Australia-based Horizon Minerals has ordered key long-lead equipment to support the conversion of its Black Swan Processing Hub into a gold processing facility near Kalgoorlie, in Western Australia.

The company said on Friday the early procurement of critical components was aimed at maintaining the development schedule for the project, which is being advanced following the completion of recent project studies and a capital raise that fully funded development.

Items ordered include a pre-leach thickener, required to maintain consistent underflow density to the carbon-in-leach circuit and support the plant’s water balance, as well as new semi-autogenous grinding and ball mill motors equipped with variable speed drives to modernise the plant’s motor and drive systems.

According to Horizon, the upgrades are expected to improve reliability, provide scalability and potentially increase throughput at the processing facility.

Front-end engineering design studies for the conversion are currently under way and are expected to be completed within the next four to five weeks.

The company noted that committing to long-lead equipment ahead of awarding a full engineering, procurement and construction contract would help reduce schedule risks and support the targeted development timeline.

“Closely following the release of the Black Swan studies and the successful capital raise fully funding development, Horizon Minerals has ordered key long-lead items to ensure the timely conversion of the Black Swan Processing Hub to gold processing,” said Horizon MD Grant Haywood.

He added that the early commitment to the equipment would materially derisk the construction schedule and support the transformation of the plant into a strategic 2.2-million-tonne-a-year gold processing facility in the Kalgoorlie Goldfields region.

The company is also preparing for several work programmes at the hub alongside operational-readiness activities for initial ore feed sources, including the Boorara project, Burbanks project and Cannon project.