Name of the Project
Msima gold project.

Location
Misima Island, 625 km east of Port Moresby in the Solomon Sea, Papua New Guinea.

Project Owner/s
Kingston Resources.

Project Description
The project has maiden Joint Ore Reserves Committee-compliant probable ore reserves of 48.3-million tonnes at 0.9 g/t gold for 1.35-million ounces, which underpins the large-scale, long-life Msima gold project, together with a further 12.5% increase in the global resource to144-million tonnes at 0.78 g/t gold for 3.6-million ounces.

A prefeasibility study (PFS) has confirmed the potential to develop a technically robust, large-scale, long-life, low-cost operation at the Msima project, delivering gold production of 130 000 oz/y over a forecast 17-year mine life. Life-of-mine gold production is estimated at 2.13-million oz.

The PFS is based on the redevelopment of the brownfields site of the former Misima gold mine, which was previously operated as a successful 5.5-million-tonne-a-year carbon-in-leach (CIL) openpit operation.

Kingston plans to leverage off this strong production history and build a new 5.5-million-tonne-a-year CIL treatment facility and modern infrastructure on the footprint of the mine, establishing a new standalone, long-life gold mining and processing operation underpinned by two major ore sources – a cutback of the existing Umuna openpit and an expansion of the existing small pit at Ewatinona, in the Quartz mountain area.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has a pretax net present value, at an 8% discount rate, of A$822-million and an internal rate of return of 33%, with a payback of 4.7 years.

Capital Expenditure
A$283-million.

Planned Start/End Date
Not stated.

Latest Developments
Metallurgical and geotechnical testwork programmes required to confirm and expand data for input into the definitive feasibility study (DFS) are under way (or due to start shortly).

Kingston expects to start the DFS by mid-2021

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
None stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
Kingston Resources, tel +61 2 8021 7492 or email info@kingstonresources.com.au.