Alkane Resources Limited (ASX:ALK) has been granted a trading halt pending an announcement regarding an equity investment in a listed mineral exploration company.
The halt will remain in place until the start of normal trading on Wednesday, October 17, or when an announcement is released to the market, whichever occurs earliest.
Shares last traded at 22 cents at market close on Friday.
Gold and rare earths
Alkane has the Tomingley Gold Operations in Central West NSW as well as the nearby pre-development Dubbo Project, which hosts a large resource of zirconium, hafnium, niobium, yttrium and rare earth elements.
READ: Alkane Resources looks underground after stellar year at Tomingley Gold Operations
The company is gearing up to begin underground mining at Tomingley, south of Dubbo, in mid-2019.
Ground support work for the portal will begin by the end of 2018 with development starting shortly after in early 2019.
First ore is expected to be produced from underground in mid-2019 and stockpiled on the surface until processing recommences in the final quarter of 2019.
The gold will be recovered over a 40-month development at cash costs estimated to be $1,100 to $1,200 per ounce while the cash outflow to recover first ore is estimated at $25 million.
During the 2018 financial year, the open pit operations at Tomingley produced 78,533 ounces of gold for $128.8 million revenue at an all in sustaining cost (AISC) of $1,002 per ounce.
Ore reserves total 2.21 million tonnes grading 1.8 g/t for 144,000 ounces and include the underground reserves of 730,000 tonnes at 3.2 g/t for 74,000 ounces.
Cash flow from the gold mining has provided the funding to maintain the project development pipeline and has assisted with pre-construction development of the Dubbo Project.