EnviroGold Global Ltd has announced that it has agreed to commercial terms with Hellyer Gold Mines Pty Ltd to reprocess the tailings owned by HGM (the Hellyer Tailings Reprocessing Project) at the Hellyer Gold Mine, Tasmania, Australia. The agreement contemplates a multi-stage Tailings Reprocessing Project wherein EnviroGold Global will add its mineral processing technology to the currently operational and permitted Hellyer Mine.

EnviroGold Global and HGM says they “expect that operational synergies resulting from the partnership in conjunction with EnviroGold Global’s independently validated, proprietary metallurgical solution for the Hellyer VMS tailings will drive significantly increased metal recovery rates for the gold, silver, zinc, lead and copper contained in the Hellyer tailings.”

The tailings have 634,000 oz gold, 22.9 Moz silver and 419,000 t copper-lead-zinc with grades of 2.60 g/t Au, 94 g/t Ag, 2.33% Zn, 3.01% Pb and 0.19% Cu contained in 6.37 Mt of Measured & Indicated and 1.21 Mt of Inferred Resources.

As per the terms of the MOU, EnviroGold Global will initially focus on reprocessing tailings within the Hellyer Tailings Storage Facility currently being operated by HGM. Subsequently, EnviroGold Global will reprocess additional tailings from legacy mining operations located on the Hellyer Mine Site. EnviroGold Global is entitled to 50% of the pre-tax cashflows resulting from the tailings reprocessing operations up to $24 million per year; thereafter, EnviroGold Global is entitled to 65% of the pre-tax cashflows. Consistent with EnviroGold Global’s risk management strategy, the company will not own any part of the Hellyer Mine Site or mining project but will be applying its proprietary mineral processing technology to various tailings deposits located on the Hellyer Mine Site. Commercial metal production is expected in Q4 2022 commencing with deployment of an up to ~500 t/d plant; thereafter, operations will be scaled up to ~3,500 t/d during 2023.

Commenting on the Hellyer Tailings Reprocessing Project, EnviroGold Global CEO, Dr Mark Thorpe, said: “The agreement with HGM is an important strategic milestone in the achievement of our corporate growth strategy and an outstanding opportunity to deliver positive environmental outcomes while creating substantial economic returns for the two companies, our shareholders and community stakeholders. We look forward to a long and productive relationship with the professionals at HGM as we establish circular-economy leadership by producing precious, critical and strategic metals without mining.”

Per the terms of the MOU, EnviroGold Global and HGM will enter into a final, definitive agreement governing the terms of the Tailings Reprocessing Project. EnviroGold Global expects to provide additional information on the Hellyer Tailings Reprocessing Project, including project economics, in the near-term.