The company estimates pre-production capital costs of $73.4 million. It comprises $88.5 million in capex including contingencies, offset by $15.1 million in pre-production revenue.

The all-in sustaining capital (AISC) costs for the mine life have been estimated at $184.2 million, including contingencies.

The Hillgrove project is aiming for annual gold production of 41,100 ounces of gold with 5400 annual tonnes of antimony – equal to about 80,000 gold equivalent ounces per annum. The plan is for 564,000 gold equivalent ounces to be mined during the project’s mine life.

The PFS has estimated an extremely low AISC of $820 per gold ounce with the antimony offsets. Using the current gold spot price, the AISC reduces to a ridiculous negative $82 per ounce, again due to the addition of the antimony revenue credits.

Management says it will now make an immediate push to undertake a definitive feasibility study (DFS), with completion expected by the end of the year. The short timeframe is due to the fact that many items are not required as they are already in place due to the level of existing extensive surface and underground infrastructure afforded to the project.

The focus in the DFS will be on optimising metallurgical testwork to maximise the free gold that can be extracted, with a further aim to increase concentrate production from processed ore. Larvotto is looking to have its project financing in place by early next year and is targeting first ore production by early 2026.

The project sits 23km east from the major regional city of Armidale in northern NSW and is ideally placed close to existing highways, rail links and regional airports.

Management says Hillgrove is Australia’s biggest antimony deposit and one of the world’s top 10. Demand for antimony, a critical metal used as an alloy to harden and strengthen other metals, is rising due to its use in solar panels for stability of the glass when exposed to ultraviolet rays, electronics and varied military uses.

The strategy of management is to advance the development of Hillgrove and continue to further explore its 254 square kilometres of ground to grow the existing resource. If it can succeed in expanding the gold and antimony resource and continue to benefit from rising prices for both commodities, Hillgrove may well be a project worth watching.

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