Trader Mercuria backs mine tailings, rehabilitation project in Australia
Mercuria Group has signed a prepayment and offtake agreement with Australian miner Heritage Minerals to support a restart of the Mount Morgan gold operation, in Queensland, during the fourth quarter.
Mercuria is focused on growing its precious metals business and deepening its footprint in Australia, with the Heritage Minerals agreement underscoring the company’s commitment to long-term partnerships and to providing innovative financial solutions that enable sustainable resource development and mine rehabilitation.
Mercuria will provide a prepayment of A$40-million and a corresponding offtake agreement for the first 210 000 oz of gold in doré produced at Mount Morgan over a period of four years.
Heritage Minerals plans to reprocess legacy tailings and waste stockpiles to recover gold, silver and copper, while cleaning up acid mine drainage and site contamination in the Dee River catchment. The company is using proprietary resin-in-pulp extraction technology called GreenGold Technology.
The Mount Morgan tailings processing and rehabilitation project is designed around a base-case plant treating between two-million and ten-million tonnes of historic tailings.
Heritage Minerals also has a $66-million Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility concessional loan and Queensland government support in place.