Kingston Resources continues to benefit from Mineral Hill tailings production
Kingston Resources’ (ASX: KSN) decision to resurrect the historic Mineral Hill mine in New South Wales continues to pay dividends with the company receiving significant new income from its current tailings production strategy.
The company’s decision to acquire Mineral Hill in late 2021 instantly transformed it from an explorer and developer best known for its Papua New Guinea ties, to a producer that continues to reap positive benefits.
Kingston has confirmed it sold 1,775 ounces of gold during May at a price of A$2,999 per ounce. The company produced 1,827 ounces of gold with a recovery rate of 61.0%.
Managing director, Andrew Corbett, said the results highlights the benefits of Kingston’s owner mining strategy and detailed cost focus.
“The Tailings project has delivered impressively on production and cash flow during May. In addition, the team is now turning its focus to the open pit and underground mining opportunities we have at Mineral Hill,” Mr Corbett said.
“Drilling continued during the month with the completion of several geotechnical diamond drill holes. The drill rig will now turn to resource expansion and exploration drilling. Numerous discoveries have been made throughout Mineral Hill’s history and we are certainly excited by the current drill targets we plan to drill within our mining lease and surrounding exploration license.”
New life for historic mine
Kingston’s strategy to revitalise Mineral Hill has brought new life to the historic mine.
The area was first explored in 1894 and has operated sporadically since that date.
The latest activity was undertaken by Kimberley Metals in 2008 where high-grade gold was mined at the Pearse open pit, as well as the Parkers Hill and the Southern Ore Zone underground operations.
The project was subsequently acquired by Quintana in 2016 out of administration and placed on care and maintenance before the start-up of tailings processing.
Kingston transformation deal
In November 2021, Kingston entered into a binding agreement with US-based Quintana to acquire a 100% interest in the mine for up to A$22.7 million.
Located 65km north of Condobolin, Mineral Hill has a long production history with reserves of 71,163oz gold and a resource base of 469,217oz gold equivalent.
Benefitting from a newly upgraded 400,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) carbon-in-leach (CIL) circuit, and an existing flotation plant, Kingston quickly transformed into a producer with rich tailings being processed through the CIL circuit.
Exploration upside to be tested
Importantly, the project has significant exploration potential with multiple targets located within the mining licence area hosting high-grade historic drilling results.
Following up that exploration upside will feature in the next phase of Kingston’s activities at Mineral Hill.
The company has recently re-entered the Mineral Hill underground circuit and commenced engineering programs targeting the recommencement of hard rock mining in 2024.
Initial underground activities have focused on safety checks, re-establishing ventilation, power, and pumping to allow safe access to proposed work areas.
The company has also made preparations for the commencement of an underground diamond drilling program to commence in the December quarter of 2023.
The company’s exploration plans are focusing on near mine production opportunities from both open pit and underground targets located on the existing mining licenses.
Kingston is looking to grow and update the existing eesource base to underpin mine feasibility work and approvals to ensure an immediate transition to open pit and/or underground feed at the completion of the tailings reprocessing.