Havieron is a high-grade gold-copper project centered on a deep magnetic anomaly located within Mining Lease M45/1287 in the Paterson Province of Western Australia, approximately 485km southeast of the town of Port Hedland and 45km east of Telfer.
Havieron was discovered by Greatland in 2018 and is currently being advanced under an unincorporated joint venture between Greatland Pty Ltd (30%), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Greatland, and Newcrest Operations Limited (70%), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Newcrest Mining Limited (Newcrest; ASX:NCM), pursuant to the Havieron Joint Venture Agreement which the parties entered into on 29 November 2020. Newcrest Operations is currently the manager of the Havieron Joint Venture.
Havieron is located approximately 45km east of Newcrest’s Telfer gold-copper mine. This allows the project to potentially leverage Telfer’s existing infrastructure and processing plant, subject to a positive Havieron Feasibility Study and Decision to Mine, and a toll processing agreement being signed by the Havieron Joint Venture participants in respect of toll processing of Havieron ore at Telfer.
A Havieron Feasbility Study is required before a Decision to Mine can be made. The Havieron Feasibility Study was previously expected to be completed by the end of 2022, but was extended to allow further time to optimise the project.
Various workstreams to support the Havieron Feasibility Study, including geotechnical and hydrogeological data collection and modelling, ore characterisation testwork, process plant design, mining trade-off studies (including refrigeration, ventilation, material movement, and paste fill design) and infrastructure assessments (including power, haulage, water and tailings) are continuing to be progressed with several value enhancing options underway to maximise value and de-risk the project.
Location and Tenure
The Havieron deposit is located within Mining Lease M45/1287 in the Paterson Province of Western Australia, approximately 485km southeast of the town of Port Hedland and 45km east of Telfer.
M45/1287 covers an area of 38km² and wholly replaced a 12-block area of exploration licence E45/4701 (the remaining blocks covered by E45/4701, that is, those blocks which were not converted to M45/1287, are now referred to as the Scallywag licence / tenement).
M45/1287 was granted on 10 September 2020 for an initial term to September 2041. M45/1287 is situated on unallocated Crown land and no pastoral tenure exists within the tenement.
Geology and Mineralisation
The Havieron deposit comprises a series of nested vertically extensive breccia columns that coalesce into a large volume of mineralisation occurring along the contacts of a multiphase diorite dyke complex trending northwest-southeast and dipping to the southwest. Hydrothermal breccias are volumetrically most important where they coalesce to define the SE Crescent mineralised domain but continue to be found elsewhere in the system (e.g., the NW Pod and the Eastern Breccia mineralised domains). The SE Crescent has previously been referred to as the ‘South East Crescent Zone’, ‘South East Crescent’ and ‘SE Crescent Zone’.
The SE Crescent itself lies along the southeast margin of a broader zone of hydrothermal carbonate-quartz-sulphide-actinolite-biotite-cemented breccias, veins and replacements, defining an ovoid zone (650m x 350m) of calc-silicate alteration that is the footprint of the Havieron deposit.
Mineralisation has been observed to over 1,000m in vertical extent below 420m of post-mineralisation Permian cover sequence. The breccia is intruded by a 20m to 30m wide north-northeast trending steeply east dipping post-mineralisation dolerite dyke.
The key mineralised domains consist of the SE Crescent and surrounding mineralised cemented breccias (separated into calcite cemented breccia and actinolite cemented breccia) while non-mineralised domains include crackle breccia, bedded sediment, post-mineralisation dolerite and Permian cover. The SE Crescent has continued to be the focus of drilling and has been progressively infilled to a nominal drill spacing of 50m for Indicated Mineral Resources, and 75m spacing for Inferred Mineral Resources.
The Eastern Breccia complex comprises a separate body of mineralisation located on the northeast margin of the ovoid body developing around the 4,000mRL (850m below the Permian unconformity), but open at depth and along strike. The Eastern Breccia comprises broad zones of actinolite cemented breccia hosted in metasediment rocks, with more abundant vein quartz and less calcite breccia than the main Havieron deposit breccias. The Eastern Breccia Mineral Resource is drilled to a nominal 75m x 75m spacing.
3D view showing the spatial association of the SE Crescent, NW Pod and Eastern Breccia targets in relation to the existing mineralised extents at Havieron
3D Model
An interactive 3-dimensional (3D) model of the Havieron project is available to view by clicking the link below.
The Havieron project 3D model is for illustrative purposes only and uses previously reported JORC Mineral Resource and Reserve estimates and drill results released by Greatland up to July 2023. Any future production at Havieron is subject to a positive Feasibility Study and Decision to Mine.
History
September 2016
Greatland agreed to acquire E45/4701 from Pacific Trends Resources Pty Ltd. E45/4701 was formerly commonly referred to as ‘the Havieron project’ or ‘the Havieron exploration licence’ however following the grant of M45/1287 on 10 September 2020 which wholly-replaced a 12-block area of EL45/4701, the remaining blocks covered by E45/4701 were thereafter referred to as the Scallywag licence / tenement.
2018
Excellent results from Greatland's first two drilling programmes, with drill hole HAD005 returning significant widths of mineralisation, with a total combined intercept of 275m at 4.77g/t Au and 0.61% Cu from 479m, divided between an upper zone of 118m at 3.08g/t Au and 0.84% Cu from 459m to 577m and a lower zone of 157m at 6.04g/t Au and 0.44% Cu from 660m to 817m.
12 March 2019
Greatland signed the Havieron Farm-In Agreement with Newcrest to accelerate exploration at Havieron pursuant to which Newcrest would be entitled to earn up to a 70% participating interest in the Havieron Joint Venture if it funded total expenditure of at least US$65 million and met certain project milestones and, following the satisfaction of these milestones, had an option to acquire an additional 5% participating joint venture interest.
29 November 2020
Greatland signed the Havieron Joint Venture Agreement with Newcrest which governs the ownership, governance and activities of the Havieron Joint Venture.
January 2021
Early works and construction activities commenced at Havieron in January 2021. Completion of the box cut and portal enabled the commencement of the underground decline in May 2021.
12 October 2021
Newcrest completed a pre-feasibility study (on behalf of the Havieron Joint Venture) in respect of Havieron, based on a 5 February 2021 information cut-off date comprising 224 drill holes for a total of 150,641m of drilling.
December 2021
Newcrest issued a notice to Greatland to begin a process under the Havieron Joint Venture Agreement to determine the exercise price with respect to the option for Newcrest to acquire an additional 5% in the Havieron Joint Venture from Greatland at fair market value (which, if exercised, would increase Newcrest's participating interest in the Havieron Joint Venture from 70% to 75%) under the prescribed process and principles set out in the Havieron Joint Venture Agreement.
3 March 2022
Greatland announced an updated Mineral Resource (inclusive of Ore Reserves) estimate for Havieron of 92Mt at 1.9g/t Au and 0.24% Cu for 5.5Moz Au and 218kt Cu (6.5Moz AuEq) and Ore Reserves estimate for Havieron of 25Mt at 3.0g/t Au and 0.44% Cu for 2.4Moz Au and 109kt Cu (2.9Moz AuEq), based on a 2 December 2021 information cut-off date comprising 311 drill holes for 209,911m of drilling.
July 2022
The Havieron 5% Option Process (referred to above) resulted in an independent expert determining the applicable option exercise price to be US$60 million for which Newcrest could acquire an additional 5% participating interest in the Havieron Joint Venture from Greatland. In August 2022, Newcrest elected not to exercise this option and, following the lapse of the option, Greatland's participating interest in the Havieron Joint Venture remains at 30%.
Farm-In and Joint Venture Arrangement
On 12 March 2019, Greatland entered into the Havieron Farm-In Agreement with Newcrest under which Newcrest could earn up to a 70% interest in the Havieron tenement area (now M45/1287) and the Havieron Joint Venture by incurring expenditure of at least US$65 million and meeting certain project milestones comprising the delivery of a pre-feasibility study and incurring at least US$20 million towards a feasibility study within certain prescribed timeframes. Following the satisfaction of these milestones, Newcrest also had an option to acquire an additional 5% participating joint venture interest at fair market value.
On 29 November 2020, following Newcrest acquiring its initial 40% interest in, and the formation of, the Havieron Joint Venture, Greatland and Newcrest entered into the Havieron Joint Venture Agreement to regulate their joint venture relationship, including as to ownership, governance and activities of the Havieron Joint Venture.
Newcrest completed its farm-in and exercised its right to acquire the last of its farm-in interest on 19 April 2022. In August 2022, Newcrest elected to not exercise its option to acquire an additional 5% participating interest and the option has lapsed. The Havieron Joint Venture interests are currently held 30% by Greatland Pty Ltd and 70% by Newcrest Operations.
Newcrest (as the Manager of the Havieron Joint Venture) is responsible for preparing a study for commercial mining operations on the Havieron Joint Venture tenement meeting Newcrest’s usual and reasonable requirements for a feasibility study and which includes all technical, commercial and economic information, data, results, estimates, evaluations and proposals usually included by Newcrest in a feasibility study prepared for the purpose of making a decision to mine (Havieron Feasibility Study). Preparation of the Havieron Feasibility Study is currently underway. Following completion of a compliant Havieron Feasibility Study by Newcrest , a unanimous ‘Decision to Mine’ by the Havieron Joint Venture participants (Decision to Mine) is required to commence construction, development and mining operations on a commercial scale at Havieron.
Prior to a Decision to Mine being made, the Havieron Joint Venture Agreement permits the carrying out of certain early works that are preparatory to mining operations (such as the construction of the box-cut and decline, camp infrastructure and associated works). It is under this framework that the underground decline is being progressed. However, there is an overriding requirement that any construction or development works at Havieron are subject to each Havieron Joint Venture participant’s rights to require a Decision to Mine (which itself requires the Havieron Feasibility Study and unanimous Havieron Joint Venture Management Committee approval, subject to a deadlock mechanism).
The Havieron Joint Venture Agreement contemplates that Havieron could leverage the Newcrest group’s existing Telfer infrastructure and processing plant, and sets out certain Havieron Joint Venture Agreement Tolling Principles upon which a toll processing agreement would be negotiated and agreed between Greatland and Newcrest prior to processing of Havieron ore at Telfer.