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HIGGINSVILLE GOLD OPERATIONS

Higginsville Mining

Higginsville Gold Operations Overview

Owned and operated by Karora Resources since June 10, 2019, the Higginsville Gold Operations ("HGO") are located approximately 75km south of the Beta Hunt Mine in Higginsville, Western Australia.

The operation includes a 1.6Mtpa processing plant, 192 mining tenements including the Aquarius, Hidden Secret, Mousehollow, Two Boys, Baloo, Pioneer, Fairplay North, Mitchell, Wills, Challenge and Mount Henry deposits.

History

Avoca Resources Limited (Avoca) initially purchased the Higginsville exploration assets from Gold Fields in June 2004. The Trident underground deposit, historically the largest deposit at HGO, was discovered by Avoca in 2004 with mining commencing at the deposit in 2007. In April 2007 Avoca raised A$125 million to commission a new process plant facility at Higginsville. In that same year Avoca purchased the neighbouring Chalice deposit from Chalice Gold Mines Limited. Gold production began in 2008 with the first gold pour on July 1, 2008.

Alacer Gold Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Alacer Gold a company incorporated in Canada, acquired HGO after it merged with Avoca Resources Limited (Avoca) in 2011.

On October 29, 2013 Alacer Gold Corporations completed the sale of its Australian Business Unit, which included HGO and its assets, to Westgold Resources Pty Ltd who was a wholly owned subsidiary of Metals X Ltd at that time.

In July, 2015 Metals X acquired the Mt Henry Gold Project from Panoramic Resources Ltd and Matsa Resources Limited.

On December 1, 2016 Westgold Resources Limited demerged from Metals X Ltd. Avoca remained a subsidiary of Westgold Resources Limited and was part of the resultant demerger.

Karora Resources acquired HGO outright on June 10, 2019 from Westgold Resources Limited.

Geology

Higginsville is located almost entirely within the well-mineralized Archean Kalgoorlie Terrane, between the gold mining centres of Norseman and Saint Ives. The Archaean stratigraphy has a general northward trend comprising multiply deformed ultramafic – gabbro – basalt successions adjoined by sediments to the west and east. Shearing and faulted contacts are common. The units have been structurally repeated by east over west thrust faulting.

The majority of gold mineralization projects along the Trident line-of-lode and is hosted by Poseidon Gabbro and high MgO dyke complexes. Mineralization is hosted within or marginal to quartz veining and is structurally and lithologically controlled. Higginsville is also host to significant palaeochannel mineralization. Mineralized zones comprise both placer gold, normally near the base of the channel-fill sequences, and chemically-precipitated secondary gold within the channel-fill materials and underlying saprolite. These gold concentrations commonly overlie, or are adjacent to, primary mineralized zones within Archaean bedrock.

Mining

Currently, Karora is mining from the Spargos open pit mine in the Higginsville Greater area and the Aquarius and Two Boys underground operations in the Higginsville Central Area.

Milling

Processing is conducted through Karora Resources' Higginsville processing plant.

Higginsville Mineral Reserves and Resources

Higginsville Gold Mineral Resources as at January 31, 2022

Mineral Resource Measured Indicated Measured & Indicated Inferred
  Kt g/t Koz Kt g/t Koz Kt g/t Koz Kt g/t Koz
HGO Central 847 3.1 85 3,380 2.8 307 4,227 2.9 392 1,724 3.1 172
HGO Greater 12,224 1.3 514 12,882 1.5 624 25,106 1.4 1,137 4,647 1.7 256
Stockpiles 2,378 0.8 58 - - - 2,378 0.8 58 - - -
Total 15,449 1.3 657 16,262 1.8 930 31,711 1.6 1,587 6,372 2.1 428

 

HGO Gold Mineral Reserves as at September 30, 2020

Mineral Reserve Proven Probable Proven & Probable
  Tonnes
kt		 Grade
g/t		 Ounces
koz		 Tonnes
kt		 Grade
g/t		 Ounces
koz		 Tonnes
kt		 Grade
g/t		 Ounces
koz
HGO Central 340 2.2 24 3,016 2.0 194 3,357 2.0 218
HGO Greater 7,988 1.3 333 5,454 1.5 268 13,442 1.4 602
Stockpiles 175 0.8 5 778 0.8 21 953 0.8 25
Total 8,503 1.3 362 9,249 1.6 483 17,752 1.5 845
 

Detailed Footnotes relating to Mineral Resource Estimates as at January 31, 2022

  1. Mineral Resources are not Mineral Reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability. There is no certainty that all or any part of the Mineral Resources estimated will be converted into Mineral Reserves.
  2. The Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources are inclusive of those Mineral Resources modified to produce Mineral Reserves.
  3. The Mineral Resource estimates include Inferred Mineral Resources that are normally considered too speculative geologically to have economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as Mineral Reserves. There is also no certainty that Inferred Mineral Resources will be converted to Measured and Indicated categories through further drilling, or into Mineral Reserves once economic considerations are applied.
  4. The Gold Mineral Resource are estimated using a long-term gold price of US$1,600/oz with a US: AUD exchange rate of 0.70.
  5. Gold Mineral Resources were estimated using variable cut-off grades considering variable operational costs: Beta Hunt and Higginsville Underground (Chalice, Trident and Aquarius) - 1.3g/t, Higginsville Open Pits (excluding Mt Henry Project) – 0.5g/t, Mt Henry Project – 0.4g/t, Spargos uses a 0.5 g/t Au cut-off grade above 300mRL and 1.6g/t below 300mRL.
  6. To best represent "reasonable prospects of eventual economic extraction" the mineral resource for open pits has been reported within optimized pit shells at A$2,285 (US$1,600) and, for underground resources, areas considered sterilized by historical mining are depleted from the Mineral Resource.
  7. Mineral Resource tonnage and contained metal have been rounded to reflect the accuracy of the estimate, and numbers may not add due to rounding.

Detailed Footnotes relating to Mineral Reserve Estimates as at September 30, 2020

  1. The Gold Mineral Reserves are estimated using a long-term gold price of US$1,400/oz with a US: AUD exchange rate of 0.70.
  2. Cut-off grades for open-pit mineral reserves vary from 0.50g/t to 0.85g/t. The cut-off grade takes into account dilution, mine recovery and operating mining, processing/haulage, sustaining capital and G&A costs. Dilution and recovery factors varied by deposit.
  3. At Beta Hunt, underground mineral reserves are reported at a 1.6g/t incremental cut-off grade.At Higginsville, underground mineral reserves cut-off grades vary between 1.6g/t (modified and diluted grade) to 2g/t (modified/diluted grade). The cut-off grade takes into account Operating Mining, Processing/Haulage and G&A costs, excluding capital.
  4. The Mineral Reserve is depleted for all mining to September 30, 2020.
  5. Mineral Reserve tonnage and contained metal have been rounded to reflect the accuracy of the estimate, and numbers may not add due to rounding.

 

Technical Reports

Technical Report Higginsville-Beta Hunt Operation Eastern Goldfields, Western Australia