Black Cat Syndicate has locked in a turn-key funding package for its Kal East gold project in Western Australia, allowing it to focus on the highly anticipated Paulsens restart.
The funding is set to come in the form of an ore sale agreement with Paddington Gold, which will see ore from Kal East’s Myhree and Boundary open pits delivered to Paddington for processing.
Mining is expected to commence in the middle of the year, with 850,000 tonnes of ore stockpiles to be delivered to Paddington over 18 months from September. This will be carried out and funded by Mineral Mining Services, with Black Cat not having to contribute anything towards development.
Black Cat will receive the first $30 million generated by Paddington’s stockpile processing.
“These arrangements provide a turn-key solution to fund and operate Kal East’s Myhree and Boundary open pits,” Black Cat managing director Gareth Solly said.
“This enables Black Cat to maintain focus on the Paulsens restart, while receiving cashflow from a second production front at Kal East.
“We are looking forward to working with Mineral Mining Services and Paddington Gold on the mine development, haulage and processing of Ore from the Myhree and Boundary open pits.”
Black Cat controls around 1070 square kilometres of ground east of Kalgoorlie containing 1.294 million ounces of resources including 243 thousand ounces of ore reserves.
Black Cat acquired the Paulsens deposit from Northern Star Resources in June 2022, who had the mine in care and maintenance since 2017.
The company has seen strong progress on refurbishment works at the Paulsens gold operation, with planned activity commencing ahead of schedule.
Since then, the company has conducted detailed studies while carrying out an exploration campaign to expand the mine’s resource.
Black Cat expects to deliver first gold from Paulsens in the second half of 2024, aiming to produce 60,000–70,000 ounces per year, making the project one of Australia’s highest-grade gold deposits.
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