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Alpha HPA sanctions construction of $550 million Gov-backed Queensland plant
\nBlack Cat to process Kalgoorlie dirt through Paddington gold plant
\nGold miners lift with ASX materials on a high<\/p>\n
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It was a day for the little guys in the ASX materials sector with new mines being sanctioned across the country.<\/p>\n
The big move was in Queensland, where Alpha HPA (ASX:A4N)<\/strong><\/a> became the first Australian miner to approve a commercial high purity alumina project to compete with incumbents in China and Japan.<\/p>\n Backed by Orica (ASX:ORI)<\/strong><\/a> and supported by $320 million in Federal Government loans, its Gladstone plant will be the largest standalone HPA facility in the world, producing 10,000tpa annually.<\/p>\n The material is crucial as a separator in NCM cathode lithium-ion batteries and sapphire glass used in LED lights.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a small market, but one which currently has a high barrier to entry since it is largely derived in expensive and chemically intensive processes from aluminium metal.<\/p>\n READ: The secret recipe that could make Impact Minerals HPA\u2019s Michelin Star chef<\/a><\/p>\n Alpha HPA will instead use industrial feedstock as its feedstock at Yarwun, where a pilot scale plant is in operation.<\/p>\n Along with the $320m debt facility, Alpha will also require an $80m cost overrun facility and $120m equity raising led by Bell Potter and Macquarie to fund the construction of the Stage Two project, along with a share purchase plan.<\/p>\n The $933 million company expects to be in production by the first half of FY27, generating $255-403m a year in EBITDA at unit cash costs of US$6.70\/kg.<\/p>\n Capex, including a $79m contingency, will come in at $553m, though based on the recent history of critical minerals projects, that number can hardly be viewed as set in stone.<\/p>\n Its equity raising will come in at 90c per share, a 10% discount to the current A4N share price of $1.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n <\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Over in the West a more modest outlay will bring Australia\u2019s newest gold miner to life, with Black Cat Syndicate (ASX:BC8)<\/a> expecting to be in production by September at its Kalgoorlie East gold project.<\/p>\n While its larger Paulsens and Coyote mines, where the company has its own mothballed processing facilities, are further down the line, Kal East will initially be developed through toll treatment.<\/p>\n 850,000t of open pit ore will be sold over the next 18 months to Zijin Mining\u2019s Norton Goldfields and its Paddington plant north of Kalgoorlie.<\/p>\n The deal will involve the processing of open pit reserves at Black Cat\u2019s Myhree and Boundary deposits, which boast 46,000oz at 2.4g\/t and 6000oz at 1.5g\/t respectively.<\/p>\n An underground resource of 105,000oz at 4g\/t has been excluded, with mining to be undertaken by \u2018turnkey\u2019 provide Mineral Mining Services.<\/p>\n Once they\u2019ve recouped their costs, Black Cat will get the first $30m of cash flows before sharing the profits with its contractor.<\/p>\n Black Cat says the project, which is being announced with gold prices in excess of $3600\/oz, could be used to help fund longer term developments at Coyote and\/or Kal East.<\/p>\n \u201cThese arrangements provide a turn-key solution to fund and operate Kal East\u2019s Myhree and Boundary open pits. This enables Black Cat to maintain focus on the Paulsens restart, while receiving cashflow from a second production front at Kal East,\u201d BC8 MD Gareth Solly said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe profit share arrangement incentivises both parties to deliver the best possible result, with Black Cat to receive the first $30M in cashflow after the recovery of start-up costs.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are looking forward to working with Mineral Mining Services and Paddington Gold on the mine development, haulage and processing of Ore from the Myhree and Boundary open pits.<\/p>\n \u201cWith both Paulsens and Kal East nearing operation, we are well on our way to being rerated from an explorer to a producer.\u201d<\/p>\n BC8 had suspended plans to develop a new processing plant at Kal East a couple years ago as capex costs for new builds soared.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n <\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The materials sector rose almost 2% today, with gold miners out front, battery metals and iron ore close behind.<\/p>\n It followed a stunning session for commodities on Friday, with copper up 2.3% to US$10,668\/t, nickel rising 6.5% to US$21,080\/t, gold up 1.4% to more than US$2400\/oz, silver at long term highs of US$31.50\/oz and zinc above US$3000\/oz.<\/p>\n Supply disruptions and Beijing property support were among the reasons behind the run.<\/p>\n Many of the top performers were goldies, with the ASX All Ords Gold Sub-index up 3.58%.The sub-index is now trading at levels not seen since late 2020.<\/p>\n New Hope Corp rose on its April quarterly results, announcing a 20.7% increase in saleable coal production to 2.5Mt and 20.8% increase in coal sales to 2.4Mt.<\/p>\n Bengalla cut its costs by 7.8% to $73.4\/t on among some of the NSW mine\u2019s highest sales months in history \u2013 a margin of $106\/t \u2013 with underlying EBITDA up 21.6% to $218.8m and New Acland guidance increased for the year from 660,000t to 800,000t after NHC picked up additional rail capacity.<\/p>\n Core Lithium sunk 6% after Paul Brown, who recently left rare earths producer Hastings because it was cutting costs to hibernate for higher prices, emerged as the Darwin lithium producer\u2019s CEO.<\/p>\n Core itself parted ways with old CEO Gareth Manderson as tumbling lithium prices forced it to cut costs and end mining activities at its Finniss project.<\/p>\n Paladin Energy (ASX:PDN)<\/strong><\/a> (uranium)\u00a0 +7.6%<\/p>\n Bellevue Gold (ASX:BGL)<\/strong><\/a> <\/strong> (gold) +7.5%<\/p>\n Gold Road Resources (ASX:GOR)<\/strong><\/a> (gold) +6%<\/p>\n Regis Resources (ASX:RRL)<\/strong><\/a> (gold) +5.9%<\/p>\n New Hope Corp (ASX:NHC)<\/strong><\/a> (coal) +5.8%<\/p>\n Core Lithium (ASX:CXO)<\/strong><\/a> (lithium) -6%<\/p>\n Syrah Resources (ASX:SYR)<\/strong><\/a><\/strong> (graphite) -5.8%<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n <\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n <\/span>\u00a0 The post Monsters of Rock: The Alpha of HPA and gold deals as little miners emerge on the radar<\/a> appeared first on Stockhead<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alpha HPA (ASX:A4N) share price today<\/h2>\n\n
Golden boys<\/h2>\n
Black Cat Syndicate (ASX:BC8) share price today<\/h2>\n\n
Materials higher with goldies on top<\/h2>\n
Today\u2019s Best Miners <\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n
Today\u2019s Worst Miners <\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n
Monstars share prices today<\/h2>\n\n
ASX 300 Metals and Minings Index today<\/h2>\n\n
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