Hillgrove Assets (ASX:HGO,OTC Pink:HLGVF) mentioned on Monday (March 17) that it’s accelerating growth of the Nugent deposit at its Kanmantoo copper mine after elevating AU$16 million.
The corporate secured AU$13 million by a placement to institutional and complex buyers, and raised AU$3 million by way of a share buy plan that was open to present shareholders.
“Following the success of the latest wonderful Nugent drilling outcomes, our technical staff have recognized a path to speed up the Nugent manufacturing profile,” mentioned CEO and Managing Director Bob Fulker in a March 5 launch.
Fulker was referring to outcomes from a latest drilling program on the South Australia-based operation, together with 18.55 metres at 5.69 p.c copper and 1.02 grams per tonne gold — considerably larger than the useful resource grade.
“This acceleration will permit the Kanmantoo underground mine to extend manufacturing as much as 1.8Mtpa, with elevated manufacturing of copper models and a fabric consequential lower in our unit prices,” he added.
The corporate mentioned the goal enlargement for the mining and processing price is roughly 25 p.c, noting that it expects to see adjustments inside the first six months of 2026.
Hillgrove additionally mentioned it has entered into related key contracts to begin work on the decline to entry ore.
Its present contractor, PJL, will provide and preserve the requisite mining gear, whereas development engineering firm Redpath will present labour for the undertaking. Each contractors are scheduled to begin work in April.
Positioned roughly 55 kilometres from Adelaide, Kanmantoo operated as a collection of open pits from 2010 to 2020. Hillgrove started underground mining on the website in Could 2023, declaring business manufacturing in July 2024.
The undertaking has three manufacturing areas: Kavanagh, Spitfire and Nugent. The primary two are presently in operation.
“Having three lively mining areas will improve the effectivity and suppleness of underground mining operations at Kanmantoo in addition to offering a extra diversified base of feed to our plant,” Fulker added.
Hillgrove efficiently restarted the three.6 million tonne per 12 months processing plant on the website in 2018.
First ore processing from Nugent is anticipated within the fourth quarter of 2025, whereas ore from the deposit is predicted to be delivered to the plant within the first half of 2026. It plans to finish 60,000 metres of drilling on the website this 12 months.
Copper attracting consideration in Australia
In an interview with the Investing Information Community, Man Le Web page, director at RM Company Finance, mentioned that copper, uranium and choose crucial minerals are presently gaining consideration in Australia.
The pink metallic is a strategic ingredient within the nation’s street to internet zero, as it’s typically used for renewable power improvements comparable to electrical automobiles, wind generators and photo voltaic panels.
Mining big BHP (ASX:BHP,NYSE:BHP,LSE:BHP) is projecting a 70 p.c improve in copper demand by 2050, giving Hillgrove and different corporations extra causes to spice up their output of the important thing commodity.
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Securities Disclosure: I, Gabrielle de la Cruz, maintain no direct funding curiosity in any firm talked about on this article.
