Registered by Australia Post PP 643938/00057 ISSN 1324-43969 771324 43900504NEWGENGOLD REVIEWEXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWSWITH NORTHERN STAR, GENESIS,EVOLUTION AND MOREEXPLOREROF THE YEARTESOROGOLDMINEROF THE YEAR RAMELIUS RESOURCESRemarkablefeats inrecord yearVOLUME 1. ISSUE 162$11.95January - March 2026
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GOLD MINING JOURNAL (ISSN 1324-4396)Published by Paydirt Media Pty Ltd. A.C.N. 063 985 133EDITORIALEditor:Dominic Piper Deputy editor:Michael WashbourneSenior journalist:Rhonda MalkinJournalist:Michael Cameron Art director: Nick BrownADVERTISINGAdvertising manager: Richa FullerSubscriptions: Vinitha ChityalaPAYDIRT MEDIAExecutive chairman: Bill RepardFinance manager: Giovanny JeffersonAccounts/administration: Vanessa CaleCONFERENCESAngelique JulienPaula FujitaPRE-PRESS AND PRINTING:Vanguard Press 26 John St, Northbridge WA 6003Member of:CONTACT US: Suite 9, 1297 Hay St, West Perth, Western Australia 6005 P.O. Box 1589, West Perth, Western Australia 6872p: (+61 8) 9321 0355 f: (+61 8) 9321 0426 e: mailbox@ paydirt.com.au w: paydirt.com.auNEWS 6 Greatland Resources is a step closer to fulfilling its Paterson province dreams after releasing a positive feasibility study for its Havieron goldcopper project in the West Australian district. Managing director ShaunDay talks to GMJ deputy editor Michael Washbourne about the resultsfor a project which is increasingly looking like a company-makerCOVER 20A miner who has met every operational expectation while pulling off a corporate coup and an explorer who has unearthed a completely new style of mineralisation in one of the world’s most well-trodden districts – there were plenty of reasons the GMJ judges picked Ramelius Resources and Tesoro Gold for the Miner and Explorer of the Year awards. We speak tothe leaders of both companies as well as hear from the judges about why the two companies were standouts in 2025AWARDS 28Tesoro and Ramelius may have taken out the titles but after a year of record prices there was plenty of competition for the Miner and Explorer of the Year awards. We look at some of the contenders in both categories, including exclusive interviews with chiefs from Evolution Mining, Genesis Minerals,Regis Resources and Strickland MetalsNEWGENGOLD REVIEW 45Probably the most respected conference in gold exploration circles, NewGenGold returned to Perth for its 16th edition in November. Among a programme packed with discoveries from around the world, there were also panel discussions on the future of technology in exploration and how increasingly difficult access issues are stifling explorationin support of Australia’s mining industrymaroomba.com.auCover image: Winning time: Ramelius managing directorMark Zeptner and Tesoro managing director Zeff ReevesSecure your Paydirt subscription and view the magazine in full every monthSubscribe to read this article.Sign up today!
Page 4 EDITORIALThe juniors Last year represented the best year for the junior gold sector in more than a decade as the long-promised trickle down of investor interest from the producers turned into a torrent from mid-year.Hopefully this trend will continue in 2026 but there are still concerns out there. The trend among juniors in 2025 was to focus on brownfields assets and not only brownfields exploration projects.Instead of coming up with a new geological interpretation of old assets, the best performers on the ASX were those juniors which picked up old producing mines, rebadged them, redrew the pit designs and came up with a low-cost plan to get into production. There were no new deposits being found on old ground, and certainly very little genuine greenfields exploration occurring. This is in no way a criticism of the companies which have headed down the early production route, most have had tremendous success in creating value for shareholders. However, it feels unsustainable, particularly if the gold price starts to drift, costs go up and investors begin looking elsewhere.What we need to see is some genuine exploration success. The recent NewGenGold conference (see page 45) showcased the exceptional work going on in the exploration space. The current market support should be enough for the more ambitious and creative juniors to take shareholders on a new voyage of discovery.The minersAfter having it all their own way over the last few years, the established producers may find it more difficult to keep investors’ attention this year. As generalist investors are pulled into the space in greater numbers, the expectations of ever-increasing returns will be stronger. Generalist investors unfamiliar with the economic fundamentals of gold mining are demanding. Miners will be under pressure, not just to replace depleted ounces but grow their production base and widen margins, even if the gold price stalls or retreats.As such, companies will be forced into rash M&A decisions or organic development decisions, buying over the odds for assets or building projects which won’t survive a spot price downturn. We have been here before during previous booms and the results were uniformly disastrous for individual companies and the reputation of the sector as investors fled when they realised miners cannot keep inflating profits in the way Apple, Meta or Amazon can. The brave companies will be those who forego some of the fleeting interest in favour of making themselves more resilient and more upwardly mobile by recycling the portfolio, dropping their Tier-2 and Tier-3 assets in favour of focusing on higherquality ounces. The first issue of 2026 and things have rarely looked brighter for Australian gold companies,but how can the sector maintain momentum in 2026?Secure your Paydirt subscription and view the magazine in full every monthSubscribe to read this article.Sign up today!
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Page 6 NEWSGreatland Resources Ltd managing director Shaun Day is optimistic his company could declare FID on its Havieron gold-copper project by mid-year, pending positive permitting outcomes over the next six months.A feasibility study released on December 1 confirmed Havieron as Australia’s third largest underground gold reserve behind Newmont Corp’s Cadia and Tanami mines, with an estimated $1.065 billion needed to complete its development and upgrade sections of the nearby Telfer plant for future processing.First gold from Havieron is anticipated about 2.5 years after FID.Greatland requires two primary environmental approvals – one of which is currently out for public comment – before full-scale construction at Havieron can begin. “We’re optimistic about the permitting,” Day (pictured) told GMJ. “We’ve had good engagement with both the state and federal EPA and we believe both of those processes are drawing to a close.“We’ve always been a little bit measured in getting out a timetable for government approvals, but our view is that within days or weeks of getting that final EPA approval, I think you’ll see FID and we’ll immediately go into top gear.“We’re already doing a lot of the early works around ventilation and on that decline, so we effectively have got a bit of a flying start into it.”Release of the Havieron feasibility study was a full circle moment for Greatland, which made the initial discovery in the underexplored Paterson province in 2018 before striking up a JV with Newcrest Mining to develop the asset as a high-grade satellite feed into the hungry Telfer mill.Greatland’s share in Havieron had diluted to 30% when Newcrest was acquired by Newmont for $29 billion in 2023 but within 12 months the major was seeking buyers for unwanted assets such as Telfer. Newmont eventually sold Telfer and its 70% stake in Havieron to Greatland for $541 million, with the transaction completing in December 2024. “Delivering the Havieron feasibility study is an important milestone because it means the transition from Newcrest to us is now complete,” Day said.“Up until now, we basically inherited Telfer and Havieron from a legacy Newcrest. From here, it’s really clean air for Greatland to set the agenda.”Newcrest spent about $500 million on developing the exploration decline at Havieron, about 45km east of Telfer, with Day confirming the pre-production capex figure contained in the feasibility study is what’s still to be invested by the Greatland group.The feasibility study focused on Havieron as the sole feed into the Telfer plant and did not consider the continuation of current production sources such as West Dome. Day said the move was very deliberate to showcase the “world-class” credentials of its foundational asset.“Clearly, when you operate both Telfer and Havieron together, you get even better outcomes but we wanted to show the merits and the quality of Havieron by itself, which we accept is a slightly conservative approach, but we think it just sets the tone and now there’s only upside as people come to grips with the life extension opportunities at Telfer,” he said.“We also think there’s some really good improvement opportunities at Havieron. There’s over 3.1 moz of gold not included in the initial mine plan and, of course, the impact that Telfer has on the cost structure when you bring that online at the same time by Michael WashbourneHawk-eyeon HavieronSecure your Paydirt subscription and view the magazine in full every monthSubscribe to read this article.Sign up today!
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Western Australia leads the nation in migration numbers but with deep gold mining experience thin on the ground, more investment in homegrown talent is crucial.The importance of attracting sufficiently experienced talent was central to a panel discussion hosted by the Perth chapter of the Young Mining Professionals (YMP) on the steps of the Perth Mint in November.Representatives from the Australian gold industry’s bestknown companies examined the challenge of drawing the right applicants. The dual challenges of filling positions with a high level of technical competence and educating the wider public about the benefits and real impacts of mining were identified as key goals.AngloGold Ashanti Ltd director of mining – Australian region operations Jo Endersbee said in a world of ever-increasing costs, the lack of appropriate expertise was of great concern.“The shortage is not just people but it’s the depth of capabilities of our people while we are in an environment where everybody is trying to do more all of the time,” Endersbee said.“When you are balancing increased cost pressures, doing things well is fundamentally critical. Reworking is always more expensive than getting things right the first time around and the depth of technical capability and knowledge is absolutely critical to how to best and most efficiently do what we are doing.“In my recent understanding of Australia’s position in the global marketplace for skills as a resource, it has blown me away how significant that is, especially for a global company.“As an industry, working together to have those skills and the capacity to build those skills [is important] – especially in terms of educating and not just poaching each other’s people all the time.”Genesis Minerals Ltd managing director Raleigh Finlayson said Australian companies must take the initiative and give young people genuinely interested in a career in mining a fair go.“Everyone has got to lift early. When we are talking about trade shortages over the last 10 years and then you look at apprenticeships, no one is willing to offer them,” Finlayson said.“We’re our own worst enemy when it comes to that. With practicum work and apprenticeships, we’ve got to feed the pipeline. Something we were really proud of at Saracen – a company I worked for before we merged with Northern Star [Resources Ltd] – was we set up mining camps in Kalgoorlie with groups of 50-100 students, starting with first-year Curtin University engineering and mining students.”The entire panel agreed about the need for a more by Michael CameronSkills gap requireshomespun solutionPage 8 Transforming the gold exploration process Explore smarter, discover fasterAccelerated Discovery & Ore Body Knowledge InnovationsdetectORE™ : for same day gold results to <20 Au ppb by pXRF.RokBot™ : automated pXRF multi-element (& detectORE™ gold) analysis system for objective rock, regolith & alteration identification & classification plus pathfinder & commodity geochemistry. [email protected] | portableppb.comGold and Multi-element results, on-site, anywhere for fit-for-purpose decisions.Western Australia Innovator of the Year2023 Overall Winner NEWSSecure your Paydirt subscription and view the magazine in full every monthSubscribe to read this article.Sign up today!
Page 9 accurate public image of mining. With portrayals of mining and its effects on the environment often lacking in detail or outright misinformed, Finlayson lamented the biased views of the industry many young people were exposed to very early in their educational journey.“I have had two daughters go through private schooling in Perth and basically they were taught to be anti-mining,” he said.“It’s actually on all of us to get ahead of the curve and what Jo said about poaching people is right – we need to build up the pipeline and it is on every single employer to do that. We need to offer that right back to school age but particularly when young people graduate from high school.”Barminco senior manager contacts Tina Hall said the evolving expectations placed on the industry were reflected in the demands of the applicants for mining jobs themselves. She said the higher environmental and social standards potential employees had for companies would require heavy investment but believed the substantial outlay for these major operational transformations was a big ask.“Turnover and [talent] attraction/retention are fundamental drivers of cost which allow us to deliver for our clients, so addressing the problems that we are having in that space is imperative,” Hall said.“But I feel like the conversation has moved on from what used to be an easy fix – we used to say, ‘we need to fix the rosters’ or ‘we need to pay more’. We now need to look deeper at how we actually do the work and what the work is. That is complex and will take time. “Whether or not we will get there before the price turns around and no longer supports the way we work now, I’m not so sure.”Regardless of whether gold mining companies are overextending themselves when it comes to making promises about sustainable initiatives, there was little doubt about the wide-ranging effects of the recent price volatility. Transforming the gold exploration process Explore smarter, discover fasterAccelerated Discovery & Ore Body Knowledge InnovationsdetectORE™ : for same day gold results to <20 Au ppb by pXRF.RokBot™ : automated pXRF multi-element (& detectORE™ gold) analysis system for objective rock, regolith & alteration identification & classification plus pathfinder & commodity geochemistry. [email protected] | portableppb.comGold and Multi-element results, on-site, anywhere for fit-for-purpose decisions.Western Australia Innovator of the Year2023 Overall Winner Raleigh Finlayson, Jo Endersbee, Tina Hall and Dion Paunich (The Perth Mint) took part in a panel discussion for the YMP, moderated by GMJ deputy editor Michael Washbourne (far left)The YMP Group gathered at Perth Mint in NovemberSecure your Paydirt subscription and view the magazine in full every monthSubscribe to read this article.Sign up today!
Page 10 COVER: MINER OF THE YEARRecord revenue. Record profits. Record earnings per share. Record operating cash flow. Record dividends. The list goes on.For Ramelius managing director Mark Zeptner, one particular metric in FY25 stood above all others – record group production of 301,664oz at a lowest-quartile AISC of $1,551/oz.“You just have to look at the numbers and you can see why 2025 has been a pretty special year for us,” he told GMJ.“We cracked 300,000 ozpa for the first time, which led to record cash flow, record profits, record dividends and quite a few other records. It simply doesn’t get any better.“It’s been the culmination of a pretty long journey, but it doesn’t stop here.”FY25 marked the fifth consecutive year Ramelius met both production and cost guidance. Unsurprisingly, the company has been a perennial contender for the GMJ Miner of the Year through that period, finishing on the podium three times before finally claiming the crown in 2025.Ramelius loomed as a frontrunner for the Miner gong after being anointed “Digger of the Year” for the second time in five years back in August, joining Jubilee Mines as the only other multiple winner of the prestigious award handed out at the conclusion of the annual Diggers & Dealers Mining Forum in Kalgoorlie.Without doubt, the company’s success across the first half of this decade is underpinned by the consistent outperformance of its flagship Mt Magnet operations in Western Australia. In FY25, it churned out almost 250,000oz, accounting for 82% of total group output.Zeptner suggested the foundations for the company’s achievements over this past year were laid during its operation of Wattle Dam in the late 2000s.“Wattle Dam only ever had a short mine life, but it had one thing – it had grade – and ever since that time, we’ve really focused and gone after high-grade, high-margin assets,” he said.The Penny mine has provided the high-grade kick for the Mt Magnet plant over the past few years but in 2025, Cue was the surprise performer.Acquired via its takeover of Musgrave Minerals in September 2023, Cue exceeded expectations in grade delivery, with Ramelius repaying both the purchase price and development capital within 18 months of settling the transaction.“The Cue project basically came in and stole the show, not that Penny missed a beat either,” Zeptner said.“Again, it’s all about that high grade. On an absolute basis, Cue’s grade may not be as high as Penny’s, but it’s coming from open pit [sources] and usually it doesn’t cost you as much to mine by Dominic PiperRamelius gallops intothe record booksIt was a record year for Ramelius Resources Ltd on just about every possible metric – and the best could still be yetto come.by Michael WashbourneSecure your Paydirt subscription and view the magazine in full every monthSubscribe to read this article.Sign up today!
Page 11 open pit.“In FY25, Cue mined 100,000oz and processed at 10 g/t – it’s pretty hard to compete with those sort of grades coming from an open pit.”Mt Magnet is once again now the sole producing asset in the company’s portfolio with Edna May (FY25 contribution of 53,556oz) transitioned to care-and-maintenance last March. It arguably faces its sternest test since Ramelius took ownership of the operation in 2010, with lower production grades from Cue and Penny anticipated in the near term. Zeptner does not appear the least bit fazed, saying Mt Magnet had consistently defied expectations for more than a decade.“When I joined the company [as chief operating officer in 2012] we were actually refurbishing the mill at Mt Magnet and it had a reputation of being a good asset but hard work,” he said.“I’ve said it plenty of times that 100,000 ozpa out of Mt Magnet was always seen as a good year, so the fact that we did 250,000oz last year and we’ve now got this pathway to 350,000 ozpa, I think people need to change their perceptions about Magnet. Everything else being equal, we’re talking about it being one of the Top 5 [gold] assets in Australia once we get it fully up and running.”That pathway to 350,000 ozpa by FY30 is essentially why Zeptner and the Ramelius crew are content with the modest production forecasts guided for the next two years, being 185,000-205,000oz in FY26 and 200,000-220,000oz in FY27.Ramelius has committed $223 million towards increasing the throughput capacity at Mt Magnet from 2 mtpa to 5 mtpa, underpinned by the addition of its largest acquisition to date.In a move the market had anticipated for the best part of 12 months, Ramelius finally moved on Murchison neighbour Spartan Resources in March, securing exclusive access to the high-grade Never Never and Pepper discoveries within the Dalgaranga project, 65km north-west of Mt Magnet.First ore from Dalgaranga will be fed into the Mt Magnet plant towards the end of FY26 and will become the dominant source in FY28 when production is tipped to reach 300,000 ozpa for the first time.Released as part of the company’s five-year growth strategy in October, the Never Never underground PFS highlighted a posttax NPV of $3.5 billion and IRR of 149% from total production of 1.8 moz @ 6.45 g/t over an initial life of 11 years, based on a gold price of $4,500/oz.“Once we get through this capital investment period over the next two years, we’ll become a real cash flow powerhouse,” Zeptner said. “Then you’ve got the nice problem of what to do with all that money. We’ve definitely got some nice things to be thinking about, not too far down the track.”Most junior gold producers would comfortably settle for a production profile of 350,000 ozpa extending into the next decade, but Ramelius clearly has its sights on stepping up to the mid-tier. To achieve that goal, the newly minted ASX100 company will need to complete its first greenfields project build.The DFS for the Rebecca-Roe project in the Eastern Goldfields was also released as part of the company’s five-year plan, with flagged growth capital of $340 million (plant and equipment) and $279 million (mine development) for the proposed 3.25 mtpa operation, which is set to produce an average 140,000 ozpa at an AISC of $2,625/oz between FY30 and FY36, generating circa $200 million in annual cash flow. Construction will begin in the December 2027 quarter, about 15 months later than originally scheduled, with the project team to mobilise to site upon completion of the Mt Magnet plant upgrade.“I think it’s more than sensible,” Zeptner said of the deferral decision. “We felt the market didn’t really want to see us trying to do two things at once.“If anything, I think you’re going to see the labour around project construction become tighter as we go forward, particularly into 2026. I’m hearing a lot of other gold miners are doing the same thing, they’re either upgrading their mills or building new ones.“We’re keen to get our team together and give them two really good projects over the next 2-3 years. We wouldn’t want to have a gap between projects where we lose them and we wouldn’t want to have a situation where we’re trying to do two things at once and not getting them quite right.”With Mt Magnet and Rebecca-Roe respectively expanded and developed to their stated potential, Ramelius will almost certainly be a 500,000 ozpa producer by FY31, solidifying the company’s position as Australia’s third largest homegrown gold miner behind Northern Star Resources Ltd and Evolution Mining Ltd.Zeptner said he would be surprised if another company was able to match the 170% production growth profile that Ramelius Mark ZeptnerRecords broken by Ramelius in FY25NPAT: $474.2 million (up 119%)EBITDA: $818.6 million (up 81%)Earnings per share: 41.1c (up 111%)Operating cash flow: $856.4 million (up 92%)Net cash and bullion: $809.7 million (up 81%)Total dividend: 8c/share (up 60%)Secure your Paydirt subscription and view the magazine in full every monthSubscribe to read this article.Sign up today!
Page 12 Evolution Mining Ltd has reclaimed the consistency which defined its first decade of existence – unsurprisingly at the same time as completing the turnaround of its most troubled asset.Crowned the GMJ Miner of the Year in 2016 and 2019, Evolution was shortlisted for the award every other year between its formation in 2011 and the COVID-impacted 2020 on the back of never once missing its quarterly and annual guidance forecasts, coupled with some meticulous M&A moves.However, the wheels began to fall off in early 2021, about a year after finalising the acquisition of its first and only venture outside of Australia, the Red Lake operation in Canada. Due to COVIDrelated travel restrictions, key Evolution personnel were largely prevented from physically visiting site, thwarting efforts to put its stamp on the former Newmont Corp asset.Red Lake failed to live up to expectations under Evolution’s initial watch and its continued underperformance over the next two years placed enormous strain on the rest of the company’s portfolio. With guidance no longer being achieved, the once reliable producer’s reputation took a hit.After four years on the outer, Australia’s second largest homegrown gold producer returned to being a contender for the Miner of the Year award in 2025 after comfortably meeting its production and costs targets for FY25 and making a stellar start to FY26, including record quarterly net mine cash flow of $366 million for the September period.Red Lake itself has now delivered record net mine cash flow over consecutive quarters – including $39 million in the September period – with the company confident the Ontario-hosted operation’s returns will only improve over the balance of FY26 with higher mined grades and ore quantities expected, alongside the imminent completion of major capital projects such as the water treatment plant and tailings lift.Evolution managing director Lawrie Conway said it was no coincidence the company’s return to consistency had coincided with the operational turnaround at Red Lake.“I think it’s fair to say Red Lake played an important part for us Evolution backwith a vengeanceby Michael WashbourneFINALIST: MINERMACA YOUR TRUSTED PARTNER maca.net.aumaca.net.auMACA has provided services to the mining sector for more than 20 years, delivering operational expertise and equipment tailored to the needs of our clients and end-users.YOUR TRUSTED PARTNERSecure your Paydirt subscription and view the magazine in full every monthSubscribe to read this article.Sign up today!
Page 13 this past year, the part of not being an underperforming asset,” he told GMJ.“I was reflecting on this just recently with one of our shareholders. In 2023, I think I made seven trips to Red Lake. In 2025, I made just two. So, the amount of management and executive time needed to get that asset doing what it’s doing has reduced dramatically.“It took us a lot longer than we would have liked but it’s now found a good rhythm whereby it’s making cash quarter in, quarter-out, delivering 30,000-40,000oz each quarter and doing it safely.“I think the biggest compliment I’d give the asset is that after our October results call, one shareholder told us he actually listened to the whole call for just one thing – to see what was asked about Red Lake. The fact there was not one question on Red Lake, he said, proved it’s moved from being the problem child to just another one of the children in the family.“It was a child getting most of my love a couple of years ago, but different types of love to what you would normally give your favourite child.”While Conway was quick to clarify that all six of Evolution’s producing assets were his “favourite children”, he could not deny that the Cowal mine in New South Wales was the company’s star performer in 2025.Cowal posted records for annual gold production (330,008oz), operating cash flow ($885 million) and net mine cash flow ($602 million) in FY25. There’s a strong likelihood those metrics could improve further over the coming years, based on gold price forecasts and Evolution’s recent $430 million investment towards extending the open pit operations out to 2042.“If you go back and look at our quarterly calls over the year, I was always calling out Cowal because it just did what it needed to do for the organisation and really took the pressure off the rest of the portfolio,” Conway said.“In the 10 years we’ve owned it, Cowal has delivered year in, year out – and it certainly was no different in FY25. It had an operating EBITDA margin of 64% and generated $885 million of operating cash flow in one year, considering we paid $700 million for it a decade ago. It’s always performed for us consistently and even as we’re investing on site, it’s still able to make a return. “It’s now got another 17 years ahead of it but with the exploration successes we’re seeing underground and what we think we’ll see once we open up the two satellite pits in E46 and E41, I’ve got no doubt it’s going to go well beyond 2042.”Group production of 750,512oz gold and 76,261t copper also helped Evolution post record annual net statutory profit of $926 million (up 119% from FY24), record underlying EBITDA of $2.21 billion (up 46%) and record earnings per share of 46c (up 111%) for FY25.With the dual commodity Northparkes (NSW) and Ernest Henry (Queensland) mines now firmly entrenched in the portfolio, copper is set to contribute 22-25% of the company’s ongoing annual revenue.“We think it’s a really good fit, it keeps our AISC [$1,572/oz in FY25] at the low end of the cost curve,” Conway said.“That copper piece is important for us from a diversity of revenue perspective. If the copper price is down and gold is up, or vice versa, you’re not getting volatility in your cash flows, which is one of the benefits we see from owning these two assets.“Northparkes just did its first full year with us and has generated just under $200 million of free cash flow since we acquired it [in late 2023]. “The $2 billion we paid in two instalments in 2016 and 2021 for Ernest Henry has already been repaid. We’ve now got a mine life out to 2040, remembering it was supposed to finish mining in 2026, so the next 15 years is free money. It’s such a valuable asset for us.”Evolution also delivered the new-look Mungari under budget and ahead of schedule during the past year. Despite commissioning of the expanded 4.2 mtpa processing plant continuing in the September quarter, the company’s only West Australian asset still managed to deliver $43 million of net mine cash flow for the period.Conway said the Eastern Goldfields operation was one to watch over the coming years, having long been seen as an outlier in the Evolution stable.“There’s never been a doubt in my mind or the board’s mind about where Mungari sits,” he said.“We’ve backed it to get to 200,000 ozpa and we’re backing it to get its cost down by 16-17% and start to be a significant cash contributor to the portfolio over the long term. It’s moved into commercial production now and hopefully over the next two or three quarters you’ll start to see it churn out those ounces at a much lower AISC.”MACA YOUR TRUSTED PARTNER maca.net.aumaca.net.auMACA has provided services to the mining sector for more than 20 years, delivering operational expertise and equipment tailored to the needs of our clients and end-users.YOUR TRUSTED PARTNERSecure your Paydirt subscription and view the magazine in full every monthSubscribe to read this article.Sign up today!
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Page 15 Atribute to the forum’s founder, an array of different deposit types and a few tweaks to the programme delivered a memorable conference for delegates attending the 2025 NewGenGold in November.Now in its fourth decade, NewGenGold is widely regarded as unique in gold exploration circles as an event which forgoes the usual marketing and investor-focused content of most conferences in favour of unadorned and informative accounts of gold discovery.“This is a unique forum focusing on how gold deposits were discovered,” programme organiser Justin Osborne said. “It is a corporate-free zone, no hype, no spruik just stories of great people, good geology, innovation, persistence and luck.”The comments were part of Osborne’s first ever opening address to NewGenGold, having stepped in to fill the mighty boots of conference founder Keith Yates, who passed away in June. Delivering a tribute to Yates at the conference’s gala dinner, former Minotaur Exploration managing director Derek Carter – acknowledged as the leader in the discovery of the Prominent Hill copper-gold deposit in South Australia – said the success of NewGenGold reflected much about his friend’s approach to his profession.“The foundation of this conference is the result of Keith’s work on two gold mines – one successful, the other not so successful,” Carter said, referring to Yates’ differing fortunes on the White Devil and White Range projects, both in the Northern Territory.Carter said Yates’ experience at either end of the development spectrum – White Devil was instrumental in sparking Normandy Mining’s rise to international prominence, while White Range led to the failure of its namesake company – could be seen in the spirit of NewGenGold.“Being involved in the development of a very successful [gold] deposit spurs us geologists on to find another. However, failure of a second can be devastating,” Carter said. “Keith experienced this but through hard work and lateral thinking overcame adversity and established a very successful company [Adelaide Resources] and a worldrated conference [NewGenGold].“Keith had a lasting affect on the industry… and will always be remembered as a person always happy to advise, mentor and lead by example. Keith’s legacy will continue to live on, particularly through this conference.”Yates would’ve been proud and intrigued by the 2025 programme, which mixed greenfields discoveries in remote NEWGENGOLD REVIEWNewGenGold: Greenfields focus still strong but needs support by Dominic PiperNearly 400 gold exploration professionals gathered in Perth for the NewGenGold conference in November where Derek Carter gave a tribute to the late Keith YatesSecure your Paydirt subscription and view the magazine in full every monthSubscribe to read this article.Sign up today!
Page 16 NEWGENGOLD REVIEWWhile technology continues to speed up the exploration process, geologists should use such tools to find their most sought-after commodity – thinking time.Breakthrough technologies of 30 years ago such as EM or GPS are standards in the modern exploration toolkit and there is a new wave of advances beginning to impact on the sector, including low-limit detection technology, non-fire assays and 3D core scanning. AI is also emerging but whatever and however they are applied, new technologies will have to fit around the human element of the discovery process, according to Northern Star Resources Ltd’s general manager – exploration Jamie Rogers.“Whether AI or any other technology, they’re enablers,” Rogers said during a technology panel discussion at NewGenGold. “They are not a replacement, we still need to be on the ground. But what they can do is take all the grunt work out of the process, which allows us to spend more time having the interpretation.”Exploration technology entrepreneur Ahmad Saleem agreed, saying technology could clear the way for humans to focus on tasks only they could perform. “Exploration, by nature, has incomplete data sets, so AI or anything like that is not going to improve the level of uncertainty, you are never going to collect enough data to completely remove that uncertainty,” he said. “That then requires an interpretive approach, not just number crunching which is what machines are really good at.”While some veteran geologists fear the application of new technology will take geologists away from the fundamentals of boots-on-ground exploration, Datarock’s Luisa D’Andrea said her company’s software actually encouraged more in-field work.“Traditionally, you have a geologist or a junior geologists or junior geotech engineer logging and it’s a tedious, dull job but it’s perfectly suited to automation because it is repetitive,” she said. “No one from my company will ever say: ‘Don’t go in the field.’ What we are saying is leave the boring counting stuff of vein segmentation and orientation to AI and then get you to look at it in 3D. From there, you can look at how that works with mineralisation and in your intrusions and start doing the interpretive stuff. Send the boring stuff to AI, get your boots on the ground and do your geology.”Panel moderator Justin Osborne said investigations during his time as a non-executive director at IGO Ltd had shown AI would not replace geologists. “It wasn’t to get rid of anybody, it was purely to save time,” he said.What companies do with the data once it is gathered and collated is a pertinent question, according to Saleem.“When I worked with core scanning technology, there were plenty of companies who we went back to a year later and asked if they did anything with the data,” he said. “Most of them would say: ‘We are still thinking about it.’ Many of them were very good at collecting the data but the actual interrogation of the data didn’t fit into their current workflow.”This could partly be apportioned to the way companies approach measuring exploration success, Saleem said.“It’s really hard to come up with a KPI that says ‘how curious were you over the year’ or ‘how contemplative were you during the year’, because you may come up with nothing or I could spend a day and come up with lots of things,” he said. “That’s a challenge in an organisational structure. In that context, data wins because it is a much easier KPI to show. We spent $5 million and collected $5 million of data.”Simon Bolster, of low-level detection technology firm Portable PPB Pty Ltd has been a long-time advocate for technology which speeds up the exploration decision-making process but he said an overreliance on data-driven approaches was dangerous. “The industry often chucks money away because people are following a recipe, a systematic approach to exploration,” he said. “It’s as if there’s a guide: ‘we do mapping first, then we do soils, now we’ll get into geophysics, then we do trenching and then we’re going to drill at this spacing and Tech an aidto a geologist’s natural curiosityby Dominic PiperSecure your Paydirt subscription and view the magazine in full every monthSubscribe to read this article.Sign up today!
whatever’.“It shouldn’t be like that. We need to think about each step and how it relates to discovery. How can we test something cheaply and quickly as possible and move things forward? Succeed quickly or fail fast, that the real skill in exploration.”Of the emerging technologies, Rogers is keeping his eye on those – such as Datarock’s core scanning technology – which improve productivity and outcomes in the core yard.“I think the next major step change for us – and it’s happening in the next five years – is in the core shack where core scanning technologies are fundamentally going to change how we go about our day,” he said. “We spend an inordinate amount of time logging and we’re limited. Humans are bad at it, we are just not consistent at it. Give a drill hole to five geologists and they will give you five different logs. The new core scanning technologies that Luisa’s company is marketing takes all that inconsistency and bias and variability out of how we go about it.”In control of Australia’s largest exploration budget, Rogers is constantly assessing new technologies. He said Northern Star applied three hurdles before introducing any new application.“It has to have a use case, a specific problem to address,” he said. “Then it must add value, saving either time or money and finally it has to work in the operating environment. Core scanning has only got to the point now where it is effective, previously it couldn’t keep up with the volume of core we were (L-R): Justin Osborne (standing, moderator), Mark Bennett, Jamie Rogers, Ahmad Saleem, Luisa D’Andrea and Simon Bolster discuss the impact of technology on the exploration sectorPage 17 Secure your Paydirt subscription and view the magazine in full every monthSubscribe to read this article.Sign up today!
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Page 19 Barrick Mining Corp has reached agreement with Mali’s Government to resolve all their disputes over the LouloGounkoto gold mining complex after two years of negotiations, the company announced in November.The Canadian miner said in a statement it would drop the arbitration case against Mali at the World Bank dispute tribunal, and in return, Mali would drop all charges against Barrick and its affiliates, release four employees from jail, and give operational control back to Barrick.Mali has also agreed to extend Barrick’s mine permit for an additional 10 years, and Barrick has agreed to sign the 2023 mining code, according to two people aware of the development. Barrick was aiming to restart operations by January 1, according to Mamadou Samake, Barrick’s director of West Africa, in a video interview distributed by the Government.Mali and Barrick began a fresh round of talks after the miner’s interim chief executive Mark Hill wrote a letter to the Government seeking a resolution, according to a person aware of the development.Mali’s Mining Ministry said in a statement Barrick would soon be allowed to resume normal operations at Loulo-Gounkoto.The two sides had been in a standoff for two years over the implementation of the West African country’s new mining code that gives Mali a bigger share of revenue from gold miners as gold prices surged to a record high.“The logical thing after this for Barrick would be to get out [of Mali],” Veritas Investment Research analyst Martin Pradier said.This will be the likely outcome, he said, since the new mining code was no better than the previous one, and a company like Barrick could not operate in a place with “flimsy regulations”.Mali’s military-led government seized 3t of gold from Barrick’s mine in early 2025 year and appointed a provisional administrator to take charge of the mine. This led Barrick to write off $US1 billion in revenue from the mine and also saw the departure of its former chief executive Mark Bristow.Loulo-Gounkoto was one of Barrick’s most profitable mines when it was under its control, generating almost $US900 million in revenue in 2024.The dispute is one of the main reasons the Barrick board has raised the possibility of splitting the company into two separate entities, one focused on North America and the other on Africa and Asia, four sources familiar with the company’s thinking told Reuters.A split could also include the outright sale of Barrick’s African assets as well as of the Reko Diq mine in Pakistan, once it has secured financing, according to the sources.A Barrick spokesperson did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Asked about a possible split, Hill said the company did not comment on speculation.Talks are ongoing and nothing has yet been finalised, the sources said.The plans, if they go through, would essentially reverse Barrick’s merger with Randgold in 2019, and shed assets brought in by Bristow.The company’s focus on North America, including Fourmile, a major undeveloped gold mine in Nevada, would ensure that Barrick does not get undervalued in case of a potential takeover offer, one of the sources said.Hill said the company would shift its focus to North America, prompting a ratings upgrade on its shares by analysts at Jefferies and elsewhere.Investors have said Barrick’s shares are undervalued and have asked the company to find ways to take better advantage of a historic rally in gold prices.Although Barrick shares jumped 130% in 2025, in the last five years the company’s returns have been lower than its peers, gaining 52% while Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd has jumped 142%.Investors had previously proposed that the company divide into one division with stable assets such as Nevada and Fourmile, and another with riskier assets in Africa, Papua New Guinea, and Reko Diq, one of the people said.As one of the few gold mining companies with Barrick, Mali strike Loulo agreementby Divya Rajagopal, ReutersBarrick’s Nevada JV with Newmont would be the cornerstone of a spinout of assets in the Canadian majorREGIONAL ROUNDUPMI A4+5 Sep v5.pdf 1 10/6/2025 1:49:22 PMSecure your Paydirt subscription and view the magazine in full every monthSubscribe to read this article.Sign up today!
REGIONAL ROUNDUPPage 20 Unity Metals Ltd has broken a drought of South-East Asiafocused IPOs with an eye on untouched ground “over the fence” from ASX-listed Emerald Resources NLs Okvau gold operation in Cambodia.Unity lodged its IPO prospectus on November 6, looking to secure $10 million before scheduled closure on December 11. The company wants a better understanding of the Ngot exploration licence – 350km north-east of Phnom Penh and adjacent to Okvau to the south – allocating the lion’s share of the funds to an initial 8,000m, 50-hole drilling programme over the next two years. Ngot was under the stewardship of a supposedly Chineseowned Cambodian company registered in 2007 (the year Okvau was discovered by ASX-listed Oxiana Ltd) but its licence was not renewed in 2020. It is unclear whether any exploration work was done in this time but since the ground was acquired by Unity in 2023, it has seen geological mapping, 4,138 soil and 377 rock chip samples and a 10.9km IP survey. The lack of drilling had Unity managing director Craig Mackay scratching his head but he said East Cambodia was good hunting ground for the type of intrusive-related gold deposits now highly sought after for the scale and grade of their mineral endowments.“They’re not found everywhere in the world,” Mackay told GMJ. “Intrusive-related gold deposits are well-known in Alaska, where there is a number of plus-10 moz deposits there such as Fort Knox. In Australia, the most recent example is Hemi in the Pilbara [Western Australia]. East Cambodia has the right aged granites and the same geochemistry and Emerald has recently defined a second deposit called Memot, which will be their second mine in Cambodia.“The district is quite prospective for them but there has been very little work done.”Mackay said Ngot could rival Okvau for size and he was especially encouraged by the wide spread of anomalous soil samples.“We’ve got some great targets, these diorite intrusions that host gold but which also have enormous gold-in-soil anomalies – by big, I mean 1km wide and several kilometres long,” Mackay said.“The soil samples are also really high grade – we’re getting 5-7 g/t gold in some, so it’s just a matter of drilling them. If we can emulate the resource success Emerald has, 1.3 moz just to the north of us with a second deposit that is also 1.3 moz, we’ll do well.”Unity counts more than 30 years of South-East Asia exploration experience with Mackay previously working in Myanmar before government instability broke out.“The attraction of Cambodia and to a lesser degree Thailand [where Unity has applied for copper-gold exploration licences], is they are just so underexplored, even compared to Australia, Canada, the US or even West Africa,” Mackay said.“Neither of our two granted licences in Cambodia have seen any exploration at all and when you compare that to Australia, you get IPOs on ground which has been explored 4-5 times before.”Emerald’s pioneering work in the country was by Michael CameronUnity looks to emulate Aussie peersSecure your Paydirt subscription and view the magazine in full every monthSubscribe to read this article.Sign up today!
Paydirt editor Dominic Piper (right), with FireFly’s Darren Cooke (centre) and Juan Gutierrezat the company’s Green Bay copper-gold project in Newfoundland, Canada#paydirtmedia #magazines #conferencesWherever we are...trend with usSecure your Paydirt subscription and view the magazine in full every monthSubscribe to read this article.Sign up today!
Page 22 African Gold 54Agnico 8, 53AngloGold 12, 32-33, 58Astral 62Aurum 54Barrick 53Bellevue 63Black Cat 14Caprice 64Capricorn 23Casposo 62Challenger 62Develop 63Emerald 60Evolution 21, 23, 28-29Falcon 27, 38Far East 65Freeport 62Genesis 12, 31Gold Fields 25GoldArc 6Gorilla 27, 42Greatland 6IGO 46Liontown 19Mammoth 64-65Minerals 260 19, 27Meeka 14Montage 54Newmont 6, 28, 53HIDDEN TREASUREAsanko Gold Mines Ltd has emerged as the overall winner of the Ghana Chamber of Mines National InterMines First Aid and Safety Competition. Asanko took full advantage of their hosting duties, winning the community teams category with a score of 98%. Gold Fields Ltd’s Damang mine came in second with a score of 89% and AngloGold Ashanti Ltd’s Obuasi mine was third with 85.5%.The staff category was topped by Golden Star Wassa, scoring 59%. Asanko closely trailed with a score of 58.5% and AngloGold finished third at 52%.Asanko managing director Dr Charles Amoah said safety was a core value and way of life at the company.“At Asanko, safety defines who we are. It shapes our culture, drives our discipline, and reflects our commitment to excellence,” Dr Amoah said. “Hosting this year’s competition is therefore not just an honour but a clear demonstration of our belief that safety is a shared duty across the entire mining industry.”The competition is hosted each year by a different Ghanaian mine under a different theme. This year’s event was themed “Every Moment is an Ambush, Think Safety All the Time”.INDEXAsanko triumphs in safety compAsanko was the overall winner after topping the community teams categorySecure your Paydirt subscription and view the magazine in full every monthSubscribe to read this article.Sign up today!
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