Black Cat Syndicate has released its May 2024 restart study for the Paulsens gold mine in Nanutarra, Western Australia.
The study represents Black Cat’s base case for secured debt funding and is a subset of its internal operating plan.
According to the gold miner, the May 2024 study returns are greater than those in the November 2023 study, with operating cashflow after all capital and before tax increasing by 81 per cent to approximately $201 million.
Black Cat managing director Gareth Solly celebrated the result.
“The May 2024 study demonstrates that Paulsens is a cash cow and generates operating cashflow of $201 million,” he said. “We are well progressed in obtaining a secured debt facility which uses the May 2024 study as a base case and the internal operating plan as an upside case.
“The internal operating plan includes additional selective mining of these developed veins to build a high-grade stockpile for immediate processing once the processing facility is commissioned, which has the potential to increase and accelerate initial and life of mine cashflow.
“The high-grade stockpile strategy, while excluded from the May 2024 study, will commence immediately upon full funding.”
Black Cat is currently working toward the refurbishment of Paulsens.
“The refurbishment activities conducted to date have been successful and we expect will continue to bear fruit,” Solly said. “With an experienced debt advisor in place, we expect our major debt milestones to be met.”
Since the beginning of 2024, Black Cat has completed the:
- assessment of the processing facility to better plan for major refurbishment work
- repair of fixable items
- ordering of long lead time items to facilitate installation
- consolidation, cataloguing and utilisation of existing stores
- preparation of the facility for accelerated instalment of replacement components.
“We are looking forward to being fully funded so that we can achieve our vision of being the dominant player in three prolific gold districts – Paulsens in the Pilbara, the Coyote gold operation in the Western Tanami, and the Kal East gold project, east of Kalgoorlie,” Solly said.
Subscribe to Australian Mining and receive the latest news on product announcements, industry developments, commodities and more.
