.
The agreement followed stunning, deep intersections returned by the London-listed explorer at Havieron late last year, including 275m at 4.77 grams per tonne gold and 0.61 per cent copper.
Cont.