Capricorn about to be W.A’s next gold producerMatt...

Capricorn about to be W.A’s next gold producer
Matt BirneySPONSORED
Monday, 13 August 2018 3:05PMMatt Birney

Capricorn Metals expects to receive the final government permit it needs to catapult the Karlawinda Gold Project into production near Newman in W.A, expected to be sometime before the end of August.

Receipt of the works approval notice will allow the company to progress towards securing finance and the final stages of the project development in late 2018.

Capricorn has also executed an agreement with iron ore miner Fortescue Metals Group to secure an accommodation camp and mining infrastructure facilities from the BCI Iron Nullagine project.


The accommodation camp includes 306 en-suited rooms, recreation facilities, laundries, kitchen and mess, gymnasium, first aid room, ice rooms and a reverse osmosis water treatment facility.

In addition, the acquired mining infrastructure includes substantial offices, 5 container dome workshops and training rooms.

Transportation of the camp and infrastructure, which is between 3 to 10 years old, is expected to be straightforward as it is located just 160km from Newman.

The company has issued McNally Constructions with a Letter of Intent for the award of a contract for the removal, relocation, refurbishment and installation of the accommodation camp at Karlawinda.

The company has also short-listed a number of contractors for mining at the project and will complete the evaluation process by the middle of this month.

Capricorn Executive Chairman Heath Hellewell said: “We have made outstanding recent progress on several fronts at Karlawinda as we move rapidly towards a final investment decision.”

Karlawinda company modelling shows an IRR of 36% with payback on the $132m capex expected within just 2.5 years.

The project has 892,000 ounces of gold reserves for a mine life of 8.5 years at an all in sustaining cost of $1038 an ounce.

Capricorn has already received a fixed contract price of $88.1m from GR Engineering to design and construct the processing plant with a further $5 million allocated for other supporting infrastructure.

The company has secured the water extraction permit that allows it to extract up to 4 gigalitres of water per year for the life of mine along with approvals for the Mining Proposal, Project Management Plan, Native Vegetation Clearing Proposal and Mine Closure Plan.

Karlawinda is a remarkably uncomplicated project and with just one key permit left to go, before Capricorn crosses that line into producer status that all ASX listed explorers covet.