Kingston secures $10m from resources fund to boost Mineral Hill gold-copper project
Kingston Resources (ASX:KSN) to resume underground drilling in late 2022; MRE upgrade in Q3
Source: iStock
Mentioned
KEY POINTS
- PURE Asset Management has awarded Kingston Resources a $10m debt facility to advance operations
- Kingston is to restart gold-copper open pit mining at Pearse and underground mine development at ‘SOZ’ target
- Resource updates for Pearse and SOZ expected by October
Kingston Resources (ASX:KSN) has today unveiled its receipt of a $10m debt facility from PURE Asset Management to advance works at the Mineral Hill copper-gold project.
In summary, Kingston receives $5m this month, and another in November.
The company is currently gearing up for a busy H2 2022 with the following items on its agenda:
Engineering study for the front end of its Mineral Hill processing plant
Mineral resource estimate upgrades
Geotechnical studies for the Pearse open pit mine
Underground refurbishment and geotech studies at the ‘SOZ’ target
Investors are likely to see upgraded mineral resource data hitting the market first, tipped to occur in Q3 2022 (read: by the end of September.)
Kingston's gold processing infrastructure
Drilling results inbound
In April, Kingston first announced its completion of drilling at the Pearse North and Pearse South targets, as well as SOZ.
The latter target is where Kingston intends to further develop an existing underground mine.
Results of that drilling campaign are expected to be reported over this month and next, and will inform an upcoming mineral resource estimate upgrade.
Underground drilling operations at SOZ, meanwhile, are tipped to launch in late 2022 once refurbishment works are complete.
Initial five year mine plan on the cards
Kingston expects its Mineral Hill copper-gold mine to extend for at least five years with future extensions on the table.
Approvals are in place for a restart to mining operations at the company’s acreage some 65km from Condobolin in NSW.
Existing processing infrastructure exists on-site, including a float circuit and gold mill outright.
The company notes it has reworked its logistics operations; ore concentrate will be trucked to Narromine some 40km from Dubbo, before being trained to Port Botany — a relatively straightforward passage to sales.
Previous owners’ tailings of commercial value
Kingston further highlights its receipt of cash flows in May and June from tailings deposits on-site.
Extreme weather in April and early May impacted operations. Overall gold sales in the June quarter were 32% higher than the first quarter of 2022.
Kingston's share price has sunk on floods, fear, and investor fatigue — but with gold sales and future exploration planned, is the stock overlooked?
