Vault Minerals to spend $80m expanding King of the Hills processing plant near Leonora to 6Mtpa

Vault Minerals — the company formed from the merger of Red 5 and Silver Lake Resources — will spend $80 million to expand the capacity of the King of the Hills processing plant north-west of Leonora.

Vault told the Australian Securities Exchange on Thursday it would internally fund the expansion of the plant to a throughput rate of 6 million tonnes per annum, up from the current 4Mtpa.

The company said the project centred on the construction of a new, fit-for-purpose crushing circuit to deliver increased throughput capacity, improved reliability and reduced unit costs.

“The new crushing circuit will be constructed 110m west of the existing primary crushing circuit and construction will have minimal impact on the operation of the existing circuit prior to commissioning,” the company said.

“The crushing circuit will comprise a larger single-stage primary gyratory crusher, with the installation design to support direct tipping operations for both dump trucks and road trains.

“In parallel, wet plant modifications will be completed, including the upgrade of the classification circuit and the addition of four CIP tanks.

“Tailings pump capacity, electrowinning capacity, carbon regeneration capacity, and associated services will also be upgraded.”

Vault said the expansion was also designed to support a future increase in throughput to 7Mtpa.

The company said work would start in April next year and take 15 months, with commissioning scheduled for the fourth quarter of FY26.

Vault said its Leonora operations hosted ore reserves and mineral resources of 2.24Moz and 6.02Moz, respectively, which underpinned a 10-year mine life.

But operations were currently mill-constrained, with three established feed sources and a 7.3Mt stockpile containing 108,000oz next to the mill.

“The low capital intensity plant expansion and improved configuration will reduce ore stockpiling and rehandling, and allow for the acceleration of treatment of the King of the Hills ore stockpile,” the company said.

“The expansion comes at a time when Vault is well positioned to deliver ore reserve growth as it recommences and increases in-mine exploration at the King of the Hills underground and Darlot operations.”