With a grade of more than 6g/t gold equivalent – which can be broken down to 4.5g/t gold and 1.2 per cent antimony – the project cost Larvotto just $3 million, with about a further $5 million required to for the replacement of environmental bonds in compliance with NSW laws.

Significantly, the acquisition also includes an operational processing plant, which was put on care and maintenance in 2021. It features a 250,000 tonnes per annum capacity and came with associated infrastructure.

That makes it a serious financial bonus for the company as it would be looking at a bill likely to be north of $200 million to build the plant from scratch.

More than 204 individual mineral occurrences have been identified to date in the greater region, with the mineralisation developed as strike-extensive veins extending through 20km, with potentially depth-extensive, steeply-dipping fissures.

The area has been mined since the 1870s and the Hillgrove operations have produced more than 740,000 ounces of gold and about 40,000 tonnes of antimony. It is believed to be Australia’s biggest antimony deposit and also sits in the world’s top 10 resources for the silvery metalloid.

In addition, more than 2000 tonnes of scheelite concentrate, the principal ore mineral of tungsten, have been produced from the area.

During the production years at the operation from 1982, most processing focus was on antimony production rather than gold, which management says resulted in a considerable amount of gold being deposited in the tailings dam.

With the latest testing and sampling results set to be used to complete an upcoming preliminary feasibility study – not to mention recent record price highs for both gold and antimony – the market will be keeping a close eye on what Larvotto can deliver as it looks to bring Hillgrove back into production.

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