Greatland Gold (GGP ) told investors that it has initiated underground decline access at the Havieron Gold-Copper Project which is located in the Paterson region of Western Australia.
The deposit, which is the precious and base metals exploration and development firm’s flagship asset, is held in a joint venture with Newcrest Mining. Havieron is located around 45km east of Newcrest's Telfer gold mine, processing plant and existing infrastructure.
Commenting on the news, Shaun Day, Chief Executive Officer of Greatland Gold, said "This is a momentous step in the development of Havieron as a world-class gold-copper mine.”
He said, “I am delighted by progress on site and this fast-tracked milestone is indicative of the potential scale of the deposit and the opportunity seen by our partners Newcrest.”
Following the commencement of the decline to develop the Havieron orebody, Greatland said a substantial ongoing growth drilling programme is presently underway at Havieron which is being undertaken in conjunction with the preparation of a Pre-Feasibility Study ("PFS").
Shares in Greatland Gold were trading 1.53% higher at 19.9p today following the news.
The PFS is expected to be released in late 2021. At the same time, Greatland is actively investigating a range of new opportunities in Australia for precious and strategic metals.
“By providing access to the top of the orebody, the decline sets Havieron on course to become a large, multi-commodity, bulk tonnage, underground mining operation. Alongside the ongoing growth drilling, the next key milestone will see the completion of a Pre-Feasibility Study and we are on track to deliver this in the second half of 2021,” added Day.
The Company added that the commencement of the decline by Newcrest Mining Limited ("Newcrest"), as Manager of the Joint Venture, follows receipt of the necessary regulatory approvals to commence construction activities (as announced on 29 December 2020).
Greatland highlighted to investors that looking forward, it is seeking to identify large mineral deposits in areas that have ‘not been subject to extensive exploration previously.’
‘It is widely recognised that the next generation of large deposits will come from such under-explored areas and Greatland is applying advanced exploration techniques to investigate a number of carefully selected targets within its focused licence portfolio,’ it said.
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