ASX-listed Horizon Minerals has moved to expand its footprint in Western Australia’s goldfields with the acquisition of a suite of nearby gold projects from Yandal Resources, bolstering its strategy to restart production through its Black Swan processing facility.

The miner announced on Tuesday that it had signed a binding tenement sale agreement to acquire a 100% interest in the Gordons, Mt Jewell, Malone, and Mulgarrie gold projects, comprising 34 granted licences over a 77 km² area. The projects are located in close proximity to Horizon’s Black Swan plant, which the company plans to refurbish and convert into a 1.5-million-tonne-a-year gold processing facility.

Horizon will pay A$2.81 million for the package, consisting of a A$200 000 deposit, A$1-million in cash on completion, and the remainder in Horizon shares issued at a 10% discount to the recent volume-weighted average share price. The company has the option to settle the share portion in cash.

“We are pleased to acquire these projects in close proximity to our processing infrastructure,” said Horizon MD and CEO Grant Haywood. “Our key focus is completing study work with the aim of generating a five-year life of mine plan processing through our Black Swan processing plant.”

The acquisition includes the Gordons Dam deposit, which holds a resource of 365 000 t grading 1.7 g/t for 20 000 oz of gold. Mineralisation remains open at depth and along strike. Horizon has also identified a number of exploration targets across the newly acquired tenure, including the Star of Gordon and Malone prospects.

“In addition to the resource at Gordons Dam, these assets complement our current large strategic land holdings in the WA goldfields,” Haywood added. “We see great potential in this area for further resource growth along with enormous exploration upside.”

Horizon is currently advancing a pre-feasibility study for the development of a life-of-mine plan, with the aim of restarting operations at the Black Swan plant, located 40 km northwest of Kalgoorlie.