Gold: Will gold hold above $2000? Kin Mining will be praying it does...

Kin Mining (ASX:KIN) will be hoping the gold price holds above $2000, with key figures in its Cardinia PFS pegged around the magical number.

It unveiled the PFS numbers to the market this morning — outlining a 17 per cent internal rate of return (IRR) on $2,000/oz and a 29 per cent IRR on $2,200/oz.

The company said the project would process 11.4 million tonnes of ore at a relatively low grade of 1.09 grams per tonne (g/t) for 398,000 ounces over an 8.2 year mine life.

Kin said that there was exploration upside to come which could take the life of mine beyond the 8.2 year mark.

The numbers in the PFS are okay-to-not-great — but Kin managing director Andrew Munckton said it may look at acquisitions to beef up the numbers.

“The potential to enhance our mineral inventory through regional consolidation will also be evaluated given Kin’s location in the active Leonora region with processing infrastructure which has been purchased and partially developed,” he said.

“Alternative strategic options may also be considered.”

While the gold price has been on a tear of late, there’s always the possibility that $2,000/oz isn’t the new floor — so Kin will be hoping to develop new resources (or buy them) sooner rather than later.

In other ASX gold news:

First Au (ASX:FAU) reckons it’s found an extension of mineralisation at its 642,000-tonne Gimlet gold project — and it’s fully funded for follow-up drilling. It told the market this morning that 6000m of aircore drilling done at the project in June had come back with new targets, but shareholders weren’t impressed — whacking the company with a 35 per cent sell-off in early trade.

Meanwhile, Southern Gold (ASX:SAU) will have an extra $2.5m to play with after the sale of its Australian assets to a private firm out of Sydney. It will turn its attention to its South Korean plays.

AusMex Mining (ASX:AMG) has submitted a mining application for its Golden Mile project near Cloncurry. It’s for mining only, with ore there to be processed at a nearby facility.

Finally, Great Boulder Resources (ASX:GBR) has picked up a 75 per cent stake in the Whiteheads project — just north of Kalgoorlie. It’s got a 12-month exploration option on the project for $50,000 cash and $50,000 worth of GBR shares — with a minimum exploration spend of $200,000 during the option period.