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Red 5 gets the green
light for King of the Hills
by Dominic Piper
As COVID-19 bites into labour and supply chain markets in Western Australia, a
group of emerging gold miners are feeling thankful for pulling the development
trigger before the true extent of the pandemic was fully understood.
apricorn Metals Ltd, Calidus Resources Ltd, Pantoro Ltd The decision to pull the trigger on a $125 million capital
Cand Red 5 Ltd all began construction on their projects in raising while feasibility work was ongoing was bold but with
the first half of 2020 amid great uncertainty around the virus. first production on schedule for April, it is likely to prove
Capricorn was the first to start production, pouring first gold highly prescient.
in the September 2021 quarter. However, Red 5 was perhaps “The board took the courageous decision to raise the equity
the bravest among the group, choosing to plough ahead with component of the project finance mid-feasibility study, it was
project financing even before it had completed the feasibility an unconventional approach, but it enabled us to work on
study for its King of the Hills project near Leonora in the things in parallel, rather than sequentially,” Red 5 managing
Eastern Goldfields. director Mark Williams explains to GMJ. “It allowed us to do
Macmahon kicked off mining at King of the Hills in February. It
was the first open pit mining on the project for 18 years
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