Materials

Kingston secures $10m from resources fund to boost Mineral Hill gold-copper project

Thu 07 Jul 22, 2:32pm (AEST)
Gold ingots are laid out in a square with two ingots placed diagonally on top
Source: iStock

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
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?
Kingston's share price has sunk on floods, fear, and investor fatigue — but with gold sales and future exploration planned, is the stock overlooked?

 

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Written By

Jonathon Davidson

Finance Writer

Jonathon is a journalism graduate and avid market watcher with exposure to governance, NGO and mining environments. He was most recently hired as an oil and gas specialist for a trade publication.

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