Red River Resources Limited (ASX:RVR) has obtained written approval from the New South Wales Minister for Regional NSW, Industry and Trade for the acquisition of four exploration licences held by Hillgrove Mines.
The approval is the final pending condition for the transaction to occur under the conditions of title of all exploration licences granted under the Mining Act 1992 (NSW).
Control of Hillgrove Mines is scheduled to transfer to Red River in about two weeks.
High-grade mineral resource
Red River managing director Mel Palancian said approval from the NSW Government was an important step in the company’s acquisition of Hillgrove.
Included in the transaction is project infrastructure such as the process plant, surface and underground development, underground mining fleet and resource definition drilling with a historical cost of more than $180 million is including in the transaction.
The mine has a high-grade mineral resource of 2.8 million tonnes at 5.1 g/t gold and 1.7% antimony (or 7.5 g/t gold equivalent) amounting to 459,000 ounces of gold and 48,0000 tonnes of antimony.
Significant exploration upside
The 425-square-kilometre tenement holding also contains more than 200 known gold-antimony with tungsten occurrences, indicating significant exploration upside.
Hillgrove historically produced more than 730,000 ounces of gold in concentrate and bullion as well as 50,000 tonnes antimony in concentrate and metal, plus a tungsten by-product.
Once the transaction is complete, environmental bonds worth $4.3 million will be transferred to Red River.
As of June 30, Red River had $25.9 million cash and $8.5 million in financial assets.
Gold exposure as Australian gold price near all-time highs
Palancian said: “Hillgrove is an exciting project for us, providing Red River with exposure to gold while the Australian dollar gold price is near all-time highs and it’s in a great location with substantial prospectivity.
“We are looking forward to moving onto the next step to replicate the success we have achieved at our Thalanga Operations at Hillgrove.”
Building multi-asset operating business
Red River is seeking to build a multi-asset operating business focused on base and precious metals with the objective of delivering prosperity through lean and clever resource development.
The company’s foundation asset is the Thalanga Base Metal Operation in northern Queensland, which was acquired in 2014 and where Red River began copper, lead and zinc concentrate production in September 2017.
Hillgrove’s acquisition will position Red River to begin operating as a multi-asset, multi-commodity business focused on base and precious metals.