Avoca to raise $25M, Higginsville on target
Colin Jacoby -- MINING NEWS --
Wednesday, 14 January 2009
AVOCA Resources plans to boost its coffers by $A25 million while December quarter production results from the Higginsville gold project in the Eastern Goldfields were in line with company expectations.
The Perth-based company said the proposed capital raising would fund the construction of a paste fill plant to maximise the extraction of high-grade ore at Trident, which is expected to cost $15 million, and also provide working capital.
During the December quarter, the company produced 27,856 ounces of gold at a throughput grade of 3.31 grams per tonne gold with 264,415 tonnes of ore processed.
Avoca sold 27,721oz gold at an average price of $A1192/oz and recoveries from the plant averaged 96.8%.
The company said development began during the quarter on the thick high-grade 1005 level of the Western Zone where a 25m thick ore zone was mined at an average grade of 9.4gpt gold.
Exploration at Trident continued to deliver success with the discovery of a new ore zone called Eos, identified over a 200m strike and lying adjacent to the Western Zone.
Meantime, recent underground drilling has confirmed the Western Zone and the Apollo Zone at Higginsville merge to define the same mineralised structure.
Drill results returned from the merged zone included 33.7m at 9.8gpt gold and 35m at 6.7gpt gold.
Shares in Avoca will remain in a trading halt until the proposed capital rising has been completed.
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