Cortona gets green light for Dargues Reef
THE BOURSE WHISPERER: Emerging gold miner Cortona Resources has been given the go-ahead by the NSW Planning Assessment Commission to develop its Dargues Reef gold mine.
Not only will Dargues Reef be Australia’s newest gold mine its location, 60 kilometres east of Canberra, makes it the first significant new gold mine to be permitted in NSW in over seven years.
“This is a major milestone for Cortona, our shareholders, our local communities and the State of New South Wales,” Cortona Resources managing director Peter van der Borgh said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.
“We are absolutely delighted to have received the green light to build a new state-of-the-art gold mine at Dargues Reef, which will be a model of environmental excellence.
“It’s great to be involved in the development of a new resource project that will make a positive contribution to Australia and a number of local New South Wales communities at a time of economic hardship across many other sectors of the economy.”
Cortona expects the Dargues Reef gold project to generate approximately 100 jobs during construction and approximately 80 long-term jobs during ongoing mining and processing operations, many of which will be sourced from local communities.
Over its initial six year life the mine is anticipated to generate around $160 million free cash flow at the current gold price.
Its proximity to Canberra is ironically highlighted by the expected contribution it will make in regards to Government royalties and taxes.
Cortona has already completed most pre-construction activities and awarded key construction and mining contracts for the project.
“There couldn’t be a better time to be building a new gold mine with the gold price recently touching record highs of over A$1,800 per ounce, and we are very much looking forward to getting on with the job of building Australia’s newest gold mine,” van der Borgh said.
A Definitive Feasibility Study completed last year confirmed the technical and economic viability of a start-up underground mining operation at Dargues Reef.
The mine is forecast to produce an average of 50,000 ounces of gold a year.
The current mining inventory does not include the recently discovered Ruby Lode, which has returned assays including 12.6 metres at 9.90 grams per tonne gold, or Chinaman’s Prospect, which returned 4m at 28 g/t gold.
Both discoveries are located less than 200m from the proposed development portal.
The inventory does also not include depth and strike extensions of Dargues Reef where nearby shallow mineralisation will be the focus of the company’s upcoming drilling campaign.
The recent discoveries have highlighted the potential for increased near-term production and mine life, with the resource remaining open at depth.
Cortona is about to resume drilling at Dargues Reef with a rig scheduled to arrive shortly.
This will initially target extensions to recently discovered mineralisation at the Ruby Lode, Copper Ridge and Excalibur (formerly Exeter Farm) deposits.
A recent intercept of 2m at 15.3 g/t gold at the recently discovered Chinamans Lode has been returned from beneath a previous intercept of 4m at 28.0 g/t gold.
Cortona said this also highlights the potential for additional high-grade gold well within development range of the current mine plan.
The company said it is looking forward to resuming exploration and moving ahead with the financing and development of the mine Dargues Reef as the foundation for a long-life, profitable gold business.