Receivers called in for Mount Carlton operations
By Industry Queensland
Key creditor Evolution Mining has called in the receivers after the collapse of Mount Carlton gold mine owner Navarre Minerals.
Navarre Minerals went into voluntary administration early this week, and McGrathNicol Restructuring personnel are now acting as receivers and managers for one of its subsidiaries – Navarre Minerals Queensland.
In a statement today, McGrathNicol Restructuring said the receivers and managers were continuing to operate the Mount Carlton mine on a business-as-usual basis while undertaking an urgent assessment of the financial position of NMQ.
This included working with the key off-taker for the mine to ensure that ongoing operations remained sustainable while a sale and recapitalisation process is undertaken, it said.
Navarre Minerals acquired the Mount Carlton site, 150km south of Townsville, from Evolution Mining in late 2021 in a $90 million deal
As well as an initial $40 million payment, the deal included payments owed to Evolution in relation to future production from the nearby Crush Creek deposit as well as royalty payments from Mount Carlton and Crush Creek.
These included:
– Up to $25 million payable on cumulative gold production milestones from Crush Creek, with $5 million payable upon achievement of 50,000 ounces, $5 million payable upon achievement of 100,000 ounces and $15 million payable upon achievement of 175,000 ounces; and
– Up to $25 million payable in the form of a 5 per cent gold price- linked royalty where the average spot gold price is greater than $2,250/oz in a given quarter. The royalty is payable on production from both Mount Carlton and Crush Creek from July 1, 2023 for up to 15 years.
Mount Carlton has been operating continuously since 2013, producing about 1.0Moz of gold together with copper and silver by-products sourced mainly from the V2 open pit mine.
The operation includes the new Mount Carlton United (MCU) open pit mine, four satellite gold deposits and a 960ktpa processing plant producing polymetallic concentrate (gold, copper, silver) and gold doré.
