Hillgrove Assets (ASX:HGO,OTC Pink:HLGVF) stated on Monday (March 17) that it’s accelerating development of the Nugent deposit at its Kanmantoo copper mine after elevating AU$16 million.
The corporate secured AU$13 million by way of a placement to institutional and complicated traders, and raised AU$3 million by way of a share buy plan that was open to current shareholders.
“Following the success of the current wonderful Nugent drilling outcomes, our technical group have recognized a path to speed up the Nugent manufacturing profile,” stated CEO and Managing Director Bob Fulker in a March 5 release.
Fulker was referring to outcomes from a current drilling program on the South Australia-based operation, together with 18.55 metres at 5.69 % copper and 1.02 grams per tonne gold — considerably greater than the useful resource grade.
“This acceleration will enable the Kanmantoo underground mine to extend manufacturing as much as 1.8Mtpa, with elevated manufacturing of copper models and a fabric consequential lower in our unit prices,” he added.
The corporate stated the goal growth for the mining and processing charge is roughly 25 %, noting that it expects to see modifications inside the first six months of 2026.
Hillgrove additionally stated it has entered into related key contracts to start out work on the decline to entry ore.
Its current contractor, PJL, will provide and preserve the requisite mining gear, whereas development engineering firm Redpath will present labour for the venture. Each contractors are scheduled to start out work in April.
Positioned roughly 55 kilometres from Adelaide, Kanmantoo operated as a collection of open pits from 2010 to 2020. Hillgrove started underground mining on the website in Might 2023, declaring industrial manufacturing in July 2024.
The venture has three manufacturing areas: Kavanagh, Spitfire and Nugent. The primary two are at present in operation.
“Having three energetic mining areas will improve the effectivity and suppleness of underground mining operations at Kanmantoo in addition to offering a extra diversified base of feed to our plant,” Fulker added.
Hillgrove efficiently restarted the three.6 million tonne per 12 months processing plant on the website in 2018.
First ore processing from Nugent is anticipated within the fourth quarter of 2025, whereas ore from the deposit is predicted to be delivered to the plant within the first half of 2026. It plans to finish 60,000 metres of drilling on the website this 12 months.
Copper attracting consideration in Australia
In an interview with the Investing Information Community, Man Le Web page, director at RM Company Finance, stated that copper, uranium and choose essential minerals are at present gaining consideration in Australia.
The purple steel is a strategic component within the nation’s street to web zero, as it’s typically used for renewable vitality improvements comparable to electrical autos, wind generators and photo voltaic panels.
Mining big BHP (ASX:BHP,NYSE:BHP,LSE:BHP) is projecting a 70 % improve in copper demand by 2050, giving Hillgrove and different firms extra causes to spice up their output of the important thing commodity.
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Securities Disclosure: I, Gabrielle de la Cruz, maintain no direct funding curiosity in any firm talked about on this article.