Artemis Resources gets $6 million in funding for Radio Hill restart
December 11, 2017News Ewen Hosie
Radio Hills plant (Image: Artemis Resources)
Artemis Resources has secured $6 million in funding for the refurbishment of its 100 per cent-owned Radio Hill copper-nickel-cobalt plant, which is arranged to restart operations in the second quarter of 2018.
The project, located in the highly active Western Pilbara region of Western Australia, will include a 500,000 tonnes per annum gold circuit allowing for treatment of materials from Artemis’s Silica Hills gold project and Carlow Castle cobalt, gold and copper project. The company hopes to enable rapid cobalt production underground, with the potential for open pit mining in future.
“With cobalt prices now reaching over $90,000 a tonne, recommissioning of the Radio Hill plant mid-2018 is an absolute top priority for Artemis,” said David Lenigas, executive chairman of Artemis. “Radio Hill is a known nickel/copper/cobalt producer and we have a lot of material ready at surface to feed the plant.”
The funds will also be used to provide a cash surplus for the company’s joint venture with Novo Resources — Artemis entered into a 50:50 joint venture with Novo at the start of December to explore conglomerate gold hosting in the Pilbara. The Radio Hill plant is 35 kilometres south of Karratha, the focal point of the two companies’ current exploration efforts.
Riverfort Global is providing the $6 million funding package, to be delivered over 18 months with no repayments for the first two months.