The Asia Miner

JAN-MAR 2016

The ASIA Miner - Reporting Important Issues to Mining Companies in the Asia Pacific Region

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Volume 13 • Issue 1 | 2016 | ASIA Miner | 3 Road to Success THERE are not many start-up projects in the global mining indus- try at present, particularly those involving junior companies, but a unique approach adopted by Havilah Resources and contractor Consolidated Mining and Civil (CMC) has enabled mining at the Portia Gold Project in South Australia to get under way. With Havilah unlikely to have raised development funds in the cur- rent climate and with the project not big enough to involve a third party investor, it must have seemed to the company's long suffering, but patient, shareholders that development of Portia would go the same way as most other new ventures with the metal remaining in the ground. However, the involvement of CMC in a unique joint venture has seen mining begin this year with frst gold expected within six months. CMC is undertaking all mining and will split the revenue 50:50 with Havilah. It seems hard to believe this approach hasn't been used before but it is a big up-front commitment for CMC, which must frst remove around 70 metres of overburden in the open pit before gold is accessed and before any income is earned. It works partly because Portia is a comparatively short life mine, with a fnite, gravity recoverable gold resource that is well quantifed. Although agreement was only reached in January 2015 and min- ing did not start until March 30, Havilah and CMC have already established a close working relationship which augurs well for the future of both. The story is not likely to end when the small Portia deposit is ex- hausted as there are other deposits on Havilah's tenements, includ- ing the very large Kalkaroo Copper-Gold Project 20km south of Por- tia. Havilah's properties are close to the border of New South Wales and not far from CMC's base of Broken Hill, one of the world's most iconic mining towns and birthplace of BHP. Havilah's managing director Dr Chris Giles said like most mines it has been a lengthy road leading to Portia's development. "We said before the GFC in 2007 that we were going to develop Portia and submitted all data to the Mines Department. However, owing to the presence of soft clay and sand overburden, they told us we should look at reducing the angle of the pit walls for increased stability. The gold price was about $600 or $700 an ounce and changing the an- gle would have meant the project was uneconomic. Then the GFC struck and presented more pressing economic issues. "We kept working on permitting and geotechnical aspects and in October 2014 received fnal approvals but our share price was at a near all-time low and banks weren't prepared to commit, which meant we couldn't get fnance or raise equity. "I had been aware of CMC and the Radford family for many years but had never met Steve Radford or his father Gary. Out of the blue Steve, CMC's owner, called and said he would like to meet because a colleague was interested in iron ore and wanted to talk about our prospect. We discussed this but the timing was not good for iron ore … and still isn't. Unique partnership brings Portia to life By John Miller, editor, The ASIA Miner By November 30 more than half of the overburden had been removed by CMC equipment at Havilah Resources' Portia project. The Portia Gold Project is in South Australia, not far from the border with NSW and the iconic mining town of Broken Hill.

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