Horizon Minerals to start mining Phillips Find near Coolgardie now approval has been given

Mining for gold at the Phillips Find project near Coolgardie will start in the coming weeks, with Horizon Minerals have received the necessary approvals for the operation.

The Ashok Parekh-chaired company told the Australian Securities Exchange on Tuesday that a 200-tonne excavator and two blast hole rigs had been mobilised, with haul trucks arriving this week.

Horizon said site clearing works were under way, and offices and workshop were being established.

Horizon will mine two open pits at Phillips Find in a joint venture with Kalgoorlie-Boulder contractor BML Ventures.

BML will undertake all management, technical, operational and maintenance roles, and fund all project costs, with net cashflow after asset recovery and repayment of costs to be split 50:50 between Horizon and BML.

The Department of Energy, Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety has approved the mining proposal.

The ore will be stockpiled and sent to FMR Investments’ nearby Greenfields Mill for processing from next February through to June, Horizon said.

Horizon managing director Grant Haywood said with the start of operations at Phillips Find, and mining already under way at the Boorara project south-east of Kalgoorlie-Boulder, the company would be generating income from two independent assets in a strong gold price environment.

“This is another major achievement for Horizon, creating significant cashflows and value from our suite of in-ground assets on our path to be a long-term sustainable gold producer,” he said.

Horizon acquired Phillips Find, 45km north-west of Coolgardie, in its recent merger with Greenstone Resources.

The company in August said it produced about 33,000 ounces of gold between 1998 and 2015 from three open-pit operations — Bacchus Gift, Newhaven and Newminster.

It said Phillips Find had a mineral resource estimate of 730,000 tonnes at 2.3g per tonne for 54,360oz, including 540,000t at 2.4g/t for 41,650oz in the indicated category.

Horizon said the plan was to cut back the Newminster and Newhaven open pits across about 11 months