Heavy Minerals (ASX:HVY) has awarded mining services firm IHC Mining the contract for the Prefeasibility Study (PFS) work at the Port Gregory Project in Western Australia starting this week.
The $5.47 million market capitalisation company says the PFS is expected to be completed in Q1 2024, with multiple development options to be explored to provide the company with optionality to maximise the net present value (NPV) of the project.
As of 11:25am AEDT on Tuesday 3 October, Heavy Minerals’ share price had increased by 15.789% to $0.11.
IHC Mining is a mineral sands engineering consultancy with more than 100 years of global experience in the mining sector.
Heavy Minerals says the battery limits of the PFS are from mine production through to delivery of finished production to port, with key deliverables of the study including site layout and overall site 3D model; options analysis and selection; capital cost estimate; and operating cost estimate.
The study team is to be led by engineers who worked directly on the Port Gregory Scoping Study (PGSS) and preliminary economic assessment (PEA).
The learnings from this project, as well as other mineral sand projects IHC Mining have undertaken, will be applied to Heavy’s PFS, providing the company with a ‘best-in-class’ outcome.
Commenting on the PFS, Heavy Minerals Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Andrew Taplin says: “We are pleased to be awarding IHC Mining the Port Gregory PFS following the excellent work done by IHC during the company’s Scoping Study and Preliminary Economic Assessment announced in September of last year.
“Completion of the PFS will be a significant milestone for the company as it progresses towards the development of Western Australia’s next world-class industrial garnet mine at Port Gregory”
Completion of the PFS will be a significant milestone for the company as it progresses towards the development of Western Australia’s next world-class industrial garnet mine at Port Gregory.”
Heavy Minerals is a mineral sands and industrial minerals company with a portfolio of projects considered prospective for garnet, zircon, rutile and ilmenite.
The company’s Port Gregory project is located in Western Australia and currently holds a JORC 2012 measured, indicated and inferred Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) of 166 million tonnes (Mt) @ 4% total heavy minerals, which includes 5.9Mt of contained garnet and 260,000 tonnes of Ilmenite.
Heavy Minerals had $320,000 cash and cash equivalents at hand as of 30 June 2023. However, it entered into royalty funding agreements with unrelated subscribers on 29 September and raised $500,000.
The funds raised from the royalty funding will be put towards the PFS.
Write to Adam Drought at Mining.com.au
Images: Heavy Minerals
