Enter Australia and in particular, the nation’s gold producers. With a looming shortage of antimony and prices reaching US$25,000 (AU$37,600) a tonne, the ASX announcement board has lit up in the past couple of weeks with gold companies all dusting off the antimony file in the back room and revisiting assays.
And some are getting close to producing. Below are a few of the listed companies, which recently unveiled antimony interests.
At the top of the list must beLarvotto Resources.Just nine months ago, the company bought the Hillgrove gold and antimony project from administrators for $8 million, inclusive of a $5 million environmental bond.
Even more pleasingly, the project came with plant and equipment with $150 million replacement value.
Since then and surely proving up the Hillgrove purchase as one of the best deals of the year, Larvotto concluded from its recent prefeasibility study (PFS) that the Hillgrove project, with a modest $73 million in capital expenditure, will be capable of producing 41,000 ounces of gold and 5400 tonnes of antimony per annum during a seven-year mine life. It will spit out an estimated EBITDA of $93 million annually at current prices and pay back the project back within two years.
Unsurprisingly, the company’s share price has risen 235 per cent since mid-last month to 40c a share.
A picturesque view of Larvotto Resources’ Hillgrove antimony mine in NSW. It is no surprise Larvotto Resources has drawn attention from traders and top end investors, as every report published you read on Antimony puts Larvotto LRV as number one
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