Having made good on its promise to breathe new life into Eastern Goldfields Ltd’s Davyhurst gold project near Kalgoorlie after that company fell over a couple of years ago, Ora Banda Mining has moved to usher in a new management era with the appointment of Peter Nicholson as its new Chief Executive Officer.
Mr Nicholson hails from global mining-focused private equity firm, Resource Capital Funds, where he is currently a partner in the company and Managing Director of its Australian arm.
Mr Nicholson takes over the reins from David Quinlivan, who was brought in to do the heavy lifting to pull Davyhurst out of administration and propel it into profitability.
Mr Quinlivan will continue as Managing Director in the short to medium term and eventually transition to a Non-Executive Director’s role at which point Mr Nicholson will also assume the top job.
Mr Quinlivan managed to drag Davyhurst from the edge of the abyss after Eastern Goldfields went to the wall by securing adequate funding, drilling out the resource and implementing a very different mine plan at the project.
Ora Banda poured its first gold bar at the revitalised Davyhurst mine this month, coming just six to seven months from the commencement of the redevelopment site works.
Ora Banda Chairman, Peter Mansell said: “David took on the role as MD and CEO of Ora Banda on an interim basis at the time of the administration of Eastern Goldfields. It was not a role that he was seeking, but it is a role that he has performed exceptionally well and with passion.”
“That Ora Banda has achieved every deadline it committed to on time and on budget is testament to the competence and discipline of David and his team. It is a measure of David’s commitment to the company that, while he is keen to move to a Non-Executive role, he is prepared to participate in any orderly transition to Peter.”
Mr Nicholson has 25 years of industry experience in operational and mine management roles, coupled with deep experience in private equity across international mining and mining services, according to Ora Banda.
He will join the company in April.
Prior to RCF, Mr Nicholson worked as a Resident Manager, Underground Manager and Business Development Manager at Lion Ore Australia and an Underground Manager at WMC Resources.
Ora Banda’s definitive feasibility study, or “DFS” on Davyhurst that was completed last year, showed gold production at the revived stand-alone mining and processing operation averaging about 81,000 ounces per annum over an initial life of mine of 5.2 years.
The company described the financial metrics in the DFS as “compelling”, with Davyhurst expected to spit out free cash flows of $357.8 million after tax for that period, or an average of $68.8 million a year, assuming a gold price of $2,550 an ounce.
All-in sustaining costs of gold production at Davyhurst have been forecast at an average $1,578 an ounce and the capital payback for the project development has been estimated at a mere seven months.
Pre-production CAPEX for the development of the Davyhurst mining and processing operation totalled $45.1 million, according to Ora Banda.
Mineable ore reserves for the project’s six satellite deposits, all within 50km of the refurbished 1.2-million-tonne-per-annum Davyhurst gold treatment plant, currently stand at 6.1 million tonnes of ore at an average grade of 2.4 grams per tonne gold for 460,000 ounces of contained gold.
In-coming Chief Executive Officer, Peter Nicholson said: “(Ora Banda) is a debt-free new gold producer with a large tenement holding in a prolific gold producing region. With available cash to fund exploration of the numerous near-mill and regional targets, I am confident of the company’s success well into the future.”
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By Matt Birney
