Horizon Minerals (ASX:HRZ) is progressing a Prefeasibility Study (PFS) for the Black Swan Project in Western Australia, with GR Engineering Services in the final stages to refurbish and repurpose the project to a gold plant.
GR Engineering is currently completing the refurbishment of the existing comminution circuit and introducing a new gold carbon-in-lead processing facility. The plant has been designed for 1.5 million tonnes per year throughout with equipment sized to achieve a product size of P80 106μm.
Horizon, which has a market capitalisation of $141.55 million, expects to complete the PFS in the December 2025 quarter.
Once the PFS and Burbanks Scoping Study has been completed, the company will be able to make an informed decision for a final investment decision on the mill refurbishment and conversion of Black Swan to a gold plant.
Subject to the FID outcome, construction would begin in 2026.
CEO Grant Haywood says progressing the PFS is an important step in development and the growth pathway towards being a new, independent mid-tier gold producer.
“The study work is founded on robust technical and economic analysis of our assets and is advancing well,” Haywood says.
To date, process flow diagrams, mechanical equipment and electrical load lists, single line diagrams, and various other components have been completed.
The Black Swan Project was previously a nickel operation which began operating in 1997 until 2008. The project produced 178,500 tonnes of nickel concentrate over this period.
A key strategy behind the previously reported merger with Poseidon Nickel was the proximity of the Black Swan plant and infrastructure to Horizon’s gold resources and the wider Kalgoorlie Goldfields region.
Horizon holds a landholding with gold resources containing 30.55 million tonnes @ 1.84 grams per tonne gold for 1.8 million ounces.
On Tuesday 26 August, gold prices rose to US$3,370 ($5,187) per ounce, reaching its highest level in two weeks amid heightened political uncertainty, as reported by Trading Economics.
Gold’s spot price currently sits at US$3,391.3 per ounce, as of 8.30am AEST today.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: Horizon Minerals
