Commodities, Exploration/Development, Gold, News

Growth-hungry Newcrest hunts next Havieron

Newcrest

Newcrest Mining has used its presentation at the Diggers & Dealers conference in Kalgoorlie to voice its desire for new gold exploration opportunities.

“Exploration is a team sport, it’s not just something that one company can do on its own,” Newcrest general manager for exploration Fraser MacCorquodale said on the first day of the conference in the WA goldfields.

On the lookout for potential gold partners at Diggers & Dealers, MacCorquodale said Newcrest could bring more than 40 years of exploration experience and transactional flexibility to a joint venture (JV).

He said the company was agile, able to quickly complete a transaction and had “experience in quickly transforming opportunities into long-term mines”.

MacCorquodale said the Havieron project in WA was an example of Newcrest’s exploration credentials.

Currently owning a 70 per cent stake in Havieron, the major gold miner will soon decide on acquiring an additional 5 per cent interest from JV partner Greatland Gold for $US60 million.

Havieron has been an undoubted success story since the two companies inked a four-stage farm-in agreement to explore the project in March 2019.

This materialised into a fully-termed JV agreement in November 2020, and Newcrest and Greatland Gold have since achieved milestone after milestone.

Greatland Gold recently reported a $US1 billion increase in Havieron’s net-present value (NPV).

The project is valued at $US1.2 billion as at December 2021. When stage one of the Havieron pre-feasibility study (PFS) was released two months prior, Havieron was worth $US228 million.

The Havieron feasibility study remains on track for release in the December quarter of 2022.

Newcrest is also developing its Brucejack gold operation in Canada. Brucejack produced 90,408 ounces (oz) in the June quarter after delivering Newcrest 24,013oz in the March quarter following its acquisition in late February.

In Newcrest’s recent quarterly, managing director and chief executive officer Sandeep Biswas said the Brucejack journey was only just beginning.

“The three phase transformation program at Brucejack continues to progress well and we have a range of initiatives underway to maximise the long-term potential of this asset and district,” he said.

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