Boorara becomes Australia’s latest gold producer

Horizon Minerals has achieved its first gold pour at the Boorara project near Kalgoorlie, Western Australia.

The gold was poured on January 14, marking Horizon’s transition into gold production.

An ore sale agreement with Norton Gold Fields’ Paddington mill will see the processing of 1.24 million tonnes of Boorara ore from four open pits grading 1.24 grams per tonne (g/t) of gold. Horizon will target 49,500 ounces of gold production over an 18-month period.

Boorara was approved for development in July 2024 and has seen approximately 56,654 wet metric tonnes at 0.8g/t gold delivered to the Paddington mill last December and this month.

Open-pit mining continues safely across the project, though operations experienced delays due to water truck repairs required for dust suppression.

These issues have since been resolved, enabling uninterrupted progress at the Boorara pits as further stockpiles are prepared for haulage.

Horizon managing director and chief executive officer Grant Haywood expressed excitement at the company’s entry into gold production.

“We are delighted to become Australia’s newest gold producing company in 2025, we have a mineral resource of 1.8 million ounces across our projects and (are) developing a sustainable gold production pipeline which includes numerous projects that are ready for a final investment decision, such as Penny’s Find and the Cannon projects,” he said.

“With the cashflow we expect to generate from Boorara and our other advanced projects, we will seek to use this production pipeline to feed a refurbished Black Swan mill after completion of our proposed merger with Poseidon Nickel.”

Payments from the first stockpile of gold production are expected to commence around January 21, supporting the development of Horizon’s wider project portfolio.

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