Larvotto Resources has chalked up a genuine “red letter” project development moment at its Hillgrove antimony-gold project near Armidale in New South Wales, with first ore from its Metz underground mine now hauled to a surface stockpile.
The milestone has boosted the company’s project restart timetable, with underground operations and process plant refurbishment tracking on time and on budget ahead of plant commissioning in August.
Underground mining contractor PYBAR has advanced 170 metres and rehabilitated 1.9 kilometres of drives as Hillgrove ramps up, with Larvotto also reporting 20,000 rock bolts installed to prepare the workings for full production.
The company has also begun vertical raise-boring for a new ventilation shaft ahead of schedule, dropping into place one more vital piece of the puzzle as its Hillgrove operation transitions from development to steady-state mining.
While the first ore trucks are the immediate highlight, the serious background work has continued above ground. Larvotto says its plant refurbishment remains on track, with commissioning planned for August, giving the company a clear sightline on returning Hillgrove to production.
Larvotto Resources managing director Ron Heeks said: “The first ore delivery to surface stockpile is another major milestone in bringing Hillgrove back into production to help meet world demand for this critical metal. With the plant refurbishment progressing well and staffing increasing nearly daily, we are looking forward to delivering on becoming not only Australia’s next critical mineral producer, but Australia’s largest antimony producer.”
Notably, Hillgrove is underpinned by extremely solid foundations. Larvotto’s most recently stated combined 2025 mineral resource for the project totals 8.766 million tonnes grading 4.0 grams per tonne gold and 1.1 per cent antimony, for a contained 1.135 million ounces of gold and 96,000 tonnes of antimony.
Once Hillgrove is fully humming, Larvotto’s feasibility study points to average annual production across the project’s eight-year mine life of 85,710 ounces of gold equivalent, including 40,556 ounces of gold and 4878 tonnes of antimony.
In April, the company reported Hillgrove’s development program continued on schedule, supported by existing infrastructure, including grid power access and a $70M plant refurbishment, which remained on budget.
More recently, Larvotto also flagged ongoing drilling success at the Metz mining centre, where results from Midas Gully have extended high-grade gold-antimony-tungsten mineralisation along strike of planned early mining areas.
With first ore now on the stockpile and plant commissioning the next big box to tick off by August, Larvotto has moved Hillgrove from “getting ready” to “getting real” – and the market really likes that kind of momentum.
