pd259-April18 mag-web

Vital year at Watershed

An updated capex of $105.8 million has be estimated for Watershed

Tungsten may not be as sexy as lithium Despite the lovelessness for tungsten don’t have any uranium/thorium or arse-
and cobalt, but its role in the electric projects in the past, the company has nic, which can impact some of the gran-
vehicle and battery storage future should hung onto the Watershed asset, Queens- ite-based projects. The very high nature
not be discounted, according to Vital Met- land, since acquiring it in 2005. of the concentrate means, I think, it will
als Ltd managing director Mark Strizek. make a concentrate of choice for a num-
A DFS on Watershed was completed ber of suppliers.”
“For the high value manufacture of in 2014 which confirmed a simple open
goods that China wants to be a world cut mining operation delivering high- Strizek expects Australian dollar tung-
leader in – electric cars – we are going quality tungsten concentrate at a rate of sten prices to remain firm and provide
to see the development of more rolling 2.5 mtpa over about 10 years was pos- some context behind the importance of
stock on the road and tungsten is used to sible. Watershed.
make those vehicles,” Strizek said.
Vital is targeting pre-production capex “We are working to provide an update
“There are also really exciting develop- of about $US80 million, while market on some numbers as to where the capi-
ments in technology metals and the next conditions are conducive to savings in tal and operating costs are in 2018. We
generation of batteries which will move the vicinity of 20% in operating costs have got an updated resource and the
from chemical energy into direct storage from baseline numbers used in the DFS. schedule we are working on. We believe
of electrical energy. What we are already we can produce a fair amount of good
seeing is prototypes of tungsten hybrid While further improvements to costs fresh numbers on that,” he said.
batteries that could essentially instanta- are being worked on, the tungsten price
neously charge [phones for instance] to ticked over $US400/mtu at the time of All environmental approvals and indig-
run for up to a week. There is more com- print for the first time since 2014. enous land use agreements are in place
mercialisation needed on that, but we and all mining leases have been granted
think we are well placed in a metal that is Strizek said potential financiers wanted for Watershed, north-west of Cairns.
right at the forefront of the next develop- to see price consolidation and provided
ments. I think it is an exciting time.” Provisio Corporate – the outfit appointed The tide appears to have turned for
to lead the process of arranging non- the better at Watershed and recent news
Having survived the market downturn, equity financing for Watershed – with a from the US concerning a 25% tariff on
Vital now has a couple of potential near- sound platform to work from. imported steel and 10% on imported alu-
term development opportunities to capi- minium could also be a boon for tungsten
talise on in a favourable market for com- “Watershed, arguably, is the best de- suppliers.
modities. velopment option in Australia,” Strizek
said. Strizek said American end-users had
indicated they were buying tungsten
“The concentrate is very clean and we

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT APRIL 2018 PAGE 51

QUEENSLAND FOCUS

Bella Tondi in Niger had seen significant hard rock artisanal mining over a strike length in excess of 1.5km.
Vital reported a hit of 4m @ 157 g/t from 76m last month

powders and carbides to strengthen ma- Watershed – 21mt @ 0.15% tungsten a programme of mapping and soil sam-
terials used in the US aviation and mili- for 31,400t reserves – has the capac- pling under way at the time of print.
tary industries. ity to potentially produce 3-4% of global
tungsten supply a year, with the US and In the meantime, alongside the near-
Strizek said China’s reaction to the tar- China markets to tap into. term development opportunity at Wa-
iffs could involve a supply cut of tungsten tershed, Vital has results from the Bella
in simwilar fashion to its restriction on Substantial drilling has been com- Tondi gold project in Niger to consider.
rare earths exports to Japan because of pleted at Watershed but the resource
a political dispute. of 49mt @ 0.14% tungsten for 70,400t Results from the first ever RC pro-
remains open at depth and along strike. gramme at Bella Tondi, within the Bouli
“The Chinese obviously don’t want to Vital is also convinced an underground gold project, included gold grades up to
disengage America as they are a large operation is possible. 36.5 g/t.
market for them, but they may be able to
surgically show their displeasure with the Strizek knows not to look too far down Strizek, who spent considerable time
removal of a number of technology met- the track though, as it is hard enough en- on the ground in Niger during Febru-
als. Tungsten will be right at the forefront gaging the market with the tungsten story ary, said the high-grade gold potential at
due to its importance to the US aviation at Watershed. Bella Tondi, where it has an exploration
industry and also the US military in terms agreement with private Turkish company
of tungsten carbides,” Strizek said. Bringing Watershed to the fore would SUMMA, was exciting.
enhance Vital’s credentials in the tung-
“We could potentially see the prices sten space and could be a precursor to “One of the keys in our agreement with
which are already at near-decade highs upping the ante in Germany where it has SUMMA is the very fast appraisal pro-
having a rapid rise in response to essen- the Aue exploration permit. cess, whereby for a spend of $6 million
tially a withdrawal of supply. As the end- we could end up with the ground and
users will have to look for alternatives, Aue is a potential underground mine SUMMA takes a 2.5% royalty. We could
we are definitely well placed.” prospective for tungsten, tin, cobalt, sil- end up with a majority interest of 80%
ver, zinc, indium, gold and uranium, with and the Government holding the rest, it
is shaping up as very attractive,” Strizek
Tungsten can be used for various steels to increase hardness, durability and resistance said.
to corrosion. Tungsten is widely used for high-speed steels and super alloys
“There is so much potential also down
the road in terms of commercialisation of
Bella Tondi, we are only 25km away from
Samira Hill which is a potential toll-treat-
ing option, so you can really see how this
could come together. We have taken our
first steps and have more results coming.
Between Bella Tondi and the work that
SUMMA have done at Petit Druikou and
Burke Burke, it is really shaping up as a
target for a million ounces or more. We
really think we could find some shallow,
high- grade open pittable targets there.”

At the time of print, Vital announced it
had raised $3.8 million to advance Bouli
and Watershed.

– Mark Andrews

PAGE 52 APRIL 2018 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

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FERTILISER SPOTLIGHT

SoP brightens
fertiliser market

While muriate of potash shortages in 2017, with waiting periods This is due to environmental compliance
(MoP) prices continue to for high-quality granular SoP product issues and also MoP’s price rise which
from Europe reportedly exceeding four has had an impact on secondary SoP
drift, sulphate of potash (SoP) months. Even with new supply forecast production.
to hit the market by 2022, the tightening
is asserting itself as a commod- supply narrative is expected to remain. “Outside China, the market is also be-
coming tighter and the trend appears to
ity of choice for many fertiliser For ASX-listed SoP hopefuls such as be continuing that way to 2023 and be-
Danakali Ltd, the situation could not be yond.”
companies looking for new more promising.
In January, Danakali announced com-
sources of potash. “Inside China, the SoP market has pletion of front-end engineering design
changed significantly in the last 12 (FEED) work for its Colluli SoP project
MoP prices are still struggling to pull months,” Danakali chief executive Danny in Eritrea. The results highlighted Col-
away from the cyclical lows of 2016, lead- Goeman said. “SoP prices have jumped luli’s ability to become the leader of a
ing to new investment in the sector drying $US100/t in the last year to $US475/t new generation of SoP production cen-
up, as highlighted by BHP Ltd’s decision before the export penalty is imposed. tres. They showed Colluli capable of pro-
to delay its $US14 billion Jansen project ducing NPV of $US902 million and IRR
last year. Despite the lack of investment, Danakali expects to produce up to 944,000 tpa of 29.9% based on production of up to
MoP supply is expected to outstrip de- of SoP from its Colluli project in Eritrea 944,000 tpa SoP. Capex of $US302 mil-
mand for the rest of the decade. lion would deliver Danakali its Module I
target of 472,000 tpa SoP production
In contrast, the smaller SoP market following which incremental spend of
has witnessed new projects attracting $US202 million would lift production to
significant attention as prices continue to 944,000 tpa.
rise amid supply pressures.
Goeman said the FEED results con-
SoP has been selling at a $US270/t firmed Colluli as highly attractive and well
premium over MoP since 2014, due in advanced.
part to its suitability for application on
higher-value chloride sensitive crops. “We have consistently said that Col-
This means that growers are willing to luli is unique and now it is the most ad-
pay a higher price for its potash content vanced greenfields SoP project in the
compared to MoP. world,” Goeman told Paydirt. “If you look
at other SoP development projects, no-
On the supply side, much of the world’s one in the world is as far advanced as we
spare SoP capacity is in China but is now are having finished the FEED. Be-
largely locked out of international mar- cause we have gone through the FEED,
kets because of high export tariffs while our numbers are the most accurate in the
secondary production is also limited due market.”
to co-product demand.
Not only is Colluli ahead of the devel-
Some analysts predict the SoP market opment pack, its economics provide a
will become increasingly undersupplied point of difference for potential investors.
in the next decade without capacity in-
vestment. “Colluli has always been positively

Several sources have cited supply

PAGE 54 APRIL 2018 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

unique,” Goeman said. “It is one of the Despite Eritrea’s reputation, Danakali actually has access to world-class infrastructure
only known SoP projects in which potas- with the Port of Massawa just 180km away and capable of handling both container and
sium salts are mined in solid form as op-
posed solution mining. It is an open pit rotainer requirements
method in which we go through 16m of
clay and then straight into the salts. We in 2016 he has developed an off-take to UN sanctions. However, Goeman said
don’t need the massive pre-evaporation strategy and led off-take negotiations on potential investors and financiers were
programmes – which take nine months behalf of CMSC, the JV vehicle of Colluli becoming more comfortable with the
in many cases – of other projects. That owners Danakali and state-owned miner East African country.
means the mine-to-market cycle is much ENAMCO.
quicker bringing with it working capital “A lot of the banks, particularly the Af-
benefits.” “Off-take is obviously the next big mile- rican banks are not as concerned about
stone we have to reach,” he admitted, the geopolitical risk as they were 12
Other technical advantages are also adding that discussions were making months ago but it hasn’t gone away,” he
apparent from the FEED work. Process- good progress. said.
ing will comprise of crushing, flotation,
mixing and drying with product then sent Eritrea’s political situation remains a – Dominic Piper
180km to the operating Port of Massawa. challenge with the country still subject

“We are blessed with good infrastruc-
ture with the Massawa port available for
bulk and/or containerised shipping. We
have 200 years of mine life and plenty of
diversification potential because of the
different products we can produce.”

Goeman has spent much of the two
months since the release of the FEED
study educating investors on Colluli’s ad-
vanced position. Danakali’s share price
has held firm at a time of mixed perfor-
mance for fertiliser stocks and Goeman
said the response from shareholders had
been positive.

“Everyone has taken note of the FEED
results. I was recently in Sydney and
Melbourne talking to institutional inves-
tors and it was obvious everyone was
extremely interested in the FEED results.
I think they are starting to see that a DFS
is one thing but FEED gives another level
of accuracy to financial numbers.”

“People are now recognising Colluli as
the most likely project to reach develop-
ment first.”

Technical and economic aspects
confirmed, Danakali is now focused on
securing off-take and project finance
agreements. Goeman is vastly experi-
enced in sales and marketing, having
spent more than 20 years in such roles
with Rio Tinto Ltd. Since joining Danakali

The amenability of Colluli to simple open-pit mining methods has pushed it to the front of the SoP development pack
AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT APRIL 2018 PAGE 55

FERTILISER SPOTLIGHT

Trigg: From river to beach
and now lake

Trigg Mining Pty Ltd is set print, SoP was worth about
to complete an IPO and
list on the ASX in Q2 after $US500/t.
reaching an agreement to
acquire 100% of K2O Min- And, while the demand for
erals Pty Ltd.
SoP brines, which makes up
An agreement between
the two parties last month about 40% of the market, is
saw Trigg acquire 100%
of K2O via a share sales expected to grow at about
agreement therefore over-
riding the second earn-in 3% p.a. prices are expected
requirements stated under
the original deal struck in to be stable.
July 2017.
“There is a price floor be-
Since then Trigg has
worked feverishly to expand cause there is a secondary
overall tenure from 668sq
km to 2,689sq km and es- process where it is more ex-
tablish an exploration tar-
get of 2.6-9.3mt of drain- pensive to produce [SoP] to
able SoP at Lake Rason,
Laverton Links, Western fill up that market demand,
Australia, which fulfilled the
initial earn-in requirement in so there is no boom pricing,”
February.
Paterson said.
Trigg’s acquisition of K2O paves the
way for the former to complete an IPO “I like it because of the
and fast-track exploration uninterrupted
during the 2018 field season. product. We are able to

Furthermore, two tenements forming a produce it organically and
key part of the Laverton Links project –
the Lake Hope Campbell prospect – have there is a very light touch
also been granted. Lake Hope Campbell
contains about 95km of paleochannel environmentally such that
prospective for SoP and is potentially
twice the size of Lake Rason. when projects close there

Prior to the latest round of announce- will be very little evidence
ments, Trigg – named after company
managing director Keren Paterson’s an- that there was a project
cestor Henry Trigg who was a founder of Trigg managing director Keren Paterson there in the first place. I
the Swan River settlement in 1829 – was
already well placed to hit the ASX at full like it from the sustainable
tilt and now its position in a niche space
has been enhanced. sive version or supply of potassium and environmental perspective and that it is

While the wave of new entrants to the important for those [crops] that are chlo- all part of the food supply chain and we
ASX have taken the battery minerals
route, Paterson’s experience in paleo- ride sensitive and can’t have MoP put on all need potassium in our food, so it is a
channels and the importance of SoP as
an essential fertiliser for high value food them,” Paterson told Paydirt. good thing to be doing.”
crops will feed the company’s growth
ambitions. “This isn’t just an opportunistic IPO, Paterson is convinced of the funda-

“The industry is connected to food we’re a genuine company with genuine mentals of demand for SoP in the future
supply and human population growth,
as well as increasing demand for qual- prospects. We are not necessarily chas- and given she discovered the Carley
ity foods in which SoP is used mostly on
high value food crops. It is a more expen- ing the IPO window, we have got the pro- Bore paleochannel resource prior to En-

jects to a stage where it is ready to go to ergia Minerals’ listing, is ideally suited to

market and we can optimise the explora- explaining Trigg’s role in the sector to an

tion in the coming field season.” Australian audience.

Once the company is listed, drilling at “I think it is very exciting that we can

Lake Hope Campbell is planned, while identify these types of projects; they are

the 2018 field season will also include a organic sources of SoP in a market that

second drilling programme at Lake Ra- needs more supply, particularly organic

son to determine a resource and contin- sources,” she said.

ued evaporation trials plus reconnais- “We have been out there and drilled

sance and ground and seismic surveys Lake Rason which is just 15% of our ten-

at East Laverton. ure and we have already identified 2.6-

A country meeting as part of the Native 9.3mt of drainable SoP from our project.

Title Agreement at Lake Throssell is also Our projects now cover some 2,688sq

planned for this quarter, as is heritage km, all in the same district in Laverton

clearance work. and are really well supported by infra-

While the company is eager to get on structure including roads, rail and the

quickly with work and bring all projects Great Eastern road through to Central

to resource status as the basis for scop- Australia and Queensland. Plus, there

ing studies, dealing with boom/bust SoP are two gas pipelines across our tene-

price scenarios won’t be a problem. ments.”

SoP prices, which trade at a premium – Mark Andrews
to MoP, have remained steady for the

past eight years, generally trading at

around $US500-600/t. At the time of

PAGE 56 APRIL 2018 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

Agrimin to dish up PFS

After two years in the making, ronmentally friendly manner. Out-
Agrimin Ltd is ready to un-
wrap a PFS on the Lake Mackay side of China, the same dynamics
SoP project.
and change in farming techniques
The study by Worley Parsons
was being finalised at the time of are happening all around the world
print and will be released to mar-
ket as another major milestone so demand for SoP will remain
for the project starts, Agrimin
chief executive Mark Savich told strong globally,” Savich said.
Paydirt.
Demand for SoP more than dou-
“The PFS will go a long way
to validating the project. We are bled from 3 mtpa in 2009 to 7 mtpa
also hoping to build the [evapo-
ration] ponds in early April and in 2016, with a major demographic
within a couple of months we
should have those operating rel- shift around the world from rural to
atively seamlessly and teaching
us a few lessons along the way,” more urbanised populations con-
Savich said.
suming more fruit and vegetables.
“By the end of the year, we
should be producing more SoP samples There has also been movement
which we can then take to our discus-
sions with our project partners/off-tak- in agricultural practices due to
ers.”
water scarcity, technological ad-
Work on the pilot evaporation ponds
started in December on the lake sur- vances and agricultural pollution
face using a cut-to-fill method, the same
model being proposed for the full-scale which has seen growers increase
production.
their usage of SoP, particularly in
Long-term pump testing of trenches
is also planned at various sites to give China.
Agrimin confidence in predicted brine re-
covery rates to include in the DFS. Mark Savich “I think the reception towards

According to the company’s timeline, the story we are selling and there
a DFS is scheduled to be completed in
Q1 2019 with an eye to SoP production ability of a 370,000 tpa project producing being a change in food production pro-
in 2021.
SoP for 20 years. cesses and how that is going to drive
A scoping study in 2016 on Lake Mac-
kay, Western Australia, indicated the vi- The development capex was estimated key inputs, namely speciality fertiliser, is

at $US259 million ($US105 million of in- something I think investors are beginning

directs and contingencies) with total FOB to understand now,” Savich said.

cash costs of $US256/t, providing good “I probably think the hype around the

margins for Agrimin considering current battery minerals sector is making it eas-

SoP prices are about $US500/t. ier for us to market in a way. That sec-

On metrics alone, Agrimin appears to tor is an emerging market with this major

have a compelling project on its hands global thematic. In that respect, there are

and is attracting interest from various battery factories popping up demanding

parties around the world. new raw materials. In our case there are

“The strongest reception for us has new types of farms and greenhouses

been from China because of the impend- popping up demanding specialty fertilis-

ing supply shortage from the Manheim er. I think people may grasp that concept

production which will be shutting down. easier because what we are doing is in

What we are trying to put forward is that some ways like where lithium is replac-

we can help the transition in supplying ing oil; SoP or specialty fertilisers will

SoP for a similar cost and in a more envi- replace some of those high instrument

fertilisers. And, with investors looking for

the bright spot in a particular market rath-

er than looking at the market as a whole,

we could offer that opportunity.”

Agrimin has built some good momen-

tum and in a 12-month period has seen

its share price increase from 56c to 82c/

share at the time of print.

The company ended 2017 with $9.5

million and once the PFS is completed

there will be a focus on topping up its

cash position.

“We are definitely well funded, but we

know how quickly times change in the

mining industry and we want to continue

to remain well funded. It is something we

will be turning our mind to after the PFS,”

Savich said.

– Mark Andrews

A PFS on the Lake Mackay project will be completed soon

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT APRIL 2018 PAGE 57

FERTILISER SPOTLIGHT

Date set for Beyondie build

Kalium Lakes Ltd is expected to begin Kalium Lakes continues to hail the success of the large-scale pilot evaporation
construction of what will become Aus- ponds at its Beyondie SoP project in the Pilbara
tralia’s first SoP operation later this year.
Kalium Lakes signed non-binding a number of ancillary miscellaneous li-
On-site activities at Beyondie, about MoUs with two large fertiliser groups cences were submitted in February, less
160km south-east of Newman, have from China and Germany last year for up than a month after the company signed
increased in recent months as Kalium to 110,000 tpa of Beyondie’s proposed its second and final Native Title agree-
Lakes builds on the momentum generat- production. ment.
ed from releasing a robust PFS and rais-
ing $14.2 million via an oversubscribed Since the PFS, Kalium Lakes has Hazelden said his company had elect-
placement late last year. continued with a number of key work ed to complete its Native Title obligations
programmes aimed at improving the prior to applying for the mining leases
Three drill rigs have been turning at economics of the project, including pu- to reduce the chances of construction
the project since early January as part of rification plant recovery optimisation test works being delayed.
an ongoing infill programme, while pilot work.
evaporation pond trials and purification “I’ve done five Native Title agreements
plant test work continue to return encour- Duplicated laboratory trials in Germa- in my time and there are two ways to go
aging results. ny and Canada found Beyondie’s SoP about this,” he said. “One is you apply for
product quality could be enhanced to a the mining lease and then do your Na-
Kalium Lakes is on track to complete premium 51-52% K2O product contain- tive Title negotiations. We went for the
a BFS and make a final investment deci- ing less than 0.5% chloride and insolu- reverse an did all the Native Title nego-
sion on Beyondie as early as Q3, paving ble material. Overall SoP recoveries also tiations first so we knew that when we
the way for construction to begin before have the potential to increase to more applied for the mining lease, everyone
year’s end, less than two years after the than 80%, including evaporation pond would be happy with what we were doing
company listed on the ASX. losses associated with both leakage and and it all been signed and agreed.
recovery.
Such is the company’s confidence in “Effectively, now there are two deter-
the viability of the project, Kalium Lakes “Most people only work on a 50% K2O mined areas are out there and we won’t
managing director Brett Hazelden re- and a 1% chloride, so from a purity point have to have the objection period. We
cently approved the purchase of a kitch- of view we’re ticking the box there,” Ha- now go through a really short-circuited
en, office and 60-room camp to house a zelden said. process and essentially by the end of
construction workforce. Q2 we should have the mining leases in
“All the purification plant works we’re place.”
“Everything is going to plan quite doing now with that 8t of salt we harvest-
nicely at the moment and we’re looking ed recently is really just to tweak the final Hazelden said his company was seek-
to hopefully get to a final investment de- buttons, but also get in place the ven- ing to split its customer base evenly be-
cision around Q3/Q4 this year and then dor tests for thickeners and those types tween domestic and overseas sales, with
start construction by the end of the year,” of things so you can have the process seasonal variation also likely to impact
Hazelden told Paydirt. guarantees put in place when you actu- where its product is distributed.
ally commence operations.”
“Once we’ve got the approval in place Kalium Lakes also continues to review
to install the construction camp, we’ll Kalium Lakes is anticipating State and the potential recovery of hydrated mag-
look to install those in Q2/Q3 and that Federal approval for Beyondie in July/ nesium carbonate as an additional rev-
should give us an easy run into the main August, having recently had confirma- enue stream. Karratha-based EgoMag
construction works on site.” tion from the Environmental Protection Ltd plans to undertake further optimisa-
Authority (EPA) that the “level of assess- tion test work following the completion of
The PFS supported development of a ment” for the project had been set for the trial recoveries from processing residual
base case 150,000 tpa SoP operation full-scale 150,000 tpa development. brines.
at Beyondie for a pre-production capex
of $220 million, based on an initial 21- Applications for two mining leases and – Michael Washbourne
year mine life and a $US500/t SoP sales
price.

Operating costs of $244-253/t FOB at
Geraldton or Fremantle ports fall in the
lowest quartile of existing global SoP
producers. Other key economics from
the PFS were life-of-mine free cash flow
of $1 billion, pre-tax NPV of $388 million,
IRR of 28.7%, average annual EBITDA of
$83 million and payback within 3.7 years.

A phased development scenario was
also considered in the PFS, with a 75,000
tpa start-up operation requiring $124 mil-
lion of pre-production capital.

Hazelden said his company was still
mulling over the optimal size of the op-
eration and would continue to liaise with
potential off-takers and financiers.

PAGE 58 APRIL 2018 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

Verdant flourishing in NT

Verdant’s trial mining campaign produced a marketable concentrate product the company is now using in discussions with customers

Signing of an offtake MoU has been sible production scenarios for Ammaroo, Ammaroo ore through a bulk beneficia-
welcomed by Verdant Minerals Ltd the BFS is focused on a 2 mtpa phos- tion plant. It has used product from that
but managing director Chris Tziolis is not phate rock concentrate production. trial to initiate discussions with potential
getting distracted from the work still in offtake partners.
front of the company. However, the project’s $755 million
price tag means Verdant (current market Tziolis said that process would con-
Verdant announced on March 19 that it cap $26 million) will likely have to attract tinue through 2018 with the company
had finalised a MoU with Wilson Interna- project partners to fund development. continuing discussions with at least five
tional Trading regarding future offtake of prospective offtake partners.
up to 350,000 tpa of phosphate rock from To do that, it will need a robust project
Verdant’s Ammaroo project in Northern and as such Tziolis sees the impend- Phosphate was largely immune to
Territory. ing release of the BFS as the greatest 2017’s commodities rebound but Tziolis
milestone to be achieved in the coming said projects such as Ammaroo were still
Wilson is responsible for the interna- months. attracting attention in a market currently
tional procurement of phosphate rock for dominated by Morocco.
Greenstar Fertilisers Ltd, a leading Indi- “It is only a handful of weeks before we
an marketer of fertilisers which imports 1 draw a line under the BFS work – things “Sentiment is pretty low at the moment
mtpa of phosphate rock. will continue after that date but not for the if you are not in the battery minerals
purposes of the BFS,” Tziolis said. “From space,” he said. “The agri minerals are
The MoU is a step ahead for Verdant there we have to lodge the supplemen- very difficult to get traction for but when
in a market where a group of emerging tary EIS and finalise the Native Title ne- we hit our milestones I think we will see
players are jostling for ill-defined market gotiations.” market support.
share. Tziolis recognises it as an impor-
tant but far from defining achievement for Tziolis doesn’t expect the BFS and ap- “We are looking to sign more MoUs,
the company. provals process to be a drawn out affair potentially in India but also elsewhere.
given Ammaroo’s simplicity. Everyone is open to new sources of
“Signing of the offtake MoU is part of phosphate because the market is domi-
getting to where we want to be,” Tziolis “It is not an overly complex project,” he nated by one player.”
told Paydirt. “We have had the Amma- said. “The mining is very simple because
roo product out there with various par- it is shallow and it is a standard flotation He said financing options were myriad.
ties, allowing them to test it. It is a start- flowsheet. The challenge is being able to “We have a few different discussions
ing point but no one is going to commit keep the capex down. It is remote so lo- going on. It is viable from a traditional
project finance until we have a project gistics and supplies are a challenge. banking perspective and the project is
which is permitted and ready to go.” under due diligence from the Northern
“We will come out with something to Australia Infrastructure Development
Verdant started a BFS on Ammaroo – the market on the BFS in mid-to-late fund. The current share price also offers
220km south-east of Tennant Creek – in April and lodgement of the EIS is in the potential partners an opportunity; some-
September 2016, having built a compel- same timeframe. We hope to reach Na- one could get this project very cheaply.”
ling PFS based on a resource of 1.145bt tive Title agreement by May. We will also
@ 14.5% P2O5 (for a 10% P2O5 cut-off). keep working on offtake MoUs in the – Dominic Piper
meantime.”
While the PFS investigated three pos-
Verdant spent much of last year testing

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT APRIL 2018 PAGE 59

FERTILISER SPOTLIGHT

Três Estradas receives BFS tick

Project finance discussions and final
approval procedures for the Três Es-
tradas phosphate project will ramp-up in

coming months after Aguia Resources

Ltd released a positive BFS for the pro-

ject in March.

The BFS – released on March 21 –

demonstrated Três Estradas’ ability to

host a 16-year operation, producing

300,000 tpa of phosphate concentrate

and 1 mtpa of aglime. Capex was esti-

mated at $US83.9 million with pre-tax

NPV of $US300 million, a 21% IRR and

EBITDA of $US26-37 million a year.

The BFS assumed phased produc-

tion at Três Estradas, 350km from Porto

Alegre in southern Brazil. Phase 1 will fo-

cus on simple truck-and-shovel mining of

high-grade, low-strip oxidised saprolite

ore to produce 307,000 tpa of high-value

phosrock concentrate. Aguia believes it can offer a $US18.50/t margin on rock phosphate currently
Phase 2 will see the 1.3 mtpa process- imported into southern Brazil from Morocco

ing plant expanded to handle carbonatite

ore types as well as produce an aglime that resulted in a more efficient and high- of $US133/t by 2027. The BFS indicated

by-product. Mining and processing will er performing mill circuit and the excel- Aguia could deliver Três Estradas con-

be increased to maintain the 300,000 tpa lent outcome of the infill drilling expanded centrate for operating costs of $US51/t in

concentrate rate as well as 2.8 mtpa of our understanding of the Três Estradas Phase 1 and $US77/t in Phase 2.

aglime. Phase 3 will see the remaining mineral resource,” Tallarico said. “The The next step for Aguia will be to se-

stockpiled aglime reclaimed and deplet- improvements that our engineering team cure project finance with a June 2017

ed. introduced in the processing circuit, and MOU with Nebari US set to provide a

Processing has already been proven at demonstrating that the production of cal- debt financing structure for 100% of the

pilot plant scale through US group Eriez cite was viable and of exceptionally high project capex.

Flotation Division after a multi-month quality, have made the project even more The proposed debt facility will be

study confirmed earlier bench-scale robust. The hard work of our technical priced within the context of the market

work, as well as further improvements team to deliver the BFS and continue to and at commercial terms. The funding

in the process design to improve grade advance the permitting process moves is contingent upon, among other things,

recovery projections. us closer to the execution phase.” the completion of the BFS, obtaining all

The flowsheet for Phase 1 will com- As a new entrant to the market, Aguia’s necessary permits to build the project

prise primary crushing via a mobile strategy is based around displacing Bra- and finalisation of appropriate off-take

crusher, stockpile and reclaim system, zilian phosrock imports into Rio Grande agreements.

grinding circuit utilising one rod mill, Port. The planned production of 300,000 Aguia managing director Justin Reid,

column flotation followed by magnetic tpa would displace around 60% of cur- said the BFS highlighted Três Estradas’

separation, thickening and dewatering, rent and future demand of 528,000 tpa, ability to deliver high-quality phosphate

drying, tailings thickening and tailings according to market consultant Agrocon- at “significant costs advantage”.

storage collection dam. Phase 2 will see sult Estudios Setoriais Ltda. Agroconsult “The project is economically attrac-

a primary jaw crusher and secondary forecasts a phosrock FOB Morocco price tive even at the bottom of the phosphate

cone crusher introduced. price cycle – using a phosphate

The BFS work showed recover- price that is 37% lower than the

ies of 81.4% at a concentrate grade price used in the 2016 PEA. This

of 32.7% P2O5 for the Phase 1 represents a major opportunity for

saprolite ore and 75.3% at a con- Aguia underpinned by a robust

centrate grade of 30.1% P2O5 for and growing agricultural sector in

the Phase 2 carbonatite ore. Brazil,” Reid said.

Aguia technical director Fer- “Meanwhile, we continue to

nando Tallarico said the robust explore adjacent properties that

economic results contained within have promising indications that

the BFS were a result of extensive there is more phosphate that

analysis conducted by Aguia into a could eventually feed into the Três

simple and efficient process. Estradas project and substantially

“The introduction of column flo- expand its current mine life.”

tation was a definitive milestone Três Estradas boasts total reserves of 43mt @ 4.31% P2O5

PAGE 60 APRIL 2018 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

Cochran’s potash reward

Greg Cochran endured many sleep- Reward chief executive Greg Cochran with long-serving director and major
less nights while at the helm of Deep shareholder Michael Ruane at the company’s Nedlands office
Yellow Ltd as the uranium price showed
no signs of waking from its prolonged the project which hosts the largest and “Reward is in a reasonable position,
slumber. one of the highest grade SoP deposits in 860km to Port Hedland, and the trans-
the world. port solution in the PFS is the one that
Having taken almost 12 months off was used in the scoping study. We will
to recharge his batteries, Cochran has “We met with a very large institution re- require somewhere in the order of $60
stepped into the hot seat at potash hope- cently and the feedback from them was million of expenditure to upgrade the
ful Reward Minerals Ltd and is now hav- there was not enough information out road to make sure that we get a decent
ing no such trouble getting out of bed there about us and they were struggling operating cost on transportation.
each morning. to get their head around the project,” he
said. “There is an argument there for the
“There’s nothing that I have seen to Northern Australia Infrastructure Devel-
date that is giving me sleepless nights,” “Reward has kept its overheads very opment Fund to get involved because
Cochran told Paydirt. small and kept its focus on spending this is a new industry we’re opening up
money on the project, on metallurgi- for WA and an industry that has the po-
“In fact, I wake up thinking this is really cal test work and assessment. Now the tential to go on for decades.”
a fantastic and exciting opportunity not time comes to take the step up, to get out
only for me personally and for Reward, there, to start marketing the project and Cochran said the opportunity for an
but also for the State. We’re on the brink explain the milestones we have coming Australian SoP producer to feed neigh-
of establishing a new industry for West- up.” bouring markets was yet to be properly
ern Australia that has the potential to be understood by the investment commu-
a very long life industry.” Following the release of the PFS, Re- nity.
ward will undertake a review of its evapo-
Cochran joined Reward as chief exec- ration pond designs and construction “SoP has a very strong growth fore-
utive in December, having consulted to plans, as well as resume pumping trials cast, given the increasing level of soil
the company for several months prior as from existing trenches. salinity in crops all over the world, in par-
it finalised a PFS on its Lake Disappoint- ticular close to home in South East Asia,”
ment SoP project, about 320km east of Reward also expects to complete fur- he said.
Newman. ther large-scale test work throughout
2018 as it embarks on a DFS to be final- “They are not coping with these prob-
The PFS – managed by CPC Engi- ised sometime next year. lems, in fact, they are just ignoring them,
neering Pty Ltd – was due for release at so the need for SoP is getting bigger and
the time of print. Cochran is confident of luring new in- bigger and we see that demand only es-
vestors to the company’s register once calating from here. And, given the loca-
While best known for his work in the the PFS hits the market, although he is tion of Port Hedland in terms of our port
uranium space, Cochran was exposed to prepared to be flooded with questions of departure into South East Asia, we’re
potash during stints in corporate devel- about the large costs typically associated very well positioned.”
opment roles for BHP Ltd and Mitsubishi with potash projects.
Corp. – Michael Washbourne
“We all suffer from the tyranny of dis-
“I see the SoP space as a value-over- tance in terms of location, some worse
volume business,” Cochran said. “The than others,” he said.
margins are healthy and operating costs
for brine players are really competitive.
We all face logistics challenges for sure
– these are not easy projects – but I feel
this is the most promising deposit and
opportunity in Australia to get a SoP pro-
ject off the ground.”

One of Cochran’s first tasks upon step-
ping into his new role was to sign off on
the company’s submission of the Envi-
ronmental Review Document, the first of
its kind for a potash project in Australia.

Lake Disappointment comprises more
than 5,000sq km of granted tenements in
WA’s Little Sandy Desert, with 1,200sq
km of that ground package currently be-
ing reviewed by the Environmental Pro-
tection Authority.

Reward expects to be notified whether
it has received environmental approval
for the project towards the end of the year
following a lengthy public review period.

Cochran said the time had come for
the company to step up its marketing of

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT APRIL 2018 PAGE 61

FERTILISER SPOTLIGHT

Kore spreads its wings

Kore Potash plc is broadening the be awarded a fixed-price EPC contract
potential pool of investor capital and can begin early construction works

for its Sintoukola project in the Re- at Kola.

public of Congo with additional list- SQM and Oman-based sovereign

ings on the AIM and JSE. wealth fund SGRF have both signed

As this edition went to print, Kore preliminary agreements for 20% of fu-

began trading on the JSE while rais- ture production.

ing $US13.14 million for its admis- Last year the company received a

sion to London’s AIM exchange. letter of support from BPIFrance Assur-

Kore will remain listed on the ASX, ance Export for export credit insurance

despite the company relocating to for the French component of the pro-

the UK last November. curement for the construction of Kola,

“It’s been a busy 6-12 months,” valued at around $US500-700 million.

Kore managing director Sean Ben- “To have them supporting us, al-

nett told Paydirt. though provisionally at this stage until

“The redomicile was a lot of work we’ve finished the DFS, is great,” Ben-

and that was really just to set us up nett said.

for the AIM listing because that’s “We’ve also had another letter of sup-

where we decided the most likely port from another export credit agency

institutional support was going to where the potential procurement from

come from. that region is another $US200-300 mil-

“The UK has a bilateral investment lion. So we’re getting some very posi-

treaty with the Republic of Congo, tive early stage support from the export

so that gives us another layer of le- credit agencies and I think that’s the

gal protection through the arbitration bedrock of potential financing.

courts should something happen, al- “Export credit agencies can be only

though we don’t expect it to.” $US10-15 million a year financing, so

Kore’s pursuit of additional listings to get that in these quantities, which

was initiated by its Australian share- Kore is set to complete a DFS on Kola in early Q3 2018 is much higher than we originally had

holder base, which recommended pencilled in, is very, very exciting.

the company explore foreign markets to ners, including global integrated pro- “This is a big project and we’re going to

fund development of the flagship Kola ducer SQM, could refine the project’s need a lot of debt, even though the pro-

deposit within Sintoukola. proposed processing route. ject is highly cash generative. The fact

With 30% of the company’s register “We have a very, very pure ore with that export credit agencies aren’t turning

based out of South Africa, Kore felt a very, very low insolubles and so trying us away is very exciting for us and for

JSE listing was appropriate, particularly to get the processing and recovery at shareholders.”

due to the exchange’s usually strong the highest level possible for the lowest Kore was recently awarded a new ex-

support for African mining projects. capex is quite critical for us,” he said. ploration permit for an area north-north-

“We want to try and get “The reason it takes the west of the Dougou Extension tenement

institutional support be- longest is because you have where one of the world’s highest-grade

cause to date we haven’t to do tests which can take sylvinite seams was reported three years

managed to get the up to a couple of months. ago. However, Bennett said exploration

amount of support that we So, when we changed the outside of the main Kola deposit would

would like from the Aus- processing, there was fur- remain on the backburner until the com-

tralian market,” Bennett ther testing that needed to pany had completed the DFS.

said. be done, but we’ve been op- Bennett said growing investor con-

“We will see how it goes timising it and getting it to a fidence in potash would hold his com-

over the next few months. more optimal solution than pany in good stead as it chased project

We’ve got a big fundraise in the PFS. finance for Kola.

at the end of next year “Overall, we have effec- “It continues to be a growing market

and we’ll be talking to any tively finished the design and although there is still oversupply,

and all investors. There’s Sean Bennett phase for the whole pro- what we are seeing from suppliers is they

an opportunity for every- ject and I’d say we’re very are acting in a more reasonable and sen-

body.” pleased with the design. sible way about capacity,” he said.

Kore’s corporate team would appear Most areas have been optimised com- “I don’t think anyone expects it to race

to be just as busy as its technical team, pared to the PFS.” away, but it’s been steadily increas-

with the company looking to complete at Kore has partnered with a French- ing and more and more confidence has

a DFS on Kola over the next few months. based consortium, led by Vinci Con- come into the market. That’s a very good

Bennett said the release date for the struction Grands Projets and Technip backdrop for us.”

DFS had been pushed back slightly so FMC, to complete the DFS. If the eco- – Michael Washbourne
that the company and its strategic part- nomics prove viable, the consortium will

PAGE 62 APRIL 2018 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

Fertoz on course to feed
the masses

Marketing an agricul- Fosfatos in Mexico to the
ture product is “really
hard”, however, Fertoz North American markets.
Ltd is making great strides
in its efforts as an emerg- Avery said Fertoz
ing organic phosphate
producer. was making sure it had

“It is not like cell phones enough supply to fulfil its
or running shoes, guys
are going to try the prod- 100,000t target.
uct on 100 acres first,
then 1,000 acres next “We do have Wapiti
time and you have to
sell on credibility. Your and Fernie in BC where
basic agronomist is out
selling on his credibil- we are expanding our
ity and growers are truly
betting the farm on rec- permits and moving up
ommendations they get
on fertilisers, feeds and to full small quarries size
chemicals, so it is a pretty
serious topic where cred- that should be done by
ibility matters,” Fertoz
executive chairman Pat the summer,” he said.
Avery told Paydirt.
“At Fernie we are get-
As one of the few companies certified
in the US and Canada to produce organic ting our first bulk sam-
rock phosphate fertiliser, the uptake and
success of Fertoz’s product suggests pling permit [by the end
customers are starting to recognise its
quality in the market. of March]. A year ago

Avery said the company was starting we realised that commit-
to see traction, with Fertoz aiming for
sales of 100,000 tpa organic rock phos- ting in BC was somewhat
phate within three years.
challenging therefore last
The company is hitting its markers and
is on track to reach forecasts of 10,000t spring we started to get
sales in North America and 4,000t in
Australia, through Australian business those marketing agree-
FertAg, this year.
ments in place. We have
Fertoz’s strategy is to sell direct to
farmers, distributors and wholesalers Fertoz’s projects are close to markets it feeds two (Wapiti and Fernie)
and currently has the Fernie and Wapiti
deposits, Canada, and distribution rights locations we can directly
to Silver Bow in the US and Krezco, Mex-
ico. that tried it had 10-30% increases,” pull out of, 10,000t to access and then

By 2020, forecast sales of 100,000t in Avery said. we are moderating Mexico. We are work-
North America and 10,000t in Australia
are expected. “We are starting to see our strategy pay ing on a more centrally located source as

“Last spring we said we wanted to sell off. We moved 2,000-3,000t this spring we speak. We think we are going to grow
1,000t or so and we will probably do that
with much of it going into trials over 50, and we are online for 1,000t [March].” to 50,000t and then two years from now
100, 400 acres. We received the results
back with a wheat grower in a drought Extensive farming trials have demon- 100,000t, so we need the resources to
area who reported a 30% increase [in
yield]. We actually had a couple of wheat strated significant uplifts in plant-avail- support that.”
growers like that and almost everybody
able phosphate, which is “a compelling Avery has over 30 years’ experience

proposition for organic growers looking in industries such as fertiliser and min-

to boost productivity”. ing and is therefore aware of the type of

Furthermore, Fertoz has great con- investor Fertoz may appeal to.

nectivity to different markets as a form of “Fertilisers are not particularly excit-

protection against severe weather events ing and not going to take off like a rocket

experienced in North America and po- like when someone finds a new lithium

tential disputes (labour strikes, etc) that source or cobalt source and the stock tri-

may derail its strategy. ples,” he said.

“We are in five provinces – Ontario, “I think, in general, Australian guys are

Quebec, Saskatchewan, Alberta, BC better at understanding the space and

and we are in about 15 states in the US. know they are not going to double or tri-

We wanted a geographical spread and ple their money in six months. I think we

we are really getting that. We announced attract more long-term investors who un-

a distributorship agreement with a very derstand the 4-5 year deal.”

long standing group in California, prob- The Australian market’s understand-

ably the largest distributor in Northern ing of the fertiliser sector is perhaps best

California, so we have diversity to supply demonstrated by FertAg’s organic phos-

California-type crops and California-type phate fertiliser driving the company’s rev-

weather,” Avery said. enue up 222% and delivering a maiden

Additionally, Fertoz signed a marketing profit in FY2017.

agreement with Solvay USA Inc to move – Mark Andrews
about 10,000t rock phosphate from Silver

Bow, Montana, and is moderating sales

of organic rock phosphate for Krezco

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT APRIL 2018 PAGE 63

REGIONAL ROUNDUP AFRICA

Zimbabwe hopes to transform
with $4.2 billion platinum deal

ACypriot investor signed which his family has a
a $US4.2 billion deal in
March to develop a plati- 45% stake.
num mine and refinery in
Zimbabwe, an investment Tharisa, which has
that President Emmerson
Mnangagwa said showed chrome and platinum op-
the country was “open for
business”. erations in South Africa’s

Signing the agreement Bushveld, has made clear
with Cyprus-based Karo
Resources plc, Mines Min- its interest in the poten-
ister Winston Chitando
said work would start in tial of Zimbabwe, which
July, with the first output of
PGMs expected in 2020, holds the world’s second-
aiming to reach 1.4 mozpa
within three years. largest platinum deposits

It was unclear, how- after neighbouring South
ever, where all the fund-
ing would come from and Africa.
analysts said the project start date of July
looked very ambitious. The company, howev-

Located in the Mhondoro-Ngezi plati- er, has a market capitali-
num belt, west of Harare, where Impala
Platinum Holdings Ltd has operations, sation of only R5.5 billion,
the project will include a coal mine and
power station to produce electricity for although it is well regard-
the smelter, and should employ 15,000
people when fully implemented, Karo ed by many city analysts
head Loucas Pouroulis said.
and its share price has
Keen to revive the mining sector after
years of reticence by foreign investors rallied 15% this year.
during Robert Mugabe’s rule, President
Mnangagwa said the deal showed things Zimbabwe’s mining industry is set for unprecedented change HSBC initiated covered
had changed since his ascendancy after
Mugabe’s ousting in November. of the stock in March, rat-

“Zimbabwe is open for business and named, said there was no obligation to ing it a buy. It predicted it would have a
whoever stands in the way, hurting busi-
ness in this country, will fall. It is not busi- provide any cash until firmer plans for the net cash position of $US185 million by
ness as usual anymore, things have to
change,” Mnangagwa said at the signing development were in place. the end of 2022 and said platinum prices
ceremony.
Cyprus-born Pouroulis spent his early should benefit from continued supply
The project was first mooted six years
ago but had been held back by govern- career with industry giant Anglo Ameri- curtailment in South Africa because of
ment red tape and “other unnamed vest-
ed interests, which are corrupt interests,” can plc in South Africa, branching out on regulatory and funding uncertainty.
he said.
his own to establish more niche opera- Foreign investment stalled in Zimba-
Mines Minister Chitando added: “This
is the largest investment structure in the tors such as Petra Diamonds Ltd, Eland bwe during the later years of Mugabe’s
mining industry in Zimbabwe. The land-
scape of Zimbabwe’s mining industry will Platinum plc and Tharisa Minerals plc, reign.
never be the same.”
according to his profile on Tharisa’s web- Analysts say the outlook is still uncer-
Zimbabwe’s Government did not give
details of the source of funding for such a site. tain, but interest is strong in a country
big investment.
As well as heading Karo, Pouroulis that has rich, underexplored resources.
Industry sources, who asked not to be
is chairman and founder of Tharisa, in An investment conference on Zim-

babwe in London in March was heavily

oversubscribed.

Last month, Mnangagwa’s Govern-

ment amended the Mugabe-era Indi-

genisation and Economic Empowerment

Act, which aimed to increase black Zim-

babweans’ ownership of mines by pre-

venting foreign entities holding majority

stakes.

The revised law removed that stipula-

tion for most types of mining, but not dia-

mond and platinum mines.

Chitando said Karo was expected to

comply with the empowerment law by

giving up majority ownership in the pro-

ject. He did not elaborate.

– MacDonald Dzirutwe, Reuters

Zimbabwe Mines Minister Winston Chitando

PAGE 64 APRIL 2018 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT



REGIONAL ROUNDUP

Coal: The Universal divide

Few ASX juniors can attest to Despite a lack of interest in its South African coal assets, Universal Coal has
paying dividends, let alone retained its ASX listing for sometime
small South Africa-focused
coal companies which have 21c and cash of $19 million. standalone, but irrespective of what we
battled poor sentiment and Outstanding net debt is down to $6.7 hold we are one of the only juniors paying
lacklustre market conditions in dividends. We are also close to acquir-
recent times. million, meaning Universal is well placed ing Eloff and in the next 2-3 years we are
to capitalise on other potential acquisi- looking at a sales pitch of 10 mtpa with-
Universal Coal plc is one tions and boosting its portfolio which out an additional acquisition. As a group,
such company delivering for includes thermal coal plays Brakfontein, we are current sales are about 4.5 mtpa,
shareholders, paying a 1c/ Eloff and Arnot South plus the Berenice/ so we will be more than doubling produc-
share unfranked interim divi- Cygnus coking coal asset in the Sout- tion with what we have got,” Weber said.
dend in FY2017; a reflection pansberg where it has earn-in agree-
that the bold strategy to find ments. Just how ASX investors respond to
value in assets others didn’t Universal’s coal story will be interesting,
was the right move. “We are looking at it [more M&A activ- given the great appetite for junior mining
ity], we have a lot of tonnes on our bal- stocks at the moment.
Since going against the ance sheet and it is really growing on the
grain and acquiring assets in basis of value-add,” Weber said. Despite Universal’s success, the Aus-
the coal sector, Universal has tralian market has not been as receptive
grown thermal coal sales sig- “This is an asset [NBC] we bought to- as Weber would have liked and a listing
nificantly through a series of day because for the input you can get on another exchange is a possibility.
well-timed acquisitions since good value out of it. With everything we
2014, with the latest deal in- look at, if we think we can get real value “Definitely taking it back home to the
volving Exxaro. out of something then we will pursue it. In JSE is obviously on our minds. I wouldn’t
South Africa, there have been a fair few necessarily say removing our ASX listing
With thermal coal assets assets disposed of by the majors which but definitely a dual listing in SA or the
Kangala in the Witbank (2.5 have got rid of their thermals – Eskom, UK has been thought about as a com-
mtpa saleable domestic pro- South32 [Ltd] is also looking to do the pany,” Weber said.
duction) and New Clydesdale same – so we will be mad not to look at
Colliery (2.1 mtpa for domestic these things.” “We are a junior stock that is paying a
and export marekts) producing consist- dividend and with growth opportunities.
ently, Universal has moved to add Exx- Coal assets that are dropped from the When you compare that with some other
aro’s North Block Complex (NBC) to its big houses in South Africa suggest they stocks in Australia that are probably just
portfolio. will be of some quality and could suit breaking even effectively, but because of
Universal provided the opportunities are the returning positive sentiment in the re-
The $18.6 million transaction – to be “synergistic”. sources sector they have taken off.”
fully funded from cash – is expected to
be completed by the end of the year and “There are very few juniors left in the – Mark Andrews
gives Universal the opportunity to in- coal space – Whitehaven Coal [Ltd] and
crease group thermal coal production to the like are big boys – I think we are a
more than 7 mtpa, as average ROM his-
torical production from NBC has totalled
about 3.5 mtpa over the past four years
for sales of about 2.7 mtpa.

“We have been a bit counter-cyclical,
coal prices have lifted and it has been
really positive for us. This [NBC] has
been in the pipeline for a while and it has
panned out the right way and now with
the political changes for the good, we are
in good shape,” Universal chief executive
Tony Weber said.

Weber spoke to Paydirt ahead of a
tour down under to speak with investors
on the back of strong December half-
year financials for which the interim divi-
dend was declared and revenue was up
124% to $136.5 million.

Furthermore, Universal has confirmed
FY2018 EBITDA guidance of $55 million,
with half-year coal sales of 2.3mt in-line
with its projected full year sales of 4.6mt.

At the time of print, the company had a
market cap of $110 million, share price of

PAGE 66 APRIL 2018 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

AFRICA

Predictive’s triple threat

Gold explorer Predictive Predictive Discovery is exploring three concessions in southern Mali
Discovery Ltd has ex-
panded its West African foot- “There are other greenstone belts that about halfway through a 5,000m RC
print into a third jurisdiction. have gold on them and really the ques- programme at Birra and is expected to
tion is where in those belts do we have remain at the prospect and surrounding
Predictive was last month the possibility of turning up another Mo- areas until the wet season arrives in July.
granted three exploration au- rila.”
thorisations covering 250sq “We had earlier indications from the
km in southern Mali, in the Predictive’s concessions are also in Anmercosa drilling in the late 1990s that
same region which hosts the areas with known lithium occurrences, there was mineralisation there, but until
Yanfolila, Syama and Morila including ASX-listed Birimian Ltd’s Gou- you go and validate it you don’t really
gold mines. lamina project. know for sure,” Roberts said.

Exploration authorisations “There’s at least the possibility of find- “The grades are disseminated, there’s
allow companies to under- ing more lithium pegmatites within the ar- a consistency of not very high grades
take reconnaissance field eas we’re looking at, so we will be keep- within those zones, but sometimes hav-
work free of charge for four ing an eye out for lithium pegmatites,” ing really high grades is a sign of spotti-
months before needing to Roberts said. ness in the system. You’re actually better
apply for a full exploration off with consistent grades, you can trace
permit. “I don’t think there is very much atten- things from hole to hole, line to line. I’m
tion being paid to the possibility of mak- very happy with those results.”
Predictive managing direc- ing a grassroots discovery of lithium peg-
tor Paul Roberts said the ex- matites in Mali. Clearly we remain open Progress is spending $US5 million to
ploration plays in Mali were to that, although we’re fundamentally earn up to 70% of the JV ground in Burki-
consistent with his company’s business there to look for new gold projects.” na Faso.
model of acquiring prospective patches
of ground across West Africa. Roberts said his company was making Predictive has a separate JV with
no promises on remaining in Mali beyond Progress at its Bobosso project in Cote
“I have been very surprised at how the initial four-month authorisation peri- d’Ivoire where the company is currently
much opportunity there is in Mali, spe- od, but he confirmed he was liaising with reviewing historical data which suggests
cifically in areas regarded as being a bit the Mines Department and other permit previous drilling in the area was oriented
neglected,” Roberts told Paydirt. holders with a view towards establishing in the wrong direction.
a more permanent foothold in country.
“There are certain areas in Mali that The company is also awaiting the re-
are very hot and have an awful lot of at- While Predictive’s Malian adventure is sults of recent drilling at Ferkessedougou
tention and of those the prime area is the just beginning, the company continues to North, also in Cote d’Ivoire – another JV
border between Senegal and Mali where make strong progress at its suite of gold with Toro Gold Ltd – following an earlier
big discoveries are being made and exploration projects in Burkina Faso and trenching programme.
turned into significant operating mines. Cote d’Ivoire.
“It’s a new gold field, so I can’t say
“It’s a very exciting place, but it’s very Initial drilling at the Birra prospect – part whether the grade is going to be eco-
hard to get in and pick up early stage of Predictive’s JV with Progress Minerals nomic or not, but new discoveries are
ground because it is so tightly held. How- International Inc – in Burkina Faso has always exciting and this really is the sec-
ever, if you go looking to the area south- returned several promising hits, includ- ond one to come out of the Toro JV, the
east of Bamako which includes Yanfolila, ing 17m @ 1.74 g/t gold from 2m, 27m @ first one being Boundiali,” Roberts said.
Syama and Morila, there are parts where 1.83 g/t from 23m, 8m @ 2 g/t from 101m
there is very little going on.” and 22m @ 1.55 g/t from 115m. – Michael Washbourne

Predictive’s initial work programme At the time of print, Predictive was
in Mali will consist of stream sediment
sampling, rock chip sampling, geological
mapping and geophysical data interpre-
tation. Drilling will not occur until after the
company has obtained a full permit.

Roberts was particularly drawn to the
region because of his interest in Morila,
which he said was hosted on an “unfla-
voured” greenstone belt.

“When it was found there were few, if
any, artisanal gold mines around it and
even today it is still not very well popu-
lated with artisanal activity, yet it has pro-
duced 6 moz gold,” he said.

“Morila is a really good deposit, a big
deposit, and it’s in a belt that people don’t
pay attention to. The industry focus is still
very much on those areas which have
lots and lots of artisanal sites.

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT APRIL 2018 PAGE 67

REGIONAL ROUNDUP LATIN AMERICA

New Chilean president vows
to end ‘stagnation’

Conservative billionaire Sebastian To revive growth in the world’s top copper producer, incoming Chilean Mines Minister
Pinera vowed to combat economic Baldo Prokurica said Pinera’s Government would seek to rescue $US50 billion in
“stagnation” from years of centre-left rule mining investments from bureaucratic red tape
as he started a new term as Chile’s presi-
dent in March. Baldo Prokurica said Pinera’s Govern- progressive policies.
ment would seek to rescue $US50 billion “The left may have lost the election,
After receiving the presidential sash in mining investments from bureaucratic
from outgoing socialist President Mi- red tape. but I think they still feel like they own the
chelle Bachelet, Pinera, who served as streets, the popular opinion,” Kenneth
president for four years before Bachelet, The Government is preparing a new Bunker, a Chilean political scientist, said.
promised to help eradicate poverty and law aimed at attracting foreign invest- “Pinera will feel that if he does anything
transform Chile into a developed nation ments, the Mines Minister was quoted too extreme, people will mobilise.”
within a decade. telling a local newspaper in March.
But Pinera’s timing is good. Rising
He said in a speech his Government Prokurica, who took office with Pinera, copper prices have boosted Chile’s ex-
would perform “major surgery” on the said the Government was preparing a ports, helping shore up government rev-
public health care system while strength- decree that would be similar to one re- enues and revive growth in the country’s
ening welfare programmes and trading pealed by Bachelet in 2016, according to $US250 billion economy.
the country’s “bulldozer” approach to an interview with La Tercera.
policymaking for one based on gradual While his 2010-2014 government was
change and consensus. Bachelet had argued that the law, marred by street protests over rising in-
which provided tax and regulatory in- equality, Pinera started his new term
“To make progress on all these goals, centives for foreign investments, was no by making several nods to progressive
it is fundamental we counter the stagna- longer needed given years of stability in causes, from the need for pension re-
tion of recent years, restoring fiscal equi- Chile. form to protections for nature and the
librium as well as our leadership, dyna- environment.
mism and ability to grow,” Pinera said in a “We think that for economic activities
speech from a balcony at the presidential such as mining, which represent impor- In his first official activity as president,
palace in the capital Santiago. tant volumes of investments, it’s crucial Pinera visited a children’s centre run by
to have certainty and clear and stable a state service that has been accused
Pinera, 68, was elected in December rules,” Prokurica was quoted as saying in of improper care that contributed to the
with a strong mandate, becoming the La Tercera. “That’s our goal.” deaths of 1,300 children in the past dec-
newest member of a group of conserva- ade.
tive leaders who have risen to power in Prokurica’s office did not immediately
South America in recent years – all of respond to requests for comments out- “True development has a human face
whom attended his inauguration. side regular business hours. and its north is to improve the quality of
life of Chileans,” Pinera said.
A Harvard-trained economist and the But Pinera will have to govern with a
son of a prominent centrist politician, Pin- divided Congress and a prickly leftist – Antonio De la Jara and Fabian
era made his fortune introducing credit coalition that has vowed to fight his plans Cambero, Reuters
cards to Chile in the 1980s. to lower taxes and “correct” Bachelet’s

“The state must be austere and effi-
cient in the use of public resources... and
must never be captured by bureaucracy,
corruption or political operators,” Pinera
said.

Pinera’s incoming finance minister, Fe-
lipe Larrain, said he would rein in govern-
ment spending this year, after Bachelet’s
Government left a bigger-than-expected
fiscal deficit of 2.1% of gross domestic
product instead of 1.7% as targeted.

“Without a doubt, it’s bad news,” Lar-
rain told journalists at the inauguration.
“We’re going to have to get to work to
examine and understand how this deficit
increase happened.”

As a candidate, Pinera said he would
gradually balance the budget over six to
eight years.

To revive growth in the world’s top cop-
per producer, incoming Mines Minister

PAGE 68 APRIL 2018 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT



REGIONAL ROUNDUP

Oz ready for Avanco samba

Pedra Banca is a key asset in Oz’s bid for Avanco

Oz Minerals Ltd has made its most addition to Antas, it is conducting a fea- geological districts worldwide we were
decisive corporate move in years, sibility study at the 17.7mt @ 2.4% cop- interested in and Carajás was one of the
swooping to acquire emerging Brazilian- per and 0.7 g/t gold Pedra Branca project top ones,” Cole said. “I’ve been working
focused copper producer Avanco Re- and recently signed an option to acquire with [Avanco managing director] Tony
sources Ltd in a plus-$410 million deal. 100% of the 20.8mt @ 1.7% copper and Polglase to understand the Avanco port-
0.2 g/t gold Pantera exploration project. folio and understand the culture of the
Oz – owner of the Prominent Hill cop- It also controls the 2.2 moz CentroGold company.
per mine and Carrapateena copper de- gold project in Maranhão State.
velopment project in South Australia – “We have a very strong province focus
announced the acquisition on March 27, Oz said the deal landed it not only a with the Gawler Craton being one focus
having secured support from 30.62% of producing asset but a major strategic and the Musgraves being the other. The
Avanco shareholders, pre-bid accept- foothold in Brazil and a portfolio of oper- Avanco deal gives us a really strong en-
ance deed from 18.45% of sharehold- ating, study-level and advanced explora- try point to Carajás.”
ers and endorsement from the Avanco tion projects which would benefit from its
board. own capital and technical strength. Avanco is the second largest landhold-
er (behind only Brazilian giant Vale SA)
The offer consists of 8.5c in cash plus Oz has previously been almost solely in Carajás with 1,800sq km of tenements
0.009 Oz shares for dedicated to Australia and more than 1mt in contained copper
every Avanco share. At with attention focused resources and a further 1,300sq km of
16.8c/share, it repre- on its operations in the ground on the Gurupi greenstone belt in
sents a 118% premium Gawler Craton and the Maranhão State.
on Avanco’s closing emerging nickel-cop-
price. per story in the West At Antas, Avanco is already pursuing
Musgraves province. expansion to current production levels.
ASX-listed Avanco’s Chief executive An- The 800,000 tpa plant is currently run-
portfolio comprises drew Cole told Paydirt ning at 700,000 tpa but with the 2.78mt
three copper-gold as- Oz had been working reserve and 19.84mt resource remaining
sets in the Carajás cop- on the deal for three open at depth and numerous other near-
per province of Paras years, having identified mine targets still to be tested, there is
state in northern Brazil. Avanco’s portfolio as ample opportunity to expand.
a good fit for its multi-
The company has asset, province-focused Cole said Oz was already working with
been operating its An- growth strategy. Avanco’s in-country management team
tas mine in Carajás for “We launched a strat- to formulate an accelerated action plan
19 months, producing egy three years ago and for Antas, Pedra Branca, Pantera and
14,100t of copper and CentroGold.
11,400oz of gold in the Tony Polgase identified a number of
2017 calendar year. In “Avanco has done a fantastic job in Bra-
zil. Antas was built in less than 12 months

PAGE 70 APRIL 2018 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

LATIN AMERICA

under budget and ahead of schedule,” he ment destination has suffered from a se-

said. “The mill has spare capacity and ries of government corruption scandals

we would love to see that utilised. We and a perception of an unwieldly regula-

will work with the Avanco team to build a tory system. Cole said Oz’s due diligence

plan about what we should be doing with had left it comfortable with how to oper-

the asset base. By the end of the year we ate in South America’s largest economy.

should be in a position to share with the “We looked at what Avanco has

market what we plan to do.” achieved; it has built and operated a new

Oz’s $2.7 billion market cap delivers mine and started development at Pedra

the kind of financial clout $200 million Branca. I think that demonstrated that a

Avanco could only dream of. Cole said company with the right culture and the

his company’s balance sheet and techni- right approach can be successful and we

cal expertise would be brought to bear on will be keeping the same management

the Avanco portfolio. team in place to retain that culture and

“Avanco needs to build Pedra Branca approach.

and CentroGold and develop Pantera; “Brazil has a long-established stable

to do that the company will need upfront mining code and some of the world’s

capital and Oz’s balance sheet can help largest mining companies are operating

provide that,” he said. “The other sup- there, so that points to a very good oper-

port we bring is our expertise in IOCG ating environment.”

resources – developed at Prominent Hill Andrew Cole The move for Avanco represents the

and Carapateena – allowing us to pro- most ambitious corporate play in Oz’s

vide technical expertise.” $US1.30/lb for a capex of $US158 mil- history. Cole said shareholders had

Avanco managing director Tony Pol- lion. already been “very supportive of our

glase said the premium offer made for Pantera is an earlier stage copper-gold growth strategy”.

“an attractive opportunity for Avanco development project with Avanco in posi- Oz chairman Rebecca McGrath said:

shareholders”. tion to earn 100% of the 20.8mt resource “Avanco is a disciplined acquisition rep-

“Avanco shareholders will continue to from Vale for total estimated acquisi- resenting approximately 16% of Oz Min-

have exposure to Avanco’s exciting as- tion costs of $US20-35 million over 7-12 erals’ market capitalisation.”

“set portfolio in Brazil and Oz is strongly years. Cole said the company hadn’t felt com-

supportive of the Avanco pelled to make a headline-grab-

management team’s Brazil- bing move in an effort to sure up

ian development strategy. We have a very strong its portfolio.
The combination of Oz’s ro- province focus with the “We didn’t feel it necessary
bust Australian asset port-
to add to the project pipeline;

folio, experienced team and Gawler Craton being one focus and our organic pipeline was very
strong balance sheet with the Musgraves being the other. The healthy as it was,” he said. “It
Avanco’s largely undevel- was not about need, it was

oped, high quality Brazilian Avanco deal gives us a really strong about opportunity and the readi-
asset portfolio provides for a entry point to Carajás as it has a ness of the company to take the
promising future for the com- next step. Everything is in place

bined entity and its share- very good portfolio. now; we have a new board and
holders.” the management team is strong

Avanco also expects to and ready.”

deliver a DFS for the Pedra Oz expects to lodge its bid-

Branca project next month. A May 2017 The company’s portfolio also boasts der’s statement in mid-April with the offer

PFS confirmed the potential for the pro- the 2.22 moz @ 2.1 g/t gold CentroGold period expected to close in mid-May.

ject to produce 24,000 tpa copper and asset in Maranhão State. – Dominic Piper
16,000 ozpa gold at C1 cash costs of Brazil’s reputation as a foreign invest-

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AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT APRIL 2018 PAGE 71

REGIONAL ROUNDUP

Finders keepers as Eastern Field
takes control of Wetar

Eastern Field Developments Ltd looks
set to prevail in its bid to acquire In-
donesian copper producer Finders Re-

sources Ltd.

Despite persistently urging sharehold-

ers to reject the unconditional off-market

takeover from the recently established

Indonesian copper consortium, Finders

was forced to make an about-turn last

month when Eastern Field’s relevant in-

terest reached more than 60%.

Eastern Field offered 23c/share to

Finders shareholders as part of its pro-

posed $175 million takeover of the ASX-

listed company.

In a statement to the market on March

19, Finders managing director Barry Ca-

hill said the company’s independent di-

rectors intended to accept the offer for

any shares they still owned or controlled.

“Although the independent directors

are disappointed and believe the offer

price does not reflect fair value for Find-

ers shareholders, the fact that Eastern

Field now has a controlling interest in the

company means shareholders should Eastern Field has acquired a controlling interest in Finders

seriously consider accepting the offer

before it closes Friday, 30 March 2018,” carefully consider those risks now, in or- too low for an established copper pro-

Cahill said. der to leave sufficient time to accept the ducer.

“There are significant risks associated offer if you wish to do so.” Eastern Field’s takeover bid – launched

with being a minority shareholder and we Finders maintained for several months last October – struggled to gain traction

would urge all Finders shareholders to that Eastern Field’s 23c/share offer was in its early days, but gathered pace when

the company won over two of Finders’

largest shareholders earlier this year.

Jointly owned by Provident, Saratoga

and Merdeka, Eastern Field was estab-

lished last September, under the laws of

the British Virgin Islands, for the specific

purpose of making an offer for Finders.

Corporate finance executives David

Fowler and Hari Gurung are listed as

Eastern Field’s two main directors.

Finders’ flagship asset is a 74.1% inter-

est in the Wetar copper project in Indo-

nesia.

According to its unaudited financials

for the 2017 calendar year, the com-

pany was able to generate EBITDA of

$US72.2 million from its maiden full year

of production.

Full-year copper cathode sales totalled

25,277t at an average realised sales

price of $US2.76/lb, with 23,160t pro-

duced for C1 cash costs of $US1.14/lb

and an AISC of $US1.66/lb.

Wetar produced 23,160t copper cathode for C1 cash costs of $US1.14/lb and

an AISC of $US1.66/lb in 2017

PAGE 72 APRIL 2018 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

ASIA

Kupang fully funded

Gulf Manganese Corpo- Bohannan said his
ration Ltd has secured company had no reser-
the final tranche of fund- vations about operat-
ing in Indonesia despite
ing required to complete widespread opinion the
country is not particu-
construction of its Kupang larly mining-friendly.

smelting facility in Indone- “If this was a project
in Australia, it probably
sia. would have taken far
longer [to get up and run-
Local investment group ning],” he said.

PT Jayatama Tekno Se- “It has its frustrations
at times, but we’re flat
jahtera is tipping $15 million
out busy so you
into Gulf to ensure the com- don’t tend to no-
tice it too much.
pany remains on track for You just go from
one key bench-
first ferromanganese pro- mark to the next.
It’s very exciting,
duction as early as June. we’re building a
new industry for
Influential Indonesian the country.

businessmen Fofo Sari- “As with any-
where, you’ve got lots of rules and regu-
aatmadja and Chairoel Jul lations. So long as you tick all the boxes
and work with the community, you get
Nuro will be appointed com- through it.”

missioners of Gulf’s Indo- Construction of the Kupang Manganese has enjoyed a steady price
rise over the past year as investors begin
nesian subsidiary company. ferromanganese smelting facility to appreciate the mineral’s potential role
in future battery technology.
Johanes Susilo will also join is 30-40% complete
Bohannan said while investor appetite
the board as a director. for manganese was convenient timing,
Gulf had always viewed Kupang as a po-
PT Gulf will issue a convertible note mained on schedule. tential niche producer of the major steel-
making ingredient.
in Indonesia rupiah valued at approxi- “We had a really
“The price is nice I have to say, but the
mately $6 million to a subsidiary of PT wet season this year key to this is the exceptional grade of the
ore in Timor and surrounding islands,” he
Jayatama, with zero percent interest. and I think everyone feels like the weath- said.

Gulf will also issue $2 million converting er is playing up a bit and changing a lot “Australia has been blessed with some
of the highest grade manganese grades
notes to Eighteen Blue Investments Pty because we’re building,” he said. in the world – Woodie Woodie was an ab-
solute ball-tearer of a mine and Groote
Ltd, together with one-for-one free at- “It probably set us back 4-6 weeks be- Eylandt is almost just as good – whereas
Indonesia has been ignored because
taching listed options. cause it hit us just as we were digging all the deposits are much smaller and more
fragmented, but the grades are that much
A standby loan facility of approximately the excavations. We’re through that now better and that’s what is so important.

$7 million will also be made available to so we expect to be commissioning June/ “We will be a niche producer, we’re
not out to do big volumes. We wouldn’t
Gulf should the company require addi- July and our first commercial shipment even dream of competing with someone
like South32 [Ltd]. We’re just a niche pro-
tional funding during the commissioning probably in August.” ducer producing small amounts of very
high grade alloy. It’s the grade that’s key
phase. Bohannan said his company had been to us.”

“The loan facility component is some- fortunate to leverage off strong engineer- – Michael Washbourne

thing we don’t intend to use or want to ing capabilities and established steel

use, it’s just nice to know we have it there workshops in Indonesia.

if we do have an overrun,” Gulf managing Kupang shares a fence line with a

director Hamish Bohannan said. power station which is able to supply

“Dealing with Pak Fofo has been an more than enough electricity to meet the

absolute pleasure. He and his brother smelting facility’s energy needs.

are very well known in Indonesia, they “People have questions about the re-

are very influential guys, so to have liability of power on the island, but the

someone of Fofo’s calibre supporting us power station next to us is fantastic,” Bo-

is fantastic. It not only gives us that sort hannan said.

of heart foundation-like sticker, it also “The Indonesian Government has ab-

gives us real credibility in Jakarta.” solutely delivered on its commitment to

Speaking to Paydirt last month after fi- upgrade the facilities across the nation,

nalising the funding package, Bohannan including Kupang. It [power station] has

said construction was 30-40% complete in excess of 100MW commissioned to-

and some 2,700t of concrete had been day, we’re only going to use 12MW to

poured at the project site. start with and there’s about 70MW avail-

Steelworks will be completed over the able at the moment, so there’s heaps of

next month before the first two smelters capacity and they’ve got programmes

are shipped in from South Africa for in- to further expand that capacity over the

stallation. next few years. So, as we expand our ca-

Bohannan said aside from some pacity, their capacity will go with it.”

heavy rainfall in the region over the last Kupang is also only 5km from a deep

few months, planned construction and water port with both bulk and container

commissioning activities had largely re- facilities.

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT APRIL 2018 PAGE 73

REGIONAL ROUNDUP

HGM at home in Austria

HGM holds about 214sq km of prospective ground in Austria

Austria is well known as the birthplace thing. Similarly, places like Guinea or South, Goldeck Siflitz, Kreuzeck West
of Mozart, Arnold Schwarzenegger
and the strudel but its mining heritage is Guatemala are small jurisdictions and and Kreuzeck East) and four cobalt (Le-
not common knowledge.
difficult to get something done, but are ogang, Gratlspitz, Seekar and Zinkwand)
Despite being home to one of world’s
largest and most profitable tungsten highly prospective. projects in its portfolio. The company has
mines, Austria is rarely on the radar of
resource-savvy investors. “Austria is a small jurisdiction, highly put together dedicated teams to man-

High Grade Metals Ltd (HGM) hopes prospective and quite easy to get things age the different asset classes, namely
to change that, having recently relisted
with a portfolio of nine early-stage gold done because they have a regimented growth (cobalt) and defensive (gold).
and cobalt-copper exploration plays in
the country, covering an area of about process and they have existing opera- All nine projects contain old mines and
214sq km.
tions they can lean on to more or less workings, but are yet to be subjected to
“The level of development in the heart
of industrial Europe is the key differen- hone their ability to regulate. The ability modern exploration.
tiator between Austria and many other
small jurisdictions which are highly to functionally get something in a highly “We represent a fairly interesting op-
prospective,” HGM managing director
Torey Marshall told Paydirt. prospective area is quite a rare thing tion play on whether you think the world is

“The great thing here is not only do globally.” going to go ahead in leaps and bounds,”
we have that prospectivity, which is
somewhat demonstrable by having so Formerly known as Quest Minerals, Marshall said.
many old mines and workings, it’s re- “Cobalt you might say is an optimistic
ally the ability to get something done. “HGM relisted on March 7 after complet- metal if you’re a believer in electric
Austria has an operative mining code We represent a fairly cars going forward. But, if you be-
and it has the world’s biggest under- interesting option lieve the next Cold War is coming,
ground tungsten mine [Mittersill] and one play on whether you think then gold is quite a useful thing to be
of the world’s biggest tungsten mines in the world is going to go in as well. There are certain people
general. who really picked up on those option
plays and understood the potential of
“We could be talking about Queens- the areas we’re in.”
land where there are some well known
problems with trying to develop some- ahead in leaps and bounds. HGM’s initial focus will be on the

Leogang and Schellgaden North

projects, both of which are consid-

ered short-term development oppor-

ing an oversubscribed $4.5 million capital tunities by the company.

raising with leading global fund manager Within a fortnight of relisting, HGM

Sprott Resource Holdings Inc acting as completed early geological modelling

the cornerstone. around the Nockelberg prospect at Le-

HGM has permits to explore five ogang and identified two cobalt-nickel-

gold (Schellgaden North, Schellgaden copper bodies for an upcoming drilling

PAGE 74 APRIL 2018 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

EUROPE

All nine of HGM’s projects contain old mines and historical workings

programme. Marshall, an exploration geologist, talking to someone from the company
“The portfolio is balanced with short- also sees the Gratlspitz cobalt-nickel- and as the managing director of a pub-
copper project as a potential early mover lic company, I want people to be able to
term drivers like Schellgaden and Le- for the company, largely due to its prox- have the right to talk to someone from
ogang because they are the most drill- imity to a copper smelter in the nearby the company,” Marshall said.
ready, highest prospectivity projects with town of Brixlegg.
the most information that’s available to “Continuous disclosure is pretty tight
plan on,” Marshall said. “From the perspective of someone on the ASX so I’m not suggesting we’re
looking for short-term cash flow and a able to reveal more, but I just feel it’s bet-
“Schellgaden is an old gold mine that relatively brownfields exploration play, ter if key stakeholders are able to talk to
is very high grade and you can physically Gratlspitz may be the one,” Marshall someone from the company.
go down and see the rock faces, put the said.
model together in your own head and “In terms of our in-country teams, I’ve
understand it…in which case you plan a “The exploration target is somewhat been lucky enough to have developed
drilling programme sensibly. modest, but because of that proximity and built teams in multiple countries
to infrastructure, your threshold for eco- around the world and here we’ve man-
“The Leogang project is similar, though nomic success is much lower. We have aged to find the right people to make sure
we can’t go down the mine because the lots of very interesting, unique angles to we’re operational very early under not
key adits are collapsed, but we can actu- take to investors.” only the Austrian mining code, but also
ally wander around the geology and put the JORC code that we function under
together some very interesting 3D mod- Marshall and former Papillon Resourc- as well.
els and sample some of the old dumps es executive Hayden Locke joined the
and soils and things like that. HGM board as part of the recapitalisa- “It’s not a detail most people appreci-
tion of the company late last year. Omar ate, but it’s hard to build these sorts of
“Schellgaden will be the first to be Khan has since been appointed head of teams and be operational quickly. I’m
drilled and then following that we will go corporate development to give investors quite proud of what we’ve achieved.”
to Leogang because we want to do some another direct point of contact to HGM’s
more soils work and some more geo- senior management team. – Michael Washbourne
physics before we actually start drilling
there.” “As an investor, I want to know that I’m

HGM has five gold and four cobalt-copper projects in its Austrian portfolio
AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT APRIL 2018 PAGE 75

DRREIGLLIOBINTSAL ROUNDUP

Altura is looking to expand resources and reserves at its namesake lithium Centaurus sinks holes
project in the Pilbara into Itapitanga

Altura looks to grow – pointed to a high-value assemblage of Positive shallow auger drilling results
lithium inventory zircon and titanium along 8km of strike. at the newly acquired Itapitanga nickel-
cobalt project in Brazil has paved the way
Initial drilling results from the South- Assays returned several thick intervals for Centaurus Metals Ltd to soon begin a
ern Ridge prospect have provided Altura of total heavy minerals from surface, in- maiden RC drilling campaign.
Mining Ltd with reason to be confident of cluding 25.5m @ 3.4% THM (including
increasing resources and reserves at its 12m @ 4.1% THM), 9m @ 3.8% THM, The first nine auger holes tested a
namesake lithium project in the Pilbara. 9m @ 3.4% THM and 10.5m @ 3% THM. strike length of about 3km of the North-
ern Target area, with seven of those
Infill drilling delivered a number of Mineral assemblage test work from holes finishing in high-grade mineralisa-
strong intersections, including 21m @ composite samples has confirmed a high tion.
1.22% lithium oxide from 37m, 41m @ unit value assemblage averaging 11.5%
1.20% from 60m, 59m @ 1.34% from zircon, 4.7% rutile and 64.4% ilmenite. Best intercepts to date include 7m @
77m and 19m @ 2.05% from 144m. One composite contained 17.8% zircon. 1% nickel and 0.15% cobalt, 6m @ 1.28%
nickel and 0.13% cobalt and 9.5m @
Southern Ridge was earmarked for in- The next phase of drilling will focus on 1.2% nickel and 0.09% cobalt.
fill drilling because of its potential to in- several priority targets at Sudi as well as
crease the existing reserve and resource other areas of interest in southern Tan- Auger drilling was continuing at the
base. More than 95% of the 4,650m RC zania. time of print, with 23 holes completed.
drilling had been completed at the time Maximum hole depth achieved to date is
of print. Under the terms of the JV, Rio Tinto only 11.5m, with most holes reaching drill
is funding the exploration programme refusal at 5-7m.
Altura is on the cusp of achieving first which Strandline is managing.
production, with first concentrate sales Centaurus believes there is potential
due later this quarter. for significant depth extensions based on
the weathering profile seen at nearby de-
posits. However, this can only be tested
by RC drilling.

The maiden RC programme will begin
once the auger drilling is completed and
assays have been received. Quotes for
drilling have been sought from multiple
contractors, with the award of a contract
said to be imminent.

Sudi makes discovery Centaurus has achieved early drilling success at Itapitanga
noise for Strandline

Strandline Resources Ltd believes it
has a major mineral sands discovery on
its hands at the Sudi project, which forms
part of a JV with Rio Tinto Ltd in southern
Tanzania.

Assays from the first phase of aircore
drilling at Sudi – about 30km by sealed
road from port infrastructure in Mtwara

PAGE 76 APRIL 2018 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

Twin campaigns deliver Vaalhoek is the company’s third open- Alderan continues to hit
for Neometals cut target after Theta Hill and Columbia copper in Utah
Hill.
Grade control drilling in the proposed Alderan Resources Ltd has intersect-
bulk sample pit at Neometals Ltd’s Bar- Stonewall is completing a review of all ed further wide intervals of copper at
rambie titanium-vanadium project has project areas, with the full assessment the Cactus mine, part of the company’s
confirmed continuity, dimensions and set to be completed by the end of the Frisco project in Utah.
tenor of high-grade mineralisation. month.

Results of the RC campaign – conduct- Kalkaroo helps Havilah Results from the current diamond drill-
ed on a 10m by 10m grid pattern over a ing programme also discovered a zone
strike length of about 90m – were being
modelled at the time of print. Preliminary expand cobalt inventory of copper and molybdenum-bearing
assessment of geological logging and re- quartz-magnetite veins from approxi-
turned assays confirmed the dimensions
and tenor of mineralisation intersected in Broken Hill-based explorer Havilah mately 171m to 196m in hole ALCA009.
previous wider-spaced drilling.
Resources Ltd has expanded its poten- These were interpreted to be early veins
Best intercepts, all from surface, in-
clude 13m @ 33.7% titanium and 0.81% tial cobalt inventory to 31,390t. emplaced into wall rocks above or adja-
vanadium, 13m @ 33% titanium and
0.71% vanadium, 13m @ 32.8% titanium Havilah reported an inferred resource cent to a mineralised porphyry intrusive.
and 0.82% vanadium and 13m @ 32.7%
titanium and 0.83% vanadium. of 193.3mt @ 120 ppm cobalt contain- Hole ALCA009 intersected 49m @

Exploration drilling has also confirmed ing 23,200t for its Kalkaroo deposit last 0.62% copper, 0.14 g/t gold, 5.9 g/t sil-
continuity over 8km of strike of vanadi-
um-titanium mineralisation at the Virginia month. ver from 45m, including 12m @ 1.37%
Hills prospect, west of Barrambie.
A measured and indicated resource of copper, 0.28 g/t gold and 10.2 g/t silver
Best intercepts from that campaign
were 32m @ 11.4% titanium and 0.42% 5.84mt @ 1,400 ppm containing 8,190t within the tourmaline breccia.
vanadium from 31m, 13m @ 14% titani-
um and 0.44% vanadium from 67m, 9m has previously been declared for the Mu- Another hole drilled adjacent to Comet
@ 12% titanium and 0.87% vanadium
from 3m and 7m @ 11.3% titanium and tooroo deposit. returned 21.5m @ 0.83% copper, 0.14 g/t
0.63% vanadium from 50m.
Almost all the cobalt within the Kalka- gold and 20.4 g/t silver from 35.5m.
Stonewall strikes third
open-cut find roo resource is contained within the py- Alderan has received permits for drill-

Stonewall Resources Ltd has unveiled rite. Havilah is planning to recover the ing the recently identified Wasp and Ban-
a third open-cut discovery with near-term
production potential at its Vaalhoek gold cobaltian pyrite as a concentrate during dit prospects, both adjacent to Cactus.
project in South Africa.
copper flotation. Permitting work is continuing for drilling
A maiden open-cut resource of
620,000t @ 16.9 g/t gold for 335,000oz Establishing an efficient metallurgi- to begin at the Accrington and Persever-
was reported last month, lifting the pro-
ject’s total resource by 215% to 3.3mt @ cal process for recovery of cobalt has ance prospects later this quarter.
7.46 g/t gold for 791,000oz, including a
revised underground resource. become an important

focus for Havilah in

recent months, having

partnered with Cobalt

Blue Holdings Ltd to

test samples via its

Broken Hill neighbour’s

innovative proprietary

cobalt recovery pro-

cess.

Havilah is also con-

ducting its own leach

testing programme

in parallel, including

bacterial methods that

have been successful-

ly employed on many

other pyrite ores. Alderan has identified a new zone of copper and molybdenum-

bearing quartz-magnetite veins at the Frisco project in Utah

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT APRIL 2018 PAGE 77

SIGNED, SEALED AND DELIVERED www.nucleussc.co.za

McMahon and Clough are reviewing construction plans for TNG’s CSA reviews Nicanda
Mount Peake project in the Northern Territory Hill’s vanadium option

McMahon, Clough join Oz charged for new SA CSA Global Pty Ltd has been appoint-
forces at Mount Peake transmission line ed to review the vanadium potential of
Triton Minerals Ltd’s Nicanda Hill project
Leading EPC contracting and con- SolarReserve has entered into a long- in Mozambique.
struction groups McMahon Services term agreement with Oz Minerals Ltd to
Australia Pty Ltd and Clough Projects are commission a new high voltage electric- With vanadium prices rising more than
set to join forces to develop TNG Ltd’s ity transmission line in South Australia. 190% since the start of 2017, Triton has
Mount Peake vanadium-titanium-iron commissioned a review of available va-
project in the Northern Territory. The new line will support SolarRe- nadium and multiple-element chemistry
serve’s Aurora solar energy project as in the project’s drill data base.
Both firms are currently reviewing well as Oz’s Prominent Hill mine and
TNG’s recently updated DFS for Mount Carrapateena project. CSA has been asked to identify poten-
Peake with a particular focus on the pre- tial vanadium target areas within the cur-
liminary construction management and Collaborating on a single transmis- rent Nicanda Hill resource and recom-
procurement contracting services re- sion line to support current assets and mend a programme of work to improve
quired. future growth will also help preserve the confidence in the vanadium mineralisa-
environment and Aboriginal heritage in tion model.
TNG’s strategic engineering partner the region by minimising impacts on the
SMS Group is also involved in the review. landscape. Nicanda Hill is one of the world’s larg-
est graphite and vanadium deposits
The proposed JV is aimed at advanc- The line will be 270km long, with Oz with a total resource of 1.44bt @ 11.1%
ing the relationship between the parties and SolarReserve splitting operational TGC and 0.29% vanadium pentoxide for
to a stage where TNG can make a final costs for the first 35km. ElectraNet has 160.3mt contained graphite and 4.2mt
decision on its construction plans for the been engaged to provide preliminary contained vanadium.
project, as well as support the company services for the design and tender of the
in obtaining a financial investment deci- new transmission line. Triton has also appointed Argonaut
sion from its investors or financiers. Securities Ltd to lead the commercialisa-
Preliminary work is under way, with the tion process to accelerate development
TNG has also appointed Como Engi- line expected to be operational by mid- of Nicanda Hill.
neers Pty Ltd to oversee key aspects of 2020.
the project’s construction and develop- PYBAR set to dig
ment. SolarReserve hopes to build six solar Woodlawn underground
thermal projects in SA over the next 10
According to the updated DFS, Mount years, with the goal of building a new in- PYBAR Mining Services Pty Ltd has
Peake will generate life-of-mine net cash dustry that boosts the State’s economy been awarded the underground mining
flow of $11.7 billion, a pre-tax IRR of 44% and provides South Australians with af- contract for Heron Resources Ltd’s up-
and an NPV of $4.7 billion. fordable and reliable clean power. coming Woodlawn zinc-copper opera-
tion, about 250km south-west of Sydney.

The specialist underground contractor
is expected to mobilise at Woodlawn be-
fore the end of May to begin early works
and site establishment, with first under-
ground mining activities scheduled for
August.

First production from Woodlawn is slat-
ed for Q1 2019.

PYBAR’s initial contract period is four
years. Up to 120 personnel will be em-
ployed at peak production.

Nucleus Mining Logistics

Providing turn-key logistics and supply chain solutions into Africa

PAGE 78 APRIL 2018 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

www.nucleussc.co.za

Ausenco studies up on NRW will utilise its existing civil con- Century processing plant and Karumba
Owendale DFS
struction fleet for the project. facility.
Ausenco Services Pty Ltd will assist
scandium hopeful Platina Resources Ltd Meanwhile, NRW’s wholly-owned sub- It expands on the early works contract,
in completing a DFS on the Owendale
project in New South Wales. sidiary Golding Contractors Pty Ltd has including the recently completed FEED

Brisbane-based Ausenco will develop executed a limited notice to proceed with study, previously awarded to Sedgman
an operating and capital cost estimate for
the project that will be used to model the Wonbindi Coal Pty Ltd and Baralaba late last year.
economics for Owendale.
Coal Company Pty Ltd at the Baralaba Ausenco Management Pty Ltd has
It is envisaged the DFS will be com-
pleted before the end of the year. North coal project in Queensland. been selected as the preferred bidder for

The study is expected to bring together Golding has begun preliminary servic- the estimated $1.7 million refurbishment
the information Platina has assembled
over the last five years on scandium- es at commercial rates, with the parties and commissioning of the concentrate
bearing resources in the Owendale pro-
ject area. set to negotiate the outstanding commer- slurry pipeline, which is expected to take

Data from the upcoming pilot pro- cial terms of a final binding contract min- up to three months to be completed.
gramme to be undertaken at SGS will be
incorporated into the DFS. ing agreement. National Pump & Energy Ltd and Par-

Consultants have also been engaged If the parties can reach agreement, the agon Tailings Pty Ltd have also been
to handle specialist topics such as the
EISA, geotechnical work and residue contract will likely carry a value of about named as the joint preferred contractors
characterisation and management.
$350 million over three years. for the supply, operation and mainte-
NRW bulks up Rio’s
waste storage nance of hydraulic mining at the former

NRW Holdings Ltd will un- New Century awards MMG Ltd site.
dertake a $37 million bulk hat-trick of contracts The timing of all contracts is in line with
earthworks and associated
civil works programme for Rio New Century Resources Ltd has the planned restart of operations at Cen-
Tinto Ltd’s southern waste tury during Q3 2018.
fines storage facility at the
Marandoo mine in the Pilbara. awarded a number of key contracts as

The works programme will White Rock chases newrefurbishment activities at the Century
include construction of Stage Alaskan frontierzine mine in Queensland continue to pro-
1A and 1B of the storage fa-
cility, including more than 1.5 gress at a rapid rate.
million cubic metres of em-
bankment construction, and Sedgman Pty Ltd was the successful Frontier Exploration LLC has been
4km of access road.
bidder for a $40 million EPC contract for contracted by White Rock Minerals Ltd
The contract is expected to
run for 44 weeks, beginning refurbishment and commissioning of the to provide drilling services at the Red
this month. At its peak, more
than 100 workers will be re- Mountain zinc project in
quired.
Alaska.

White Rock has planned

4,500m of infill drilling aimed

at expanding the existing re-

source at Red Mountain, as

well as drill testing the best

of more than 30 exploration

targets across the project

tenure.

Drilling is pencilled in to

start early next month.

White Rock acquired the

project, which hosts a 16.7mt

@ 8.9% zinc equivalent

resource including a high-

grade component of 9.1mt

@ 12.9% zinc equivalent, in

Sedgman is refurbishing and commissioning the early 2016.

Century processing plant

NUCLEUS MINING LOGISTICS PROVIDES HIGH LEVELS
OF SERVICE TO CLIENTS SEEKING WORLD-CLASS
SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS.

greenfield exploration / construction projects / operational logistics
+27 (0)71 6788184 [email protected] www.nucleussc.co.za

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT APRIL 2018 PAGE 79

COMINGS AND GOINGS

Gateway Mining Ltd has well as a non-executive role sampling and trial mining of managing director until a per-
appointed Peter Lang- with Northern Star Resources POZ’s Blina diamond project manent replacement is found,
worthy as managing director Ltd. He is currently chairman in Western Australia. thereafter transitioning to a
to drive the company’s new of Helix Resources Ltd. non-executive director role.
WA gold strategy. Langwor- Brad Marwood
thy is an accomplished ge- Paul Sarjeant has been ap- Amanda Wilton-Heald has
ologist and mining executive pointed general manager Brad Marwood has joined replaced Elizabeth Hunt
with a career spanning more of Marquee Resources Ltd’s Consolidated Zinc Ltd as company secretary of
than 32 years, including sen- North American operations. as chief executive. Marwood Parkway Minerals NL.
ior management roles with Sarjeant’s first responsibility was most recently managing
WMC Resources, PacMin will be to oversee an upcom- director of Tiger Resources Dateline Resources Ltd has
Mining and Jubilee Mines. He ing exploration programme at Ltd and oversaw develop- appointed Clint Fletcher
is currently a non-executive the Werner Lake cobalt pro- ment and operation of the as general manager of the
director of Capricorn Metals ject in Ontario, Canada. Kipoi copper mine in the Lucky Strike mill. Fletcher is
Ltd and Silver Mines Ltd and DRC. a highly experienced mining
non-executive chairman of Andrew Tunks has been and mill operations manager
Syndicated Metals Ltd. promoted to the role of Odin Metals Ltd has re- who has held senior opera-
executive director at West tained Steven Siemie- tional roles for BHP Ltd and
Terry Streeter has been Wits Mining Ltd. Tunks, cur- niuk as its Canadian explora- Rio Tinto Ltd.
appointed non-executive rently managing director of tion manager. Siemieniuk has
chairman of Alto Metals Ltd. Meteoric Resources Ltd, will previously worked for Teck Mark Milazzo has been
Streeter is best known as oversee West Wits’ group Resources Ltd and Clark Ex- appointed non-executive
the founding shareholder of exploration activities in the ploration Consulting Inc and director of Hylea Metals Ltd.
Western Areas NL and a for- Witwatersrand Basin and boasts experience exploring A mining engineer with more
mer director of Jubilee Mines. Pilbara, having consulted to for a range of commodities, than 30 years of experience,
Meanwhile, Patrick Holywell the company for the last five including diamonds, copper- Milazzo’s past roles include
has replaced Sam Middlemas years. nickel-PGM, gold and base general manager of the Olym-
as Alto’s chief financial officer metals. pic Dam mine and Kambalda
and company secretary. Stuart Bodey, of Mining- nickel operations for WMC.
Plus, has been appointed Frontier Diamonds Ltd has
Terry Streeter PFS project manager for Jer- appointed Mark Licciardo Debra Bakker
vois Mining Ltd’s Nico Young and Adam Sutherland, both
BCI Minerals Ltd made a cobalt-nickel project in New of Mertons Corporate Servic- Capricorn Metals Ltd has
number of key appoint- South Wales. David Readett es Pty Ltd, as joint company appointed Debra Bak-
ments across its business (Mworxs) and Mitchell Bland secretaries. The pair replace ker as an independent non-
last month, including Michael (RW Corkerys & Co) have Chris Ritchie, who has decid- executive director. Bakker is
le Page as a non-executive also secured roles as met- ed to pursue other business an experienced financier with
director of its subsidiary Mar- allurgical lead and environ- interests. more than 25 years of experi-
die Minerals Pty Ltd. Kevin mental and permitting lead ence in the resource industry,
Watters recently joined the respectively. Davenport Resources Ltd including as a senior banker,
Buckland Iron Ore steering has appointed Chris Gil- financier and advisor to listed
committee, while general Bill Guy has become a di- christ as managing director. mining companies. She is
manager corporate affairs Mi- rector of Stonewall Re- Europe-based Gilchrist, who currently a non-executive di-
chael Klvac is acting project sources Ltd. Guy was previ- joined the company as a non- rector Independence Group
director for PFS on the Mar- ously managing director of executive director in February NL.
die salt project. Ram Resources and Long- 2017, has been tasked with
ford Resources Ltd. Prior to advancing the company’s
Echo Resources Ltd has that he was exploration man- potash projects in Germany’s
appointed former Talis- ager for Jupiter Mines Ltd. South Harz region.
man Mining Ltd managing
director Gary Lethridge as Aris Stamoulis has re- Jeremy Kirkwood has been
finance director. Lethridge signed as a director of appointed non-executive
previously held the role of Hastings Technology Metals chairman of Kin Mining NL.
executive general manager, Ltd due to personal reasons. Former chairman Trevor
corporate at Jubilee Mines as Dixon will continue as interim
POZ Minerals Ltd has ap-
pointed Tom Reddicliffe
as the company’s diamond
processing plant consultant.
Reddicliffe, who began his ca-
reer at Ellendale then Argyle
in the 1970s, will be respon-
sible for the planning, design
and procurement of the pro-
cessing plant equipment to
be used later this year for bulk

PAGE 80 APRIL 2018 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT



LEFTFIELD

Mt Rawdon wins Cup race

Evolution Mining Ltd will once contains 44 pieces that are hand
again provide the gold for this spun over a 250-hour production

year’s Melbourne Cup trophy, albeit process. After being mined and

from a different source. processed at Mt Rawdon, the

Gold produced from the com- gold was refined by ABC Bullion

pany’s Mt Rawdon operation, in Sydney.

75km south-west of Bundaberg “Evolution is honoured to once

in southern Queensland, will be again play a part in producing this

used to make Australia’s most iconic trophy in Australian racing

iconic horse racing trophy. for the Victorian Racing Commis-

Evolution has provided the sion with our refining partners

gold for the trophy for the past ABC Bullion,” Evolution execu-

two years from its Cowal opera- tive chairman Jake Klein said.

tion in New South Wales. “On behalf of our 250 people at

Mt Rawdon is a residential op- Mt Rawdon and more than 700

eration which employs 250 peo- Gold from Evolution’s Mt Rawdon mine in Queensland people across Queensland, it will

ple, 85% of whom are from the will be used to make this year’s Melbourne Cup trophy be a real thrill to know that Aus-

Wide Bay-Burnett region, includ- tralia has stopped to watch hors-

ing the town of Mt Perry about 20km to churned more than 1.5 moz since it be- es from around the world compete for

the south-east. gan operations in 2001. a trophy with its origins near Mt Per-

The mine is forecast to produce over Valued at $200,000, the Melbourne ry within the North Burnett Regional

100,000oz gold in FY2018 and has Cup trophy is made from 18ct gold and Council area.”

INDEX

ABM 10 Davenport 80 Jervois 80 Randgold 7, 8-9
Adani 43 Deep Yellow 61 Jupiter 80
Aeon 18 Dempsey 38 Red River 46-47
African Gold 15 DGO Gold 49
Agrimin 57 Diatreme 48 Resolute 44, 49
Aguia 60 DNI Metals 36
Albermale 24, 25 Draig 15 K2O Minerals 56 Reward 61
Alderan 77 Kalium Lakes 58
Alliance 30 Karo 64 Rio Tinto 13, 42, 55, 76, 79, 80
Alto 80 Kin 80
Altona 50 Eastern Field 72 Kore 62 Silver Mines 80
Altura 76 Echo 80 Koza 39 SQM 62
Anglo American 64 Ecobalt 18 South32 66, 73
Ardea 35 Eland Platinum 64 Lepidico 28 St George
Australian Mines 18 Encounter 10 Lithium Australia 21, 23, 41 Strandline 6
Australian Vanadium 23, 40 Evolution 44, 47, 49 Longford Stonewall 76
Avanco 70-71 Exxaro 66 Lonmin 80 Syndicated Metals 77, 80
AVZ 36 39 Syrah 80
26, 34

Marquee 80 Talisman 80
Metal Bank 47
Fertoz 63 Meteoric 80 Talison 40
Finders 72 Mineral Commodities 31
Force 26-27, 36 Mineral Resources 32 Tawana 30
Fortune 18 Minjar 44, 49
FMC 38 MMG 8, 79 Teck 80
Frontier Diamonds 80
Bannerman 38 Tharisa 64

Baralaba 79 Tianqi 21, 24, 25

Barra 32 Tiger 80

Battery Minerals 26-27, 34 TNG 78

BCI 80 Galaxy 28, 38 New Century 79 Toro Gold 67
Newcrest 10
BHP 21, 29, 54, 61, 80 Gateway 80 Newmont 10 Trigg 56
Neometals 77
Birimian 67 GBM 49 Northern Cobalt 18 Triton 78
Northern Star 10, 80
Black Rock 26-27 Glencore 8-9, 18, 42, 46

BlackEarth 26-27, 33 Golden Mile 39 Universal Coal 66

Blackstone 37 Gulf Manganese 73

Blue Sky 38 Vale 35, 70, 71
Venture 39
Capricorn 80 Hastings 80 Odin 80 Verdant 59
Caravel 11 Havilah 77 Oz 70-71, 78 Vital
Centaurus 76 Helix 80 51-52
China Molybdenum 8 Heron 35, 78
Clean TeQ 18 HGM 74-75 Panoramic 6 Walkabout 39
Cobalt Blue 18, 77 Hylea 80 Parkway 80 West Wits 80
Conico 32 Peninsula Mines 23, 25, 36 Western Areas 6, 80
Consolidated Zinc 80 Iluka 17 Petra Diamonds 64 White Rock 79
Copper Mountain 50 Image 16-17 Platina 79 Whitehaven 66
Impala Podium 14 Wonbindi 79
Independence 64 POZ 80
Danakali 54-55 Infinity Lithium 80 Predictive 67 Zijin 8
Dateline 80 Ivanhoe 23, 25, 41 Progress 67
7, 8

PAGE 82 APRIL 2018 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT



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PAGE 84 APRIL 2018 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT