pd270-Apr19-mag-web

CRM4EV programme director Bert Witkamp “People won’t buy old technology
when there is new technology
available and it is cheaper.
When we get to that tipping point,
it will go very fast; more than what
analysts think. It’s not a case of if it
is going to happen but when.

out of sectors such as graphite mining to 2050 with our analysis, looking at demand for EVs and their raw mate-
in China and cobalt supply out of DRC. what type of EVs will be developed and rial inputs, making fact-finding difficult.
looking at the impact of battery technol- He pointed to nickel, where forecasts
“These issues have to do with re- ogy in other areas such as aviation and for consumption in batteries in 2025
source scarcity, volumes needed and even shipping.” vary from 305,000t in BMO analysis
environmental and social impact,” he to 750,000t in Bank of America Merril
said. Witkamp said one of the main tasks Lynch estimates.
of the CRM4EV would be to separate
Other factors contributing to the lack facts about EVs and critical raw mate- “There are currently many questions,
of clarity include charging infrastructure rials from misconceptions which often few clear answers and little insight,” he
concerns, the rise of new driving devel- circulate in the mainstream media. said.
opments and emerging competing bat-
tery technologies. “Facts, myths and fiction are mixed in CRM4EV will also look at the price
communication.” he said. “Stakehold- sensitivity of batteries to commodity
“The taskforce will look at autono- ers need clarity, transparency and up- increases, establishing to what extent
mous and shared driving – which will be to-date information to support policy- EVs can drive new mining investment.
the biggest challenge for the industry making and business decisions.”
– and alternative raw materials needed – Dominic Piper
over a 10, 20 or 30 year timeframe,” Witkamp said there were numerous
Witkamp said. “We will go all the way opinions and forecasts available about

Forecast EV production (left) and their Witkamp with Western Areas managing director
destination markets (right) Dan Lougher

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT APRIL 2019 Page 51

BATTERY MINERALS REVIEW

DanLougher Nickel’s battery
journey

‘just starting’

stitutions being of them that have come online and actu-

flagged for bat- ally delivered at the capital cost that they

tery inputs such said they would.

as nickel were “If more laterite projects are needed for

also a factor in conversion into sulphate, it could push

keeping prices the nickel price up because they have

at bay, and just such a high capital cost and very few

Western Areas Ltd managing direc- what impact the have been successful.”
tor Dan Lougher is often asked why
nickel is yet to experience the same price proposed 8-1-1 batteries (eight parts According to DFS released last Octo-
spikes graphite, lithium and cobalt have
enjoyed over recent years. In fact, it is a nickel, one part cobalt, one part manga- ber, a pre-production capex of $299 mil-
question he often asks himself.
nese) will have on the sector is still un- lion is required to bring Odysseus online
Despite being flagged as a key input
alongside graphite, lithium and cobalt in known. as a 13,000 tpa nickel-in-concentrate
various new battery technologies and
electric vehicles, nickel has not been Deficits have been recorded in the operation with C1 cash costs of $2.65/lb.
able to attain the same highs achieved
on the back of strong demand from the nickel market for the past three years, Underground contractor Barminco
stainless steel industry earlier this dec-
ade. with both Deutsche Bank and J.P. Mor- Holdings began decline rehabilitation

Stainless steel demand was also the gan indicating higher prices were re- work in January and de-watering activi-
key driver behind nickel’s recovery over
the past two years, although the gener- quired to incentivise new supply coming ties at the project are also under way. An
al hype around the battery revolution is
sure to have contributed in some small on-stream. initial camp has been commissioned for
part.
“As several countries around the world 150 rooms out of 520.begin implementing
For Lougher, the answer to the afore-
mentioned question on why the nickel policies to replace
price is yet to spike is simple: Batteries
account for just 4-6% of the total end-us- combustion engines With all of this EV noise,
er market for nickel, compared to stain- with battery-powered people are thinking ‘why is
less steel’s overwhelmingly dominant motors in multiple
72% share of the sector.
forms of transport, the nickel price not running?’.
“With all of this EV noise, people are nickel producers such Well, it’s because it’s only a small
thinking ‘why is the nickel price not run-
ning?’. Well, it’s because it’s only a small as Western Areas
part of a very big system, and I’m not sur-
prised it’s taking a bit longer to push the stand to benefit. part of a very big system, and
price up,” Lougher said. Western Areas is I’m not surprised it’s taking a bit

“Nickel in batteries is not new. I’m sure one of the world’s longer to push the price up.
you can all remember having a nickel leading producers of
cadmium battery when the new modern nickel sulphides via
cameras came out. So this new journey
is only just starting. its operations at For-

“You won’t see a reaction [in the nickel restania in Western
price] because it’s a very mature chain
already, whereas lithium and graphite Australia. The company’s two main cus- A second-hand shaft from South Af-
are relatively new in terms of the energy
market. Nickel has been around in stain- tomers are BHP Ltd and Tsingshan, both rica has been sourced and will soon be
less steel since I was quite young.”
of which are advocates for production of dismantled, refurbished and shipped to
Lougher added that the various sub-
nickel sulphate for the battery industry. Perth for erection at Odysseus, which

Western Areas is also set to bring on- Western Areas acquired for just $24 mil-

line a second operation – Odysseus – lion in 2015.

from 2023. Lougher said he was also looking for-

“Odysseus will be the next generation ward to adding the tonnes produced from

of new nickel sulphide mines with greater the new Mill Enhancement Recovery

than a 10-year mine life,” Lougher said. Project (MREP) at its Forrestania opera-

“It’s a very important part of the overall tion to the overall production profile in the

geological view that nickel sulphide dis- coming years.

coveries are declining and therefore we End-users in the EV space are likely

are going to be more dependent on later- to be potential customers for the high-

ites as a source for nickel. grade products (45-50% nickel) from the

“The bottom line is not really to annoy MREP.

anybody that has got a laterite or a HPAL – Michael Washbourne
operation, it’s really that there are none

Page 52 APRIL 2019 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

Blackstone’s spot confirmed

Scott Williamson’s firm belief that world-class tonnes, but most importantly didn’t have the size that we needed,” Wil-
Blackstone Minerals Ltd is among we will systematically test this belt. We liamson said.
some of the best geological terrain in the believe that we are one of the only com-
world in British Columbia was further vali- panies in the world with the same geol- Undeterred, Blackstone continued on
dated last month. ogy as the Bou-Azzer mine in Morocco. the large sulphide-bearing system, fol-
Ninety-seven percent of cobalt is a by- lowing up the Little Gem results with the
Newcrest Mining Ltd’s $1.2 billion bid product from copper or nickel but we Roxey gold-copper and Erebor cobalt-
for 70% of the Red Chris copper-gold believe we have the same geology as gold discoveries within its first field sea-
mine in the Golden Triangle of BC, Cana- Bou-Azzer.” son.
da, in March, went some way to backing
Williamson’s opinion. Bou-Azzer is currently one of the only “We are looking now at a system that
primary cobalt producing mines in the has copper, cobalt and gold. Jewel is a
“BC has some of the best geology I world, with Blackstone believing it has copper-cobalt-gold target, Little Gem
have seen in my career; it has some of 48km of strike potential of untested geol- and Erebor are cobalt-gold targets, while
the biggest copper-gold porphyry sys- ogy analogous to the Moroccan mine it to the north of our tenure the Bralorne
tems in the world. Newcrest are clearly its BC cobalt project. mine, 15km away, mined 4.4 moz gold.
interested in the potential of this region There is an existing processing facil-
with the $1.2 billion deal just done; this Early indications were in line with ity there and what is important is that
is an area which will get a lot of trac- Blackstone’s theory, with the first hole we have 48km and we have only tested
tion in the coming years and not just drilled at the Little Gem prospect hitting 300m of area up there,” Williamson said.
for copper,” Williamson (above), Black- 3% cobalt and 44 g/t gold, which was
stone’s managing director, said. consistent with historical drilling and adit “We believe that this has potential for
channel sampling with average grades of multiple cobalt occurrences and it has
“We think this has the potential to be 3% cobalt and 20 g/t gold. never been explored for cobalt.”
a world-class cobalt belt. We have hit
world-class grade and now we need “We were drilling out Little Gem, but it – Mark Andrews

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AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT APRIL 2019 Page 53

BATTERY MINERALS REVIEW

Venturing back into tinIt [Riley] is a quick-to-
market opportunity and
“there are not many of those in
Australia. If it only makes $15
million then we could still use
that to build the newer high-
grade Mt Lindsay project;
$15 million off a $50 million
capex is a great start and
will allow us to have a longer
life project at Mt Lindsay,
which we can sustain and
we think we have excellent
opportunity.
Andrew Radonjic

Those familiar with Venture Minerals Ltd million to get Mt Lindsay up was provided survey for some potential Renison-style
would remember the Mt Lindsay project by Radonjic, which he believes is much targets sitting on part of our leases there.
in Tasmania; the money spinning tin propo- more “permittable and funadable”. There is already an alluvial tin field there
sition to be funded from cash produced by and we recognise the same geology,
the Riley DSO operation. “We’re working on a scoping study and same granite, same tin source, so there is
we are getting towards the end of that now. great opportunity. This will be a brand new
That was the scenario back in 2013 Using feasibility study-grade work, we are EM [survey], there has been no EM done
when projected cash flow of $100 million trying to simplify the flow-sheet at the mo- since 2001. “We may pick up some Ren-
from Riley would be siphoned into the build ment and even though it will be a scoping ison-style tin targets and if that happens
of the much larger $200 million Mt Lindsay study it will be quite an advanced study,” there is some potential there.”
play. Radonjic said.
Bringing Mt Lindsay back into the lime-
Since then, like all commodities, iron ore “If that is successful we can move for- light means Venture will place its other
and tin have both ebbed and flowed. ward quite quickly. Just recently with prospective exploration plays – Caesar
what’s happened with iron ore price and (nickel-copper), Golden Grove North
Currently, iron ore is in a sweet-spot of the events in Brazil we’ve looked at the (copper-zinc-gold), South West and Kulin
$US85/t and some believe more upside in possibility of mining the Riley iron ore pro- (PGE-nickel-copper) – on the backburner.
price is coming, which has triggered Ven- ject.”
ture to re-think its strategy. “So we are just leveraging off that [Riley
An initial $5 million could see Riley into and Livingstone DSO projects] at the mo-
Speaking to Paydirt on the sidelines of production and any cash generated would ment. We will probably put our exploration
this year’s Battery Minerals Conference, be embraced to help Venture with its tin projects in the backlog at the moment, we
Venture managing director Andrew Ra- aspirations. will keep them alive and we think Thor is
donjic estimated that Riley’s potential to well set up for a potential massive JV,” Ra-
make about $30 million given current met- At the time of print tin was trading at over donjic said.
rics was impetus to assess rebooting its $US21,100/t on the LME – 60% higher
Tasmanian game-plan. than in January 2016 – and while Venture “We drilled five holes into the project,
is looking at a potential smaller scale pro- four of those on the VMS target, which re-
Further encouragement for the company ject at Mt Lindsay, Radonjic sees a poten- turned 0.5% copper, 1.5 g/t silver, 8% zinc
to do so was Rio Tinto Ltd highlighting tin’s tial long-life operation in the making. and some cobalt.”
importance in technologies of the future.
“It [Riley] is a quick-to-market oppor- Thor is part of the 281sq km South West
“When Rio Tinto put out a slide 12 tunity and there are not many of those in project Venture has within the Greenbush-
months ago indicating that tin was the Australia. If it only makes $15 million then es mineral district of Western Australia.
metal most impacted by new technology, we could still use that to build the newer
we have been trying to relook at Mt Lind- high-grade Mt Lindsay project; $15 million The company has several VMS targets,
say from a different perspective,” Radonjic off a $50 million capex is a great start and including the Thor prospect, while a new
said. will allow us to have a longer life project nickel-copper target was recently identi-
at Mt Lindsay, which we can sustain and fied whilst drilling for lithium at Odin.
“Instead of a big open pit we’re looking we think we have excellent opportunity,”
at going purely underground and concen- Radonjic said. – Mark Andrews
trating on a smaller higher grade project,
which means a smaller plant, 500,000 tpa.” “We are about to embark on an EM

A back of the envelope estimation of $50

Page 54 APRIL 2019 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

Aussies falling behind: Griffin

Lithium Australia NL managing director that. I think it’s very interesting to look at have a lot of expertise available, we’re
Adrian Griffin has called on all state and Europe and the amount of assistance that good at doing things like mineral process-
federal governments to provide greater you can get in Europe, which far exceeds ing, but we’re not quite as good at doing
assistance to battery technology research Australia. things like chemical processing, so some
and development within the country. of that expertise will have to come from off-
“Australia can do some things that are shore, but we do have the land available,
During a Q&A session with Paydirt very useful and I applaud the West Aus- we have the ports available,” Griffin said.
editor Dominic Piper, Griffin said Australia tralian Government for the things they
risked falling behind other countries un- have done, but they haven’t gone quite far “We can do it if we prepare properly and
less the full potential of its battery minerals enough. Things like speeding up approval we get the right expertise…but there’s got
sector was realised, including downstream processes, we haven’t got a lot of time to to be the right encouragement for industry
processing opportunities. do this before we get left behind if we don’t to do so.”
do something about it.”
Lithium Australia has been one of the – Michael Washbourne
pioneers in progressing development of Griffin also believes Australia is in dan-
disruptive technologies for the battery in- ger of missing out on an opportunity to be- Lithium Australia managing director Adrian
dustry, headlined by its patented SiLeach come a one-stop-shop for battery produc- Griffin (right) with Paydirt editor Dominic Piper
and LieNA extraction processes. tion given the lack of integrated facilities for
downstream production of batteries.
Griffin said more support was needed
for Australia to maintain pace with similar Lithium Australia is one company to
developments elsewhere in the world. have tested the downstream waters, hav-
ing taken lithium-based material from near
“We’ve got an industry that is moving Kalgoorlie, had it converted to lithium
very, very rapidly and you can’t afford to chemicals via a pilot plant at ANTSO in
sit back and use one technology for any Sydney and then produced cathode pow-
prolonged period of time, otherwise we will der and other non-proprietary products for
become a dinosaur,” he said. inputs into batteries.

“We have to be developing new technol- “We have all of the raw materials, we
ogy and government can assist with doing

Mahenge AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT APRIL 2019 Pag1e9/25/519 4:32 pm

The best undeveloped
graphite project globally
driven by geology and geography

ASX:BKT
www.blackrockmining.com.au

NEG PREP 4.indd 1

BATTERY MINERALS REVIEW

Walkabout ups the stakes with DFS

Momentum continues to build at Walka- simple processing.” “It is simple processing with the IP in the
bout Resources Ltd after the company The updated DFS was built around the attritioning because you need to maintain
released an updated DFS with improved re- that flake size because of the price you are
serve numbers for its Lindi Jumbo graphite previously announced ore reserve of 5.5mt getting for it,” he said.
project in March. @ 17.9% TGC, making it one of the highest
grade graphite projects in development. The large flake products are attracting
The updated DFS delivered improve- increasing interest from the emerging ex-
ments across the board on financial param- “Grade is king with this project,” Benson pandable and foil graphite markets. Walka-
eters, including a 9.4% increase in post-tax said. bout has sent samples to China for testing
NPV (to $US197 million), 23.9% increase and recently tested expandable material in
to post-tax IRR (119%), a 6.4% decrease Changes to the mining plan in the updat- Germany.
in capex (to $US27.8 million) and a 0.6% ed DFS are designed to maintain this high-
decrease in operating costs FOB port of grade advantage. “The work we are doing with off-takers is
Mtwara ($US347/t). saying they we will get a premium price for
The Lindi Jumbo deposit has three dis- the four products we will produce,” Benson
Speaking at Paydirt’s Battery Minerals crete and visually distinct high-grade do- said.
conference, Walkabout chairman Trevor mains which planning has indicated can be
Benson said the company was delighted mined with minimum contamination from The company has heads of agreements
with the outcomes of the study. the lower grade ore to keep the life-of-mine in place with Chinese buyers for 7,500 tpa
mill feed grade above 17% TGC. and 10,000 tpa respectively and a MoU
“The numbers are outstanding on any with a German trading house over 12,500
measure,” he said. Providing further encouragement is the tpa.
flake size distribution of the deposit. Met-
Benson attributed the strong economics allurgical test work demonstrated that up “We are hoping to grow that towards a
to the simplicity of proposed operations at to 50% of concentrate produced would be binding agreement and we are also seeing
Lindi Jumbo, southern Tanzania. classified super jumbo and jumbo. The two interest from the Japanese market wanting
categories are deemed premium products, product for anode material,” Benson said.
The company plans to start production at fetching mid-range prices of $US2,350/t “We hope to easily grow our agreements
a modest 40,000 tpa (with room to expand), and $US1,850/t respectively in comparison to 40,000 tpa in the next quarter and have
making Lindi Jumbo a low-risk proposition. to $US890/t for -180 micron flake graphite. offtake in place ready for funding and de-
velopment.”
“It is all designed to reduce the risk,” Preserving that large flake in the milling
Benson said. “We will only put 240,000 process will be a challenge for Walkabout – Dominic Piper
tpa through the plant, so a very low capex but Benson was confident it could be suc-
initially, and it is simple low-cost mining and cessfully achieved.

Piloting a funding solution

As Paydirt went to print, Black Rock the Chinese, by the Chinese and for the tion of 250,000 tpa graphite concentrate.
Mining Ltd was preparing to run a Chinese, so we can actually get a price Additional capex of $US69.5 million and
demonstration pilot plant in China which number down on a piece of paper. And $US84.2 million is required for the sec-
could open funding options for the com- that price number will be supporting what ond and third development phases.
pany’s Mahenge graphite project in Tan- will be a high quality concentrate with
zania. large flake size distribution. De Vries credited the original pilot
plant run with defining the DFS planning
Black Rock’s EPC partner Yantai Jiny- “All up we’ll have completed something and its subsequent success.
uan Mining Machinery planned to push a in the order of 130-140t of metallurgical
20t graphite sample through its process- testing by the time we’ve done the sec- “The pilot plant told us the products we
ing facilities to validate the optimised ond pilot plant in China.” could make, and with those products we
flowsheet for Mahenge under continuous engaged with customers and they gave
operation. If the demonstration pilot plant run is us feedback about what they liked and
successful, Yantai is expected to enter what they didn’t like,” he said. “We then
Previous testwork in Canada by SGS into an EPC contract with Black Rock took that feedback into the DFS to pro-
Lakefield Laboratories produced a 99% for the delivery and installation of plant, duce a plant that would actually produce
TGC concentrate which Black Rock process and infrastructure equipment at stuff that people wanted.”
managing director John de Vries said Mahenge.
had “enormous value” for downstream To date Black Rock has signed binding
applications. An EPC contract will likely include a offtake agreements with three Chinese
$US20 million vendor bid for debt finance customers and de Vries promised there
“We’ve got the highest grade concen- from Yantai, as well as support by spon- would be more to come post the current
trate available commercially and we’ve sorship for an additional $US20 million of pilot plant run.
demonstrated that by [running] a large pi- external funding.
lot plant and we’ll demonstrate that again Black Rock was awarded a mining li-
in China in a couple of weeks time with a The DFS released last October found cence for Mahenge in February.
demonstration plant,” he said. the project could be developed into an
initial 83,000 tpa operation for $US115 – Michael Washbourne
“We’re going to run this plant in front of million targeting steady-state produc-

Page 56 APRIL 2019 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

Spain the entry point
for Elementos’ tin voyage

Tin’s position as the forgotten battery The company’s plan for Oropesa is to project, Temengor in northern Malaysia,
mineral may have handed Elementos
Ltd a distinct advantage when it comes to deliver a DFS on the project this year. The would allow Elementos to meet its medi-
securing a prime position in the commod-
ity’s market rebound. JORC-compliant resource of 12.5mt @ um-term goals.

Despite its extensive use as a solder 0.54% tin is well-defined with opportunities “With funding in place, we have the team
in circuit boards, tin had been largely im-
mune to the recent battery minerals boom. for expansion and presents for simple drill- to deliver and by 2025 we could have three
Elementos has itself suffered from the
market neglect but it is now using it to and-blast, truck-and-shovel mining. operations producing 25,000 tpa tin,” Trea-
build a portfolio of assets which could see
it become a mid-tier tin producer inside a “It has straightforward mineralogy, it is cy said.
decade.
open pit and has low strip ratios. The PEA – Dominic Piper
In January, the company acquired the is being updated and we are keen to get in
Oropesa tin project in southern Spain in
an all-scrip deal worth $7 million. The pro- and prove up expansion potential.
ject has already received $US25 million of
spending and is on the path towards per- ASX-listed companies have often been
mitting approval.
stymied by European approvals process-
The advanced nature of Oropesa
means Elementos now has three projects es but Treacy is confident Oropesa will not
it can rapidly bring on in succession with
early development of its newest acquisi- run into similar problems.
tion to be followed by redevelopment of
the Cleveland tin mine in Tasmania and “It is in Andalucía and we are pretty
the Temengor project in Malaysia.
comfortable with the lack of road blocks to
Non-executive director Calvin Treacy
said the company was lifting its marketing development,” he said. “Permitting is well
efforts in order to convince investors about
the niche it has carved for itself. advanced and we have had initial meet-

“Tin doesn’t fit into the battery metals ings with government and there was noth-
basket but it is a technology metal,” Treacy
said. “Our job is to educate the market that ing unexpected.”
tin will be impacted by technology growth.
The emerging technology super-cycle is Elementos is similarly confident it can Calvin Treacy
such that batteries are just the thin edge of defy reputations in Tasmania where it is
the wedge. Tin will be the glue which holds
it all together as a solder.” eager to develop

In acquiring an advanced project, El- the Cleveland tin
ementos is now positioned to take advan-
tage of recent price rises and a lack of project, providing Australian
dominant players in the tin market. an environmental
solution to legacy
“There is no major in the tin space and
typically semi-government organisations issues in the pro- graphite
are the largest players,” Treacy said. cess.

Oropesa’s location could also hand El- “It is a good
ementos advantages when it comes to
courting new investment. mining province

“Having an asset in a first world jurisdic- and a first rate as- www.renascor.com.au
tion with good traceability and first world
mining practices is important to us. Also, set,” Treacy said ASX:RNU
the fact it is in Europe opens up investment
opportunities in the UK and Europe. We of Tasmania and
believe we can attract a new class of in-
vestor, particularly with the Australian mar- Cleveland. “It is an
ket being a little jaded towards tin projects.”
interesting chal-

lenge; it has a tail-

ings problem and

the only way to fix

it is via reprocess-

ing. So, we have a

good relationship

with government

and environmental

groups.”

Elementos plans

to start open pit

mining and tailings

reprocessing in

tandem, offering a

“logical follow-on

from Oropesa”, ac-

cording to Treacy.

Positive out-

comes from work

on a potential third

RNU_Paydirt_ad_190219.indd 1 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT APRIL 2019 Page 57

19/2/19 5:19 pm

BATTERY MINERALS REVIEW

Sinclair plugs
into battery

Shortly after its presentation at Paydirt’s players in East Africa currently facing the David Flanagan
Battery Minerals Conference, Battery project financing conundrum. As each
Minerals Ltd announced changes to its company continues to plead their project $US30 million a year suffice to pay back
board as it looks to close out financing for investment credentials with financiers, one capital costs in two years.
the Montepuez graphite project in Mozam- fact not in question is the graphite pro-
bique. spectivity of East Africa. Based on BMI’s October 2018 FOB Chi-
na graphite spot prices, the basket price
The changes include David Flanagan “The province that we are in is equiva- for Montepeuz 96% TGC concentrate is
moving into the position of executive chair- lent to about 300 moz of gold in equivalent $US1,064/t.
man, with his replacement as managing graphite terms, so that is ten times the gold
director former Atlas Iron chief operating that has been mined in Kalgoorlie,” Flana- “At the moment, the battery portion
officer Jeremy Sinclair. gan said. [demand for graphite] combined with the
growth in the industrial portion means that
There is some $US39.5 million in capex “The monetary value of the graphite that over the next five years we need to in-
funding for Battery to complete before is in the province provides a massive op- crease 500% of last year’s battery produc-
construction starts at Montepuez but Sin- portunity for us. tion for graphite,” Flanagan said.
clair can expect to find a country welcom-
ing of mining investment upon his arrival in “Ten years ago nobody knew there was “Keep in mind that the world’s largest
Mozambique. graphite in Mozambique at all and for the graphite mine [Syrah Resources Ltd’s
highest grade, lowest cost graphite; it is in Balama] operates in Mozambique and it
“We are operating in a part of the world Mozambique and Africa and they really took those guys seven years to deliver and
where our project can have a massive lo- want us there.” what they produced last year was just over
cal impact. Most people in Mozambique 100,000t. Demand is very strong, but the
want investment and they really want jobs, Subject to financing, Battery estimated it supply response hasn’t been quick enough
access to basic healthcare and they want would take 15 months to export the first of and in my mind that can only mean that
their kids to be educated. That’s what its 11% TGC from Montepeuz (12% TGC prices go up.”
mines can bring to communities and they for the first 18 years) at a rate of 50,000 tpa
are reasons why I am very proud to be in- in stage one from a modular 500,000 tpa – Mark Andrews
volved in this industry,” Flanagan said. plant over a mine life in excess of 50 years.

Battery is among a handful of graphite C1 costs for the first 10 years have been
estimated at $US361/t with EBITDA of

Data delivers for MakCorp

The number of battery minerals-related Battery minerals have been a major fo- by project stage (from exploration to pro-
projects in MakCorp’s extensive ana- cus of growth within the database, corre- duction), by people (including by experi-
lytical database has quadrupled over the lating with the global investor demand for ence in a particular commodity), by min-
past three years. the likes of graphite, lithium and cobalt in eral type and by project location.
recent times.
MakCorp’s database contains informa- Projects listed in the TSX were re-
tion on more than 8,000 projects, includ- Since the start of 2017, the number of cently added to the database, with those
ing key details on any defined resources, cobalt projects in the database has in- hosted on the London exchanges set to
stage of development and location. creased from 40 to almost 200. be uploaded over the next two months.

Steve Rosewell MakCorp’s database also incorporates “We can do any search on any com-
Page 58 APRIL 2019 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT information on electric vehicle growth in modity or project in about 15-20 sec-
key markets such as China, India, Eu- onds, by breaking it up, depending on
rope and the US. your criteria or the search that you want
to look for,” Rosewell said.
“As you can see, most years have
been a doubling or tripling of growth in “When you’re using our platform, you
the EV space,” MakCorp executive chair- won’t be having to go to many websites
man Steve Rosewell said. and documents; you can see everything
in one place, from financials to the last
“It’s significant growth everywhere you four capital raises the company has
look globally. What does it mean? A lot of done, plus all the directors’ information,
opportunity for the battery minerals sec- the top 20 shareholders by percentage
tor and a lot of opportunities for Australia and name, and obviously the most im-
itself, to be a leader in the world in this portant, all of the project information.”
area.”
– Michael Washbourne
MakCorp’s database can be searched

OPINION

Sizing up the
right regrind

Over the last two years Independent Metallurgical
Operations (IMO) has gained significant
commercial-scale graphite processing experience,
having conducted the process engineering for Bass
Metals Ltd’s Graphmada process plant optimisation

and upgrade in Madagascar.

In completing the process engineering, IMO sized key critical Peter Adamini
equipment and worked with Bass’s preferred equipment supplier
to ensure the correct-sized equipment was purchased. IMO then Fast tracking development
assisted Bass operations staff with commissioning of that equip- of the

ment, conducting measurements and taking surveys to further
optimise each of the operating parameters. Lindi Jumbo Project

Sizing of the regrind mills was crucial to being able to maxim- High Grade Flake Graphite
ise the flake yield and also achieve a saleable concentrate grade.
!  17.9% TGC Reserve grade
Unlike other minerals where regrinding is conducted to sig-
nificantly reduce the valuable mineral particle size, regrinding !  24 year mine life
graphite is different in that you’re not trying to regrind the graph-
ite; you’re only trying to liberate the graphite from the gangue Strong Economics
minerals located on the edge of the graphite particles, whilst !  LOM revenue US$1.44B
still maintaining the graphite particle size and hence the natural
graphite flake distribution. !  Post tax NPV10 US$197M

This process is crucial to maximising mine revenue as the !  Post tax IRR10 119%
coarser the flake the higher the price. Optimum graphite libera-
tion via the regrind circuit is also crucial in ensuring you achieve !  Capital cost US$27.8M
the target concentrate grade as customers won’t accept the con-
centrate if the graphitic carbon grade is too low. CAPITALISING ON RESOURCE OPPORTUNITIES

With graphite literally floating on the smell of a dirty oil rag,
what other operation allows you to use the same reagent (die-
sel) to power your mining fleet as your flotation circuit collector?
Whilst graphite flotation is very selective, an unliberated graphite
particle with gangue minerals attached to it will float the same
as a liberated graphite particle. This makes the regrind circuit
operation all the more crucial because if it doesn’t liberate the
graphite, the flotation cells won’t produce an on-spec product.

It is important to work with regrind mill vendors who have
graphite processing experience to design equipment that has
flexibility for process variables to be adjusted. Conducting con-
tinuous testwork through the selected vendors’ pilot scale equip-
ment, along with confirming downstream circuit performance, all
adds up to ensuring that the correct equipment is purchased and
installed.

IMO has learnt and developed process models based on com-
mercial-scale site experience to ensure that equipment sizing is
confirmed as being correct and not taken as gospel.

With a raft of new graphite mines potentially opening, IMO staff
are excited about the potential to use their graphite process plant
experience in assisting these operations in not just getting their
processes up to nameplate capacity, but also in maximising rev-
enue by producing the coarsest flake with the highest graphite
concentration.

Peter Adamini is a senior metallurgist at Independent
Metallurgical Operations

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT APRIL 2019 Page 59

BATTERY MINERALS REVIEW

Winmar gets tough “All of the documentation we’re doing
as part of our re-listing here in Australia is
Winmar Resources Ltd chairman Ja- they wanted us to have ore supply agree- going straight into our listing prospectus in
son Brewer has taken a thinly veiled ments in place at the time of re-listing for London,” Brewer said.
swipe at the ASX over the company’s pro- us to go ahead. We’ve gone out and we’ve
longed suspension from trade. entered into seven of those agreements “Brokers are very positive on what we’re
just before Christmas.” talking about. The London market appre-
It has been almost 10 months since ciates production stories and there seems
Winmar’s stock was halted at 2.4c, hav- The ASX also raised concerns about to be a good understanding of Africa from
ing jumped from 0.1c in just over 12 weeks Luapula’s operating history, questioning that market.”
after announcing plans to acquire a 50% how a plant which took four years to build
interest in the Luapula copper-cobalt pro- and cost $US80 million could be written – Michael Washbourne
cessing plant in the DRC. down to a nil-value after only two years of
production. Graphite king:
Due to the “significant change in the Grade or purity
nature and scale of activities”, Winmar – Winmar then commissioned an inde-
effectively a shell company prior to the pendent valuation report to be conducted or flake?
acquisition – was ordered by the ASX to by METS Engineering Group Pty Ltd’s Da-
undertake a full re-compliance of its listing mian Connelly, who concluded “there are Amid the claims and counter-claims
requirements. no fatal flaws with the project and the risks being made by graphite developers,
for the project can be managed”. consulting geologist Andrew Scogings
Winmar believed it had satisfied those had warning for companies and investors
requirements earlier this year, but was “There is power, water and good infra- alike; don’t fixate on grade or purity.
subsequently slapped with a series of fur- structure to support the project, including
ther concerns to address. These included offices, workshops, stores and accommo- Speaking at Paydirt’s Battery Miner-
not having any offtake or ore supply agree- dation facilities on site,” Connelly wrote in als Conference, Scogings said that while
simple tonnes times grade equations
Jason Brewer could largely be applied to oxide gold
deposits, the complex nature of graph-
ments in place and not being able to re- his report. ite deposits meant they could be many
start the mothballed Luapula plant at all. Brewer said the company needed only things to many customers.

“We did advise them of several instanc- $US5.8 million to restart the plant, which “You don’t have to be fixated on high
es of people going back into old plants in could be operational within 4-6 months of grade but on a range of flake sizes with
Western Australia and restarting them up the remaining refurbishments being car- different types of purity,” Scogings said.
successfully,” Brewer said. ried out. “It is like having a bakery. You wouldn’t
just sell one type of bread but many dif-
“Then they wanted us to get an offtake Luapula is tipped to produce about ferent products.”
agreement in place before we’ve actually 12,000 tpa of high-grade concentrate,
started operating this plant, which I don’t including 3,000-4,000 tpa of cobalt, posi- Scogings said contrary to received wis-
think there are too many precedents for in tioning Winmar among the world’s top 10 dom, grade was not always king in graph-
the market. producers of the mineral. ite deposits. However, neither should as-
sessments focus only on purity either.
“They were also concerned that when Winmar is also undertaking a planned
we came back on we wouldn’t have all the listing on the standard segment of the “In assessing graphite projects you
operating permits in place. Well, we’ve se- London Stock Exchange and hopes to be- have insufficient information if you only
cured all of them and we’re now ready to gin trading on that bourse sometime this go off tonnes and grade,” he said. “It
operate. month. doesn’t have to be high purity either for
use in most industrial sectors.”
“Despite us saying that we would be ex- Memery Chrystal is advising the com-
ploring and developing our own licences, pany on the process. Instead product and therefore project
quality could be impacted by product size
distribution, purity, performance in mar-
kets and in situ graphite size. Questions
should also be posed around the ease of
liberation.

Scogings said similar thinking could
be applied to lithium pegmatite deposits
which could include a wide range of lithi-
um minerals, each with different physical
and chemical properties.

“Looks can be deceiving,” he said. “You
must look closely at the in situ mineral
size distribution as there may be more
than one size and/or mineral population.”

Page 60 APRIL 2019 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

Johnston urges connection
in battery sector

West Australian Minister for Mines and Hon Bill Johnston
Petroleum Hon Bill Johnston has en-
couraged Australian companies with pro- to be more than $3 billion. The scale and future battery minerals, materials, tech-
jects in the battery minerals space to ex- significance of these projects has the po- nologies and expertise.
plore collaborative opportunities overseas. tential to create jobs in our state, adding to
our already strong and highly skilled work- A $6 million commitment has also been
Recent trips by Premier Mark McGowan force. made by the McGowan Government if
to Japan and China, and a visit by John- Perth is selected by the Federal Govern-
ston to Korea at the end of 2017, have only “The task now is to continue to grow ment to host the Future Battery Industries
tightened relationships with such countries the level of processing undertaken here in CRC.
and laid the platform for further engage- Western Australia, increasing the amount
ment. of battery minerals we process and the A decision on the location of the CRC
scale of existing processing,” he said. was expected at the time of print.
“In December 2017, I was in Korea and
we had extensive discussions with govern- The State Government continues to play “Innovation is critical to the success of
ment and potential investors,” Johnston its part in attracting investment in the bat- WA operations in challenging conditions,
said. tery minerals sector by making Strategic and WA companies are at the leading
Industrial Areas, such as Kwinana, Kemer- edge of innovation in their sector in not
“Of course, we have our trade offices ton in the south-west, Mungari in the Gold- only mining and processing but also in
and Mike Deeks our Agent General [Lon- fields and Pilbara, available to accommo- technologies directly relevant to the bat-
don-based] and commissioners in Japan, date future battery industry projects. tery industry,” Johnston said.
Korea and China all work very closely in
facilitating connection. They think there is “This is because they are close to min- “The FBI CRC will provide leadership
opportunity if you are an Australian project eral feed stocks, essential infrastructure for Australia to participate meaningfully in
looking for partners talk to JTSI [the De- and services, pools of skilled workers and the future battery industries value chain,
partment of Jobs, Tourism, Science and local amenities,” Johnston said. connecting world-class research capabil-
Industry] here in WA and facilitate connec- ity with industry needs to build knowledge,
tions in those markets.” A key plank in seeing WA prosper as a and develop processes and battery appli-
world-leading battery minerals hub will be cations using Australia’s new energy mate-
Japan, Korea and China in particular are investment in research and development, rials. MRIWA is also leading research into
key end-users of battery minerals and tar- something the State Government is on the the recovery of lithium from mica through
get markets for WA-produced materials. front foot with. its scholarship programme, among other
projects MRIWA is involved in connected
It is well-known that WA is heavily-en- In late January, the Future Battery Indus- to the battery value-chain.”
dowed with the array of minerals used in try Strategy was launched. The strategy is
the manufacturing of batteries; including aimed at attracting investment and build- – Mark Andrews
lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese, alumin- ing marketing and regulatory activities to
ium and vanadium. grow the State into a leading exporter of

Some WA companies have done well to
secure offtake and partnerships overseas
already and there is an insatiable appetite
from government to harness further val-
ue from the State’s natural resources on
home soil.

WA is already host to three of the four
largest producing lithium companies in
the world – Tianqi, Albermale and SQM
– which are developing downstream pro-
cessing facilities in the State.

Additionally, BHP Nickel West’s nickel
sulphate facility in Kwinana will become
the world’s largest producer of nickel pow-
der and briquettes.

“WA is moving toward more value-
adding activities, and has successfully
attracted investment into the processing
of battery-grade lithium hydroxide, lithium
carbonate and nickel sulphate,” Johnston
said.

“Additional processing proposals are
also in development, with total investment
generated across all proposals estimated

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT APRIL 2019 Page 61

BATTERY MINERALS REVIEW

Australia critical to minerals
Anew report highlighting Australia’s po- cal mineral lists were based on individual and improving production costs estimations
tential as a hub for critical minerals pro- countries’ needs and changed according to for critical minerals.
duction was launched by Federal Minister geological scarcity, lack of substitution, lack
for Resources Matt Canavan last month. of large-scale markets, geopolitical instabil- “We have insufficient databases of
ity, production only as a by-product, limited knowledge regarding critical minerals in ore
The Geoscience Australia-commis- methods of recovery and concentration of deposits,” Czarnota said. “So, we would like
sioned report – Critical Minerals in Australia production. to collect data from concentrates, tailings
– sets out Australia’s current position in the and smelters in consultation with industry.
critical minerals space and points to key ar- Australia is a major producer of many of
eas for further investigation. the minerals among a list of more than 30 “We also want to know what Australia’s
deemed critical by the EU, UK and US. critical mineral endowment is and find the
A relatively new field – the US was the relationship between the major and critical
first country to define and build policy However, given many of them are pro- mineral by-products in order to better esti-
around critical minerals, in 2006 – criti- duced only as a by-product of other min- mate critical mineral concentrations in ore
cal minerals analysis aims to identify the ing operations, it is often difficult to track resources.”
sources, means of production and supply their production and abundance. Czarnota
chains of minerals which are increasingly pointed to indium, a key ingredient in the Among the medium-term goals are ef-
important to modern society. manufacture of LCD screens, as an ex- forts to increase awareness of critical min-
ample of the difficulty in defining actual re- erals opportunities for smelters and refin-
“The growing list of new and emerging serves of raw materials. ers, the development of mining technology
technologies using critical minerals in- and services to economically extract critical
cludes advanced manufacturing and health “Japan, Belgium and France are signifi- minerals and an increase in the number of
applications, rechargeable batteries, re- cant producers, in addition to China, of in- geological studies dedicated to the discov-
newable energy systems and electric cars,” dium but do not have mines producing zinc ery of critical mineral resources in Australia.
Minister Canavan said. “Australia is already concentrates,” Czarnota said. “The sources
demonstrating it can meet the needs of key of the ores and concentrates are, in fact, the Geoscience Australia has already ranked
trading partners in a range of critical miner- major zinc-mining countries such as Aus- Australia’s potential to be a supplier of a va-
als. tralia who export the ores and concentrates riety of critical minerals. It identified chro-
to processing facilities in Europe and Asia.” mium, cobalt, copper, nickel, PGEs, rare
“We are one of the world’s top five pro- earths and zirconium as minerals for which
ducers of antimony, cobalt, lithium and rare The report found that Australia’s ability Australia had “very high potential” to be-
earths, minerals rated as ‘critical’ by the US, to develop into a supplier of critical miner- come a world-leading supplier. Among the
UK or EU. als was affected by this lack of knowledge. “high potential” minerals were graphite, in-
Czarnota said Geoscience Australia had dium, lithium, manganese, tin and titanium.
“We’re engaging with our key trading set itself short, medium and long range
partners on critical minerals. Late last year, goals to fill this knowledge gap. Czarnota said the next step would be to
I signed a Letter of Intent with my coun- undertake a formal assessment of various
terpart from the United States agreeing to Among the short-term (1-4 years) goals deposit types to identify their prospectivity
collaborate on joint activities in the area of was improving knowledge about the pro- for critical minerals.
critical minerals,” he said. duction of critical minerals from mine pro-
duction, improving the geochemical associ- – Dominic Piper
Speaking at Paydirt’s Battery Miner- ation models between critical minerals and
als Conference following release of the major commodities in various deposit types
report, co-author Karol Czarnota said criti-

Producing donuts the risk

With a swathe of companies looking Therefore, it was critically important that mated that typically developed projects ex-
for financing amid the battery miner- companies had their projects independently ceeded capital cost budget by 25% when
als rush, Midas Engineering Group (METS) verified by outfits such as METS before pull- benchmarked against the peer group, while
director and principal consulting engineer ing the trigger on a funding package strategy. commissioning timeframes were dependent
Damian Connelly had some wise words to on project-type.
heed. “If we don’t sign off, the bank won’t sign
off,” Connelly said. “All these resource projects are high risk,
“It is important that companies don’t seek we can never get away from that and the
funding before they are ready; the value is “[Financiers] can look at financing, they value is always what is in the ground. If the
always what is in the ground,” Connelly said. understand all the financial aspects, but they deposit is easy to treat, good metallurgy, low
don’t understand the nitty gritty geology, pro- cost; all those things are good,” Connelly
“Funding projects is difficult enough, let cessing, and even to some extent the mar- said.
alone projects in a crowded space. There- ket. That’s where people like ourselves, with
fore, companies in the battery minerals our independent technical due diligence can “Projects are not easy and 70% [commis-
space need to consider very carefully how be part of the accountability process.” sioning] completion after nine months is cer-
ready they really are. Recycled projects, tainly not the six months some companies
which have had false starts, are hard to con- Given the rise of battery minerals projects say and I think equipment reliability is critical.
vince financiers that it is going to work.” to serve new age technologies and the elec- During ramp-up and like any project, the way
trical vehicle market, Connelly said he was to destroy value is taking too long to become
Connelly said banks have long memories still learning the caper despite his vast and cash flow positive.”
and did not have much of a stomach to back long association with the mining sector.
high risk projects at the moment. – Mark Andrews
Throughout his career, Connelly esti-

Page 62 APRIL 2019 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

Juan Pablo Vargas de la Vega

Deflated Galan
pushes on

Galan Lithium Ltd managing director Muerto is special and is very different to ready indicated Candelas has the poten-
Juan Pablo Vargas de la Vega has anything else in the world for lithium. tial to be a world-class deposit, based on
implored investors to stick by the compa- initial results, including geophysics.
ny following a bittersweet start to maiden “Our first major drill hole wasn’t just
drilling at its Candelas lithium brine pro- any drill hole, it was 192m @ 802 mg/L “We are looking to prove the potential
ject in Argentina’s famed Hombre Muerto lithium. This is bigger than any of Gal- of this project and we are trying to ad-
salar. axy’s drilling, it’s higher grade than any- vance it as quickly as we can,” Vargas de
thing Galaxy has reported. We’re also la Vega said.
Shares in Galan soared more than seeing the high grade and the low impuri-
200% to 68c in early March after the ties which are a feature of the operations “[The lithium of] Hombre Muerto in
company announced a mouth-watering in Hombre Muerto.” Argentina equates to [the iron ore of] Mt
intercept of 192m @ 802 mg/L lithium Newman in Western Australia. It has the
from the first ever hole drilled into Can- A third hole at Candelas was to be best combination of high grade and low-
delas, which shares a border with Galaxy drilled at the time of print following a est impurities of salt flats anywhere in the
Resources Ltd’s Sal de Vida operations. quick recalibration of Galan’s geophysi- world.
cal model, with the rig being moved to
However, when the second hole did a location north of the second hole and “The lithium battery revolution started
not replicate the success of the first – the south of the first hole. at Hombre Muerto. If you remember
tectonic basin was found to be deeper when the Sony Handycam switched to
and conductivity levels were also lower Vargas de la Vega said having Major lithium batteries, the lithium that came
– the company’s stock plummeted back Drilling – one of Argentina’s most expe- from those batteries is from one place,
to 24c. rienced drillers of brines on salt flats – Hombre Muerto. Without knowing it,
overseeing the drilling programme would you’ve probably had Hombre Muerto in
“That’s the nature of exploration,” Var- be crucial to Galan’s chances of defining your hands for many years.”
gas de la Vega said. the potential of Candelas.
– Michael Washbourne
“We’ve got a case that we just want to SRK Consulting is assisting with the
prove, but we still believe that Hombre resource definition process and has al-

Altan in prime position

With a new-look board now in place, chairman and Paul Stephen and Barry Tinto Ltd boss around the need for further
Altan Nevada Minerals Ltd is aiming Bourne joined the board as corporate direc- exploration in the Yerington copper district.
to capitalise on its strategic ground holding tor and technical director respectively.
next to the first new copper development in “One of the things he was strong on was
the US in a decade. Funds from the raising will be tipped into the need for further exploration and further
a drilling campaign to test a series of targets discovery,” Stephen said. “In fact, over the
First production from the upcoming 50 generated from recent geophysics over the last 10 years, none of that has been hap-
mlbpa Pumpkin Hollow copper mine – run Venus ground, about six miles east-south- pening, so what we’re seeing is a very real
by Tom Albanese’s Nevada Copper Corp east of the famous US mining town of Ye- re-initiation of exploration efforts and pro-
– is slated for later this year. Altan’s Venus rington. duction in this area.”
project shares a border to the south, with
the 16sq km property less than a mile from “We completed the IP survey, we’ve Nevada-based Bourne, a former chief
the main operational shaft. completed the drill targeting and we com- geophysicist for Barrick Gold Corp, recently
pleted our funding last week to allow us to spent time on the ground at Pumpkin Hol-
TSXV-listed Altan completed a $C1.2 go out and drill about 2,500m into what we low with Nevada Copper’s geologists and
million placement in early March, the sec- think is just a spectacular near-mine target,” said Altan stood to benefit from the work its
ond major milestone for the company in a Stephen said. neighbour was undertaking.
restructure which initially saw well-known
mining identity John Jones take over as “Having an opportunity to hit a target like “The geophysics has helped us realise
that in close proximity to an existing copper that there is potential there to target some-
Altan Nevada directors Paul Stephen mine really changes your dynamics. We thing which is similar in size and scope to
and Barry Bourne don’t know what we’re likely to hit there, but one of the mineralising systems with Ne-
certainly the surveys are showing there is vada Copper,” Bourne said.
room for a very large discovery.”
“The fault extends south into Altan Ne-
Nevada Copper raised almost $US400 vada’s ground and we can see surface ex-
million of debt and equity to put Pumpkin pressions of mineralisation both in soils and
Hollow into production and end a decade- in rock chips for all the elements that are as-
long drought for new copper developments sociated with those mineralisation outlines,
in the US. and they’re quite large.”

Jones and Stephen attended a presenta- – Michael Washbourne
tion by Albanese in early February and took
comfort from comments by the former Rio AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT APRIL 2019 Page 63

BATTERY MINERALS REVIEW

China plays hard to catch

Rather than lambast China as an emerging hub
for electric vehicle and battery manufacturing,
the panel assembled to close this year’s Battery

Minerals Conference praised the efforts of the
country for being ahead of the game.

The panel, which included Lithium “China has planned way ahead of first mover in this industry and I don’t
Australia NL managing director all us. Warren [Pearce] and I have dis- think you are going to be able to catch

Adrian Griffin, International Energy As- cussed building hubs in Australia, but up,” Pearce said.

sociation hybrid electric vehicle technol- we are behind the eight ball. The Kore- Australia’s advantage is having some

ogy collaboration operating agent Bert ans are ahead of us in terms of batteries of the best quality battery minerals in

Witkamp, Paydirt editor Dominic Piper, and Panasonic in Japan are too, so we the world, with the highly regulated min-

AMEC chief executive Warren Pearce have to catch up very quickly or just join ing industry in the country meaning how

and Western Areas Ltd managing di- the queue and make money,” Lougher materials are sourced is never in ques-

rector Dan Lougher, agreed precision said. tion.

planning by China had the country well “In my view, I’d rather make money Having been on the road for two

placed to embrace Industrial Revolution because that is what shareholders want. weeks and encountered some 60 meet-

4.0 and the rest of the world shouldn’t If shareholders want something differ- ings with investors across the world pri-

be surprised. ent – carbon emissions, sustainability or to the Battery Minerals Conference,

“It is more about what we are doing, measures – absolutely and we can do Lougher said the investment fraternity

we cannot blame China, they publicised that better than China, I agree, but noth- was a varied bunch.

their plan in a 700-page document and ing is going to change. The fundamental “New York hedge funds just want to

they are doing what they said they were economics of the world is that people make a buck and if they can make a

going to do,” Witkamp, said. will buy the cheapest vehicle they can.” buck out of cobalt in Congo or lithium in

Lougher, whose Western Areas has Australia’s journey into maximising its Perth they really have small memories,

strong links in Japan and China, said it potential out of its battery minerals has while the big sovereign funds like Black

needed to be understood that China’s only just started, but it is far from the Rock have to follow ethical sources be-

drive in relation to electric vehicles com- only country at the starting blocks. cause it is our money. Meanwhile, tril-

pared to the rest of the world was vastly “It makes sense to develop a battery lion dollar funds we have come across

different. source outside of China, yet, somehow have categorically told us that we need

Tesla has so far been the “pin-up” Europe and the US weren’t really invest- to have sustainability reports and that is

brand for EVs, with its futuristic designs ing in that space,” Pearce said. dominating factor,” Lougher said.

and functions appealing to a select au- “Over the last 12 months there’s been No matter the demands of investors

dience. processing plants start to emerge out- and markets, Witkamp believed China

As it stands, Teslas remain out of side of China, but the product is likely to had the ability to tailor its output to

reach cost-wise for the majority of the be sold back into China which is a little any conditions and didn’t expect a ma-

world’s population, a situation being bit strange but it is the simple reality of jor shift from the EU to match the new

rectified in China, according to Lougher. the dominance of China. world manufacturing sectors in China.

“China wants to provide EVs for its “It does concern me that still the EU, “If you ask China to deliver to the EU,

population to drive,” Lougher said. “Te- South Korea and Japan in comparison under certain conditions they will do it

sla was the pin-up boy in the day but to China are very slow to move and I tomorrow, they know exactly what to

“they are no longer going to be, the big- think there is a real advantage to being do and they will comply tomorrow and
gest manufacturer of EVs today probably do it better than we

is BYD and the biggest battery do. People in Europe think that

guys will be CATL [China].” Let’s not blame the changes the competitive field,
The cost of manufacturing Chinese; that is absolutely but it will not, it becomes a qual-
accurate. What we need to do ifier,” Witkamp said.
EVs, iPhones and other gadg-
ets is cheaper in China than in “I am also not optimistic that
most other parts of the world anything will change because
to be successful is get out there the EU is an old economy and
and it has the smarts to do so.

Australia is trying to get up and compete with them and you in discussions I hear nothing
the curve with what can be won’t do that unless you start is going to change that. We

achieved from its rich endow- will put more emphasis on the

ment of battery minerals, how- right at the raw material end of norms – climate impact, social
ever, it appears off the pace in the supply chain. licence – but all of it will be the

trying to compete with China. same; the EU does not invest in

Page 64 APRIL 2019 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

battery manufacturers. That is not going the only way to get energy security; to
to change; I don’t have any optimistic get energy security you have to break
view that that is going to happen.” China’s supply chain,” Griffin said.

Griffin said the fundamental prob- “Let’s not blame the Chinese; that
lem in Europe was developing its own is absolutely accurate. What we need
sources of materials to feed into precur- to do to be successful is get out there
sors, otherwise it faced a future tied to and compete with them and you won’t
China, particularly in the energy space. do that unless you start right at the raw
material end of the supply chain.”
Using Germany as an example, Grif-
fin said Angela Merkel had stated the – Mark Andrews
intention to replace nuclear and coal-
fired power with renewables backed up As is tradition with Paydirt conferences, a panel discussion to close the Battery
by battery gigafactories in the country. Minerals Conference was once again a highlight. Lithium Australia NL managing

“In respect to the energy security director Adrian Griffin, International Energy Association hybrid electric vehicle
policy in Germany, what they have suc- technology collaboration operating agent Bert Witkamp, Paydirt editor Dominic
ceeded in doing is building a battery fac-
tory that will be supported out of China, Piper, AMEC chief executive Warren Pearce and Western Areas Ltd managing
so there is fundamental problem with director Dan Lougher participated this year
policy. What Europe needs to do is de-
velop its own domestic sources of mate-
rials to feed into the precursors. That’s

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT APRIL 2019 Page 65

BATTERY MINERALS REVIEW

Lining up the graphite money

Syrah Resources Mulligan agreed
Ltd’s coming to with Flanagan, be-

market with its Bala- lieving that the first-

ma graphite material movers to market with

in Mozambique ap- stabilised customers

pears to have raised would be able to ab-

more questions than sorb price pressure in

answers about the the down cycle.

sector. To this end, Mul-

At 2 mtpa for name- ligan’s Walkabout

plate capacity of has taken a “grade is

350,000 tpa graphite king” approach with

concentrate for 95- Lindi Jumbo – 5.5mt

98% fixed carbon @ 17.9% TGC – and

concentrate across a hopes a modest sized

number of flake sizes, capex of $US27.8 mil-

Balama is the world’s lion will appeal to fi-

largest graphite mine. nanciers.

Full tilt seems to be “The real issue is

a way off at Balama that there are compa-

and while Syrah itself Paydirt editor Dominic Piper convened a panel dedicated to the battery minerals nies with market caps
would have preferred space in Africa. Battery Minerals executive chairman David Flanagan, Black Rock of $30-40 million try-
a smooth transition managing director John de Vries, Winmar chairman Jason Brewer and Walkabout ing to raise $80-100
into production, its million; that is the first
competitors in the executive director Allan Mulligan shared their thoughts hurdle I think,” Mulli-

field are equally keen gan said.

to see the massive “The funding tipping

project succeed. participate much in the new energy mate- point is going to happen when the demand

“Balama is not working well, but they rial space and we should ask a few ques- and supply equation changes, as we think it

are getting up the learning curve and we tions around why. We have found that the is going to happen, and China starts to be-

need Balama to work to validate the sec- African banks which understand Africa come a net importer. Then we will start to

tor,” Black Rock Mining Ltd managing di- and have that zest are really interested,” see prices rising to the 2012 graphite prices

rector John de Vries said. “Where we are Battery executive chairman David Flana- as buyers call it and that is when people will

sitting at the moment is that we hope that gan said. start to put their African risk in the back cor-

Syrah pulls it together and starts to stand While it is understandable that African ner and come to us.”

up.” banks have a greater understanding of European development agencies are

At steady state production, de Vries’ the investment climate in their backyard starting to position as potential sources of

Black Rock hopes to produce 250,000 than foreigners, Flanagan believes the financing for critical minerals projects, how-

tpa graphite concentrate from Mahenge, coming demand metrics of graphite sim- ever, the size of Walkabout’s project is too

Tanzania, the same jurisdiction where ply can’t be ignored. small for such institutions, according to Mul-

Walkabout Resources Ltd is pitching an “At the moment natural flake graphite ligan.

initial 40,000 tpa from Lindi Jumbo. demand alone is 700,000 tpa of which Flanagan said that Battery had enter-

Meanwhile, fellow East African-graph- 160,000 tpa going into batteries out of a tained visits from European delegations

ite hopeful Battery Minerals Ltd has de- total graphite market which is about 2.5 keen on participating at Montepuez in Mo-

signs on a 50,000 tpa operation in Mo- mtpa. Natural flake graphite is expected zambique, but wasn’t 100% certain that

zambique. to grow from 700,000 tpa to 6 mtpa [BMI development agencies out of Europe would

Although opting to start on a smaller forecasts], going on current forecasts and be well received in Africa.

scale than Black Rock, both Walkabout 3% growth in the industrial world. That “I think that could complicate things,” Fla-

and Battery have room to expand and means 20 Syrahs will need to come on nagan said.

satisfy the forecast demand for graph- line in the next 15 years,” Flanagan said. De Vries agreed.

ite, however, all three companies face “We are going to see volatility in price, “There is a fine line between develop-

the predicament of project financing in a unfortunately it is going to go very high ment aid and regressive colonialism,” de

volatile market. and scare a few people, but that is what Vries said.

Australian banks appear to have gone drives a normal commodity cycle where “My experience with EU and US strategic

cold on graphite companies, perhaps we see investment and an influx of sup- think-tanks is that they do a lot of thinking

waiting for Syrah to come good, which ply.” and not much acting. Until we actually see

may prove to be to their detriment in the The key to riding the commodity price some material action by either the EU or

long run. highs and lows will be maintaining good US, this is really an Asian game driven by

“Right now there are massive opportu- product quality and establishing good the Japanese and Chinese.”

nities to make money, but unfortunately customers and relationships. – Mark Andrews
the Australian banks have chosen not to

Page 66 APRIL 2019 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

AMEC sparks action

Since release of the report A lithium will form and if we are locked out, it will Warren Pearce
industry in Australia: A value chain be hard to break into,” Pearce said at
analysis for downstreaming Australia’s Paydirt’s Battery Minerals Conference. tionships with international partners to
lithium resources by Future Smart Strat- build on the technical expertise required
egies for AMEC member companies in “The opportunity for Australia is by to develop a fully integrated battery in-
January in 2018, industry and govern- 2025, a share of a $2 trillion industry; one dustry down under.
ment have upped the ante in realising of the quickest growth industries in the
Australia’s battery minerals opportunity. world and a hi-tech industry that is going “We have seen a little bit of engage-
to support the world economy.” ment from South Korea through POSCO
AMEC chief executive Warren Pearce involved with Pilbara Minerals [Ltd] and
has been instrumental in bringing both Pearce welcomed the WA and federal when it comes to US we are slowly start-
parties to the table and there appears to governments’ acknowledgement of the ing to see them become more engaged,
be progress being made, particularly in importance of battery minerals projects primarily through chemical processing
Western Australia. and the potential for downstream op- company Albermale,” he said.
portunities in Australia, but he called on
The WA Government’s Future Battery firmer commitments to be made. “We haven’t seen that engagement
Initiative and Geoscience Australia’s re- from the EU, like Germany and France,
port into critical minerals in Australia are “They’ve identified the need to priori- and we are seeing delegations come to
examples of the action taken since the tise these projects and we are getting an Western Australia and Australia and we
Future Smarts Strategies paper high- idea of what government can do without are encouraging our companies to travel
lighted the potential for Australia from the a lot of expense,” Pearce said. there to explore opportunities, particu-
estimated $2 trillion lithium value chain larly looking at those EV companies that
alone. “What you are not getting from those make up a big part of the international
programmes is a commitment for co-in- market.”
Of course, Australia’s battery miner- vestment or a commitment to subsidise
als opportunity is far greater than lithium or incentivise. So, what we need to move – Mark Andrews
alone, with significant value-add poten- things along quickly and take some costs
tial in commodities such as nickel, man- from businesses [is not there] at this
ganese, cobalt, vanadium, copper and stage and that is pretty much what you
the like. have at federal level as well.”

“In two years that [lithium] supply chain Meanwhile, Pearce encouraged Aus-
tralian companies to expand their rela-

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AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT APRIL 2019 Page 67

SITE VISIT

Hill shakes it up
at Cadoux

The innate connection of To this day, Cadoux locals in Western Australia’s rently undertaking pilot plant
animal and land meant that Wheatbelt vividly recall June 2 1979. testing in Kewdale, Perth,
the grazing cattle had a sense whereby 1kg/hour over a week

Mother Nature had something Cadoux, 200km east of Perth and will be processed and provide
freakish brewing. What transpired was 65km from Wongan Hills, may have been samples to market to potential custom-
WA’s second largest earthquake at a put on the map that June day, and if the ers.
magnitude of 6.1 on the Richter scale. ducks align for high purity alumina hope-
ful FYI Resources Ltd, the town maybe An update on pilot plant progress will
Albeit smaller and less devastating in the spotlight again for hosting a rare be made in the June quarter.
than the famous 6.9 magnitude Mecker- mining project.
ing earthquake of 1968, 146km away, the Success at pilot plant stage will be the
Cadoux earthquake remains nonethe- FYI has followed up the kaolin poten- impetus for FYI managing director Ro-
less significant in WA history. tial at Cadoux for a few years now and land Hill to ramp up discussions with po-
stands to be one of the most cost effi- tential customers and off-takers, which is
The Cadoux earthquake is a point of cient producers of Four Nines high purity now a diversified group.
intrigue for passers-by and the crack in alumina.
the earth’s crust left from the event is a Current demand for four nines (4N)
landmark locals are keen to highlight. Most of the world’s HPA originates HPA is about 27,000 tpa, driven largely
from bauxite via high intensity, multi-fac- by traditional usage in LED screens and
Fortunately, the only cracking thing for eted processes. sapphire glass. However, the importance
Cadoux and nearby farming communi- of HPA as a component in lithium-ion
ties recently has been bumper wheat Such is the nature of FYI’s Cadoux de- batteries – acting as a separator be-
crops and prices. posit, the company is proposing process- tween anode and cathode – is only just
ing a small amount of material on site be- beginning to be realised.
However, farmers in the region are fore transporting to Kwinana for chemical
wise enough to make plans for whatever processing. Demand is expected to tip 35,000 tpa
is Mother Nature’s next move and each in the next few years and FYI aims to
harvest is treated as delicately as the Thus far, the company has been suc- participate in the market and displace
last. cessful in producing 99.99% HPA from some of the common supply emanating
Cadoux at lab-scale and is now in the from bauxite operations, with a best-
The impact of drought has seen some throes of the most important milestone to case scenario of starting production at
farmers forced from their communities, date; proving it at pilot plant level. the Cadoux kaolin project in two years’
meaning the next generation of farmers time.
continues to shrink. Metallurgical consultant IMO is cur-

Page 68 APRIL 2019 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

Cadoux HPA project PFS 2018

Production: 8,000 tpa
(capacity to expand)

Grade: 99.99% HPA

Capital cost: $US178.8 million

Capital cost per tonne: $US22,344/t

C1 cost (average): $US6,467/t

Assumed selling price: $US24,000t

Annual average EBITDA: $US128 million

First phase operation revenue: $US190 million p.a.

NPV (10%): $506 million

IRR: 46%

Payback: 3.6 years

Operating free cash flow: $US91 million p.a.

Realistic HPA price assumption: $US24,000/t

There is a rail siding 1km from the Cadoux kaolin project

At the time Paydirt was hosted at Ca- finding in our trial work. rate through stockpiles.
doux, FYI had just started a 1,200m RC Obviously the capex is After beneficiating on site, FYI will
drilling programme to accomplish a num- an interesting one where
ber of feats, including garnering a better we think we can save a send material to Kwinana for refining.
understanding of the mineral variability; little, particularly on the “The WA Government support through
ground water investigations as part of power side,” Hill said.
the environmental studies; extracting a number of departments has been
feedstock for the pilot plant; defining the “In the PFS we origi- great. Our aim is to build an integrated
first phase feedstock material for specific nally allocated a bit for project within WA and that has got their
grade and mineralogy and providing fur- the connection to the grid attention. The second part is that we are
ther samples for analysis. power, but we are inves- building our refinery down in Kwinana to
tigating a couple of op- be part of the battery valley strategy that
It is essentially the fourth phase of drill- tions where we might be the Government is trying to build,” Hill
ing FYI is undertaking at Cadoux, as it able to reduce that. Cer- said.
closes in on a BFS due for completion in tainly there are efficien-
the September quarter. cies in operating where
we see we will be able to Roland Hill
FYI hit the trigger on the BFS immedi- shave off some capital.”
ately after positive outcomes of the PFS
last year. A power line runs along-
side the proposed pit and processing
The PFS indicated potential for 8,000 plant site at Cadoux, while a main road
tpa HPA production at cash costs and railway line are within 1km of the pro-
of $US6,467/t, delivering an NPV of ject and phone lines can be tapped into.
$US506 million over 25 years at a realis-
tic price assumption of $US24,000t. Pro- The Cadoux project occupies about
posed construction of the $US178.8 mil- 250 acres on a farm of about 4,000
lion project as indicated in the PFS was acres, so the footprint is expected to be
the fourth quarter of this calendar year. minimal.

“We think that we will be able to tighten Mining is not expected to be disruptive,
up on the operating costs marginally be- with FYI planning to mine 120,000t for
cause of some of the efficiencies we are 24,000t HPA and produce its annual run

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT APRIL 2019 Page 69

site visit

“We will be a proponent down there, is considered to be a growing market, A RC drilling programme of 1,200m to
but slightly differentiated to the lithium/ however, the near-term focus is commer- an average depth of 20m started towards
nickel refiners that are there, so we are cial viability of 4N HPA. the end of March
broadening their exposure in batteries
and also making it far more attractive in “We sent out [prior to Christmas] quite
their strategy.” a few test samples that have been well
received by customers. Customers come
There are few ASX players in the HPA in two parts, either the end customer or
game – Altech Chemicals Ltd, Collerina a trader and in some cases it can be a
Cobalt Ltd and Pure Alumina Ltd – are combination of both,” Hill said.
among the small contingent providing
domestic investors exposure to the HPA “The grade and quality is being very
opportunity. well received. What we are likely to try
and do now is a little bit more product
At the time of print, Pure Alumina testing to suit individual customers. It is
signed a binding agreement to acquire a little bit like an iron ore plant that is built
Canadian-based Polar Sapphire. The around the tolerances of iron ore feed.
proposal is for Pure Alumina to pay cash That is what they are trying to do, make
and shares totalling $27 million, a move sure it matches, but we do know the key
which would see it fast-tracked to be- market for us is that we can make it sig-
coming a five nines (5N) – 99.999% HPA nificantly cheaper than the current sup-
– commercial producer in 2019. ply which is from bauxite.

FYI is also investigating the potential to “On top of that, the bauxite supply is
produce the premium 5N product, which being disrupted so there is intermittent

Initial mine life at Cadoux is 25 years
Page 70 APRIL 2019 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

Reserves at Cadoux are 2.8mt
@ 24.4% aluminium oxide

supply which is also causing quality is- “Under the PFS – and it will probably
sues, grade issues which have been be confirmed in the BFS – the payback
diluted down a bit. So, end-users are period can be quite short, up to a couple
ordering a traditional product but not get- of years, and that is attractive to a num-
ting the grade that has been cut.” ber of sectors in the financing. In terms
of the basket of options we have, stand-
Post Paydirt’s visit to site, Hill headed ard debt and equity is one, but we also
to China for further discussions with par- have some interest from offtake groups
ties interested in what FYI could produce. that could fund a portion of that capital
upfront.
While China is a key market to tap, it
is not the only one out there, and neither “The Chinese are certainly interested,
are funding options for Cadoux limited, but there is also South Korean and Japa-
Hill explained. nese interest. There has also been some
interest in a JV at the project but that
“We do see an appetite for funding; it is means reducing the financing amount
not a huge amount of capex in compari- pro rata. We have a number of options
son to some other projects going around. appealing to the project and that is what
The couple of advantages we have is we are focusing now during our BFS pe-
that it is an extremely long mine life, so in riod.”
terms of a long-term financing arrange-
ment, I think that will be attractive. There – Mark Andrews
are a couple of interested parties we are
talking to, there are some mutual funds
that are interested too,” Hill said.

IMO is doing the metallurgy,
processing engineering and design at Cadoux

Hans op den Dries is handling project
development for FYI

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT APRIL 2019 Page 71

QUEENSLAND FOCUS

Queensland’s resources
sector goes ‘tropo’

There appeared to be a spring in the
step of Queensland’s Minister for
Natural Resources Anthony Lynham when

he spoke with Paydirt last month.

Lynham was bound for the opening largely to increases in coal and minerals. Lynham said he would seek clarification
of Rio Tinto Ltd’s $2.6 billion Amrun “We thrive on the basis that our coal on regarding the company’s position in
bauxite mine near Weipa, while Arrow Queensland.
Energy Pty Ltd had also just recently got is high-quality metallurgical coal and will
the go-ahead for the $10 billion Surat gas always be in demand. We also note that “I haven’t had the opportunity to speak
project – the biggest new resources pro- the recent reports in China that there is to Glencore directly, which I will do,” Lyn-
ject in Queensland for eight years. no major restriction on Australian coal ham said at the time of print.
imports, there is just a bit of a backlog to
“The impact is huge for the Queens- get through,” Lynham said. “Glencore, at this stage, continues to
land resources sector. Already we have be a major investor in Queensland re-
over 65,000 people employed here in “We feel that we are quite pleased with sources, both in coal and minerals, but I
Queensland in the resources sector. But, that recent announcement, of course will be having a personal chat with Glen-
in the past year there has been $9 bil- everyone was quite puzzled by the initial core shortly to ask them exactly where
lion worth of projects and 5,500 jobs on announcement, but I think things have they stand in Queensland. Again, I think
top of that added, so there is no shortage calmed down quite a lot and there is there has been some misinterpretation, I
of people coming in my office to discuss quite a back log to get through at some of have heard from the QRC [Queensland
new resources projects in Queensland,” the Chinese ports. It certainly hasn’t had Resources Council] some misinterpreta-
Lynham told Paydirt. an impact here in Queensland, even a tion about Glencore’s stance,” Lynham
short-term impact I haven’t noticed at all.” said.
Heavy investment in Queensland’s re-
sources sector comes on the back of the Heavy rains in February impacted coal “Any big player in the resources sec-
State reporting in March that exports had production in the State, with Australia’s tor in the State is always encouraged
surged to a new record of $82.8 billion – biggest exporter of thermal coal – Glen- and Glencore is one of the big players.
the third record month in a row. core – reporting its mines at Collinsville Glencore’s main impact in Queensland
and Newlands had been impacted. is in that minerals sector – in the north-
Queensland’s commodity exports ac- west minerals province near Mt Isa and
count for about 80% of the state’s total Earlier this year, Glencore announced Cloncurry – but it is still an important coal
exports, with the recent record attributed its intentions to “limit its coal production player here in Queensland.”
capacity broadly to current levels”, which

Page 72 APRIL 2019 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

The world’s largest airborne EM survey was flown over
Northern Territory and Queensland by Geoscience Australia

Potential new mineral and groundwater resources in the Northern Territory and Queensland have been
revealed by results of the world’s largest airborne EM survey. The survey indicated potential for new mineral
deposits including gold, copper, nickel, lead, zinc and manganese, as well as critical minerals such as cobalt,

platinum-group elements and rare-earth elements.

“The survey containing 60,000 line-km of data provides new insights into mineral-rich areas
in Northern Australia that have not been extensively explored previously,” Federal Minister for
Resources and Northern Australia Matt Canavan said. This is great news for Northern Australia,

offering enormous potential for the next generation of resource discoveries.”

The data has been well received, with 13 exploration companies already signed up to participate in infill flying
during the next survey, which will be acquired across an equally large area of the west of the NT and into
Western Australia.

Anthony Lynham Also important to the future of Queens- past what is reasonable. Adani would
land will be the Adani coal project, which have expected that they would have
has endured a stringent approvals pro- got their approvals and permitting done
cess at both state and federal level in the within 3-4 years. Other mines do it in that
past eight years. time.

The Adani project remains under inde- “I am not suggesting that things should
pendent environmental assessment plus just be rammed through but if you are go-
CSIRO assessment. ing to say ‘no’ say it, so these people can
go and do a project somewhere else and
“Adani is quite easy to explain; it has that will be Queensland’s loss, but you
to stack up financially, it has to stack up shouldn’t be going back and forth with
environmentally,” Lynham said. reviews,” Macfarlane said.

“It is normal process and we are en- The Adani situation doesn’t appear to
couraging Adani to work with the regula- have detracted interest from the State’s
tor.” resources sector, with mineral explora-
tion expenditure up 18% over the last
According to the QRC, 14,500 people year.
have expressed an interest in working at
the Adani project, with the organisation Coal (up 44%) and copper (40%) ex-
urging the Government to make a deci- ploration lead the charge, while expendi-
sion. ture for copper, silver, lead-zinc, nickel
and cobalt was up a combined 30%. Ex-
“I think the Government needs to penditure on petroleum was also up 39%
make up its mind if it wants to see jobs compared to the same quarter last year.
in Queensland,” QRC chief executive Ian
Macfarlane told Paydirt. Investment in exploration came despite

“In the end, this process has gone way

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT APRIL 2019 Page 73

QUEENSLAND FOCUS

Ian Macfarlane

the Fraser Institute indicating Queens- man Government where
land had slipped to No. 13 in investment there really wasn’t any en-
attractiveness. couragement for that new
exploration,” Lynham said.
“Exploration is going excellently and
the State Government is committing “We have started at the
strongly and supporting that area. We are ground floor, which is ex-
now seeing the best exploration figures ploration, but also with our
since 2011 when QRC started recording reforms to strike a correct
numbers in this area. There has been a balance between what the
surge in exploration; I think that reflects people in the bush want,
general confidence in the industry,” Mac- what companies want
farlane said. and what people all over
Queensland want. Hav-
According to Lynham, Queensland’s ing that balance between a
resources sector was in for a robust 12 strong resources sector and
months, with appetite for exploration in- also a resources sector that
creasing. does have a positive social
licence and enables it to ex-
“With the amount of exploration, new pand, grow and for people to
discoveries and the amount of interest I be employed is very impor-
see coming through my door, I see great tant for us as well.”
signs for the Queensland resources sec-
tor. When I first came into government in – Mark Andrews
2015 it was quite slow because we were
catching up from those years of the New-

Page 74 APRIL 2019 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

Sconi is located near the North
Queensland town of Greenvale, which

will be home to its predominantly
residential future workforce

Sconi adds new element Benjamin Bell
to Queensland energy

While much of Queensland’s re- Australian Mines managing director ly tight supply in cobalt sulphate. Sconi is
sources sector debates the poten- Benjamin Bell is conscious of the size of slated to produce 53,301 tpa nickel sul-
tial ramifications of a carbon-free future, the project but remains confident it can phate and 8,496 tpa cobalt sulphate over
Australian Mines Ltd is intent on carving be funded. its 18-year mine life.
a niche for itself in the new world of elec-
trification. “We’ve been speaking to the banks “The characteristics of the Sconi re-
since March 2018 and we are hopeful fi- sources, being able to produce high-val-
Australian Mines has been exploring nance will be in place by the end of the ue cobalt sulphate product alongside the
and developing the Sconi cobalt-nickel- financial year,” Bell told Paydirt. “We are larger scale nickel sulphate production,
scandium project 150km west of Towns- looking at two options; bonds and con- places our project firmly at the bottom
ville since farming into the project in Oc- ventional bank debt. It used to be that of the cost curve, which of course trans-
tober 2016. It has since ridden the battery you would likely get funding via bonds lates to greater future profitability and in-
minerals wave with all three commodities but that comes with rates of 15% ver- sulates us from potential nickel sulphate
having their own technology metals nar- sus 5-7% from the banks. We are trying price shocks,” Bell said.
rative attached to them. to find the cheapest debt not the quick-
est but with eight banks involved it’s like Interest in cobalt has eased over the
The company released a BFS on Sco- herding cats.” last six months but Bell said sharehold-
ni in November 2018, showing a project ers were still showing support for the
capable of generating annual revenue of In anticipation of finalising debt, the Australian Mines story. The company
$512 million and annual EBITDA of $295 company has been refining Sconi’s pro- raised $5 million through a placement
million. ject economics with an optimised BFS in February to sophisticated and institu-
due for release in May. Bell said the tional shareholders.
The biggest challenge for the $80 mil- optimised BFS was not crucial in lock-
lion market-capped company will be rais- ing away financing but would make the “It is always nice to get that support
ing the $US974 million needed to build project more attractive from a marketing from existing shareholders,” Bell said.
the three open pit, 2 mtpa project. perspective. “You never like to see the share price fall
but at the end of the day sophisticated
The company has also secured off- In February, an independent market investors don’t just hold Australian Mines
take for the first seven years of opera- study by consultants CRU International so they understand the broader decline
tion through a deal with Korean group confirmed Sconi as a likely first cost in the cobalt market but take a longer
SK Innovation. Under the terms of the quartile cobalt and nickel producer. term view.
agreement, SK Innovation will take 100%
of the battery-grade cobalt sulphate and The study forecasted a 1.3mt nickel “They can see EVs and electrification
nickel sulphate. sulphate supply gap by 2035 and similar- is the way the global economy is moving

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT APRIL 2019 Page 75

QUEENSLAND FOCUS

and if they get in early and they are look- Bell also intends to deploy cash on the mining and Sconi has been received pre-
ing at five year-plus horizons. The feed- company’s second nickel-cobalt-scandi- scribed project status, meaning it will be
back we receive is that they are looking um asset, the Flemington project in New fast-tracked,” he said. “Premier Palaszc-
for projects which have a chance of get- South Wales. zuk has referred positively to the project
ting into production so naturally they are in State Parliament and local govern-
looking at ours. They know it is four or “There is no point growing the Sconi ment sees the jobs we will be creating.
five years away but they just have to hold resource anymore so we can start look-
their nerve.” ing to advance the other projects,” Bell “Queensland has historically been a
said. “We will start drilling at Flemington mining state and everyone likes the EV
Bell said there was a discernible trend in the second half of 2019. By then Sconi theme we have.”
on the share register towards Northern will be a construction story and it will es-
Hemisphere investors. sentially be quiet from a market perspec- – Dominic Piper
tive for two years. So, the way to combat
“There is certainly more engagement that is to ramp-up another project.” Australian Mines will export
from the UK and German investors battery-grade cobalt and nickel
around the medium-term thematic for The Annastacia Palaszczuk Govern-
EVs,” he said. “The political debate in ment has had a complicated relationship precursor chemicals through
Australia is still on the fringes, in the EU with the Queensland resources sector the Port of Townsville, 250km
it has already broken through.” but Bell had plenty of praise for the in-
teraction Australian Mines had enjoyed. from Sconi by sealed road
While some of the funds from the re-
cent placement will be applied to Sconi, “We have got all the approvals for the

Page 76 APRIL 2019 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

Barry Harris

The revived Century mine has produced more than
50,000t of zinc concentrate since last August

Century on target

Akey milestone in the restart to the The introduction of airconditioned at the moment requires a fair bit of capi-
Century zinc mine was due to be real- cabins into the fleet was also improving tal to refurbish the rest of the process-
ised at the time of print with operations on the efficiency of the hydro mining opera- ing plant that’s there, put in some more
track to meet its initial nameplate target tions, Harris added, alleviating workers infrastructure down at the hydro mining
of 8 mtpa. from the sometimes 46C temperatures facility and bring on some additional peo-
recorded on the tailings dam. ple to help us execute all those works,”
Placed on care-and-maintenance by he said.
former owner MMG Ltd in early 2016, In mid-February, New Century report-
Century was brought back to life by New ed more than 50,000t of zinc concentrate “This just gives us the capability to run
Century Resources Ltd last August as had been produced from the mine restart straight on into that rather than having to
a tailings retreatment operation featur- and total zinc recoveries were now above pay for it all out of cash flow from the ac-
ing what is now Australia’s largest hydro 45% after some initial concerns. tual operations themselves. We have the
mining fleet. potential where payment might come the
“We’ve come on quite a long way in next month rather than this month, but of
It has been an at times slow but steady the last five months that we’ve been up course you still have the same outgoings
ramp-up for New Century given the lim- and operating, and we’ve got a lot more and bills, so it just smooths out our cash
ited in-country expertise for this style of improvement projects that we’re going to flow profile.”
mining, but the company believes it has be taking forward with us as we progress
ironed out any operational kinks and is through to more tailings throughput in the Expansion works will also include as-
now poised for a strong finish to FY2019. back end of the year,” Harris said. sessing opportunities to bring at least
10mt of in-situ resources into the produc-
“We’ve had the usual teething issues “Considering that at the start of 2018 tion profile. A PFS on a potential blended
that you would expect when you’re es- we were standing there with a feasibility feed is due in the coming months.
sentially starting Australia’s largest hy- study in our hands and myself and five
dro mining operation and you don’t have other blokes on the site, and by the back Geological studies to find out what
much in the way of Australian-based end of 2018 we had the country’s largest happened to the “missing” half of the
experience in that space,” New Century hydro mining operation up and running Century orebody remain ongoing, with
chief operating officer Barry Harris told and had produced 32,000t of zinc con- New Century recently awarded a drilling
Paydirt. centrate, we’re very, very happy with how grant by the Queensland Government to
it’s all gone and how it’s all played out.” continue its investigations.
“We learnt a lot of lessons in the be-
ginning, but we’re very happy with how Harris said plans to ramp up opera- “Previous companies thought it might
we’ve progressed and when you com- tions had been be aided by the “breath- have been displaced sideways, might
pare it to our peers in the mining industry, ing room” provided by a recent $100 mil- have been eroded, might have flipped
we’ve had a ramp-up that’s gone very, lion working capital facility from global over and been pushed further away, so
very well and all happened very quickly.” investment firm Värde Partners. all of their exploration was essentially
drilling to around the same sort of depth
With the recent addition of a third can- The Värde facility, which effectively as the existing Century orebody, 300-
non to its hydro mining fleet last month, extinguishes and replaces a previously 350m deep,” Harris said.
New Century will now look to further announced loan from National Australia
ramp up its operations to a 10 mtpa run Bank, is comprised of $60 million senior “If you look just north of the Century
rate before pushing the button on plans debt and $40 million junior debt. Harris pit, there’s actually a meteor impact
to achieve 15 mtpa by year’s end. said “lumpy” cash flows during the initial zone that goes down to a depth of about
months of operation meant a larger work- 650m…our thought process around it all
Harris said the company was progres- ing capital buffer was needed to ensure is that the other half of the orebody ac-
sively phasing out the South African New Century’s expansion plans could be tually slipped into that crater void and is
expat supervisors overseeing the hydro executed as planned. sitting at about 650m deep.”
mining fleet, with the local workforce now
ready to take charge of the operations. “The base-level study that we have on – Michael Washbourne

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT APRIL 2019 Page 77

QUEENSLAND FOCUS Galalar’s resource was recently
increased by 22% to 26.4mt of
Diatreme greater than 99% silicon dioxide

ticks over to silica

upgrade of the Galalar resource for the

coming months, with submission of a

mining lease application and some initial

feasibility cost estimates to also be un-

dertaken this quarter.

Given the current demand for premi-

um-grade silica for solar panels, Dia-

treme also intends to open discussions

with potential offtake partners and at-

tempt to lock in some early stage agree-

ments which could underwrite a develop-

ment and funding pathway for the project.

“The Chinese are scrambling to get

surety of supply because the growth

curves for their manufacturing are huge,

to try and meet the demand for solar pan-

els,” McIntyre said.

“We’ve been to see a number of their

plants and they’re all screaming for prod-

uct, trying to work around expansion

plans, but they need more corporatised

supply, so they need people like us and

arguably others who are perhaps in the

Diatreme Resources Ltd’s decision to Cape Bedford, where the resource was public company space who can make
offload its interest in one Queensland
asset is set to benefit an emerging silica recently upgraded to 26.4mt of greater regular supplies to them, hit these very
sands play it also holds in the State.
than 99% silicon dioxide, up 22% on the particular specifications and develop
The non-core Tick Hill gold project,
of which Diatreme held 75%, has been previous estimate. long-term relationships.
sold to Berkut Minerals Ltd for $562,500
worth of escrowed shares. Metallurgical test work has demon- “We see that market very much matur-

Diatreme is to also be refunded strated the premium-grade silica sourced ing, it’s undergoing quite an aggressive
$336,844 from the transfer of
environmental bonds to Ber- from Galalar is suitable for input into so- corporatisation process where the win-
kut.
lar panels – a growth market desperately dow is now open for the more corporate
While Diatreme does not
receive a huge cash injection seeking new supply, particularly in China. and commercial-style of supplier who
from the sale, removal of the
expenditure obligations as- can hit those very demanding
sociated with managing the
three tenements which make specifications, is environmen-
up Tick Hill will benefit the
company in the longer run, ac- tally compliant and can be a
cording to chief executive Neil
McIntyre. regular source of supply.”

“In the balance of our port- With the sale of Tick Hill
folio, we could see other pro-
jects that required us to focus on and likely to be completed next
really dedicate our capital, both in fiscal
and manpower terms, to get a maximum month, Diatreme will look on
return for shareholders,” McIntyre told
Paydirt. with interest as Berkut un-

“They [Berkut] are putting together a dertakes what is expected to
broader play regionally, so it made a lot
of sense to vend Tick Hill into that pro- be an aggressive exploration
cess and get some value out of it, reduce
our holding costs and other things so we programme at one of Aus-
can concentrate on our other Queens-
land asset.” Diatreme has sold its 75% interest in the Tick Hill tralia’s highest-grade gold
gold project to Berkut Minerals projects.
That other Queensland asset is, of
course, the Galalar silica sands project at Tick Hill was previously

mined between 1991 and

“They require a very particular specifi- 1995, producing 513,333oz at a recov-

cation of silica sand that not only has to ered grade of 22.6 g/t gold.

be very high purity silica, but very low in Armed with a solid bank balance total-

iron, less than 100 ppm, which is a very ling $4.9 million, Berkut recently appoint-

little trace element of iron,” McIntyre said. ed former Beadell Resources Ltd chief

“Our bulk testing tells us we can pro- Peter Bowler as chairman and geologist

duce that product out of our resource. Rob Watkins as managing director.

We are now understanding exactly what Berkut has also proposed changing its

we can produce there and we think, in name to Carnaby Resources Ltd to re-

terms of development opportunities, it’s flect the new direction of the company,

definitely appropriate for a company of having previously been focused on co-

our size to take this on and really transi- balt exploration in Scandinavia.

tion it through to mining.” – Michael Washbourne
Diatreme is already planning another

Page 78 APRIL 2019 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

Pure focus
on nickel

Queensland nickel is back on the agen-
da with development of a new refinery
in Townsville a step closer to fruition.

ASX-listed Pure Minerals Ltd has agreed

to acquire private company Queensland

Pacific Metals Pty Ltd (QPM) for 400 mil-

lion shares and $500,000 cash, subject to

a shareholder vote this month.

Upon completion of the backdoor list-

ing, QPM director and experienced nickel

laterite miner John Downie will join Pure’s

board.

QPM’s business model is akin to that of

Queensland Nickel’s with 600,000 tpa of

high-grade ore to be imported from New

Caledonia and pushed through a new

Townsville-based refinery capable of pro- QPM is collaborating with the CSIRO to optimise its processing flowsheet
ducing 25,000 tpa nickel sulphate, 3,000

tpa cobalt sulphate and a host of other bat- but big enough to be quite commercial and ing a pilot plant run of 20kg of ore imported
tery mineral-related products. something the industry up there needs.” from its future New Caledonian resource
base.
Downie – the one-time chief executive of According to a scoping study released in
Gladstone Pacific Nickel and former direc- January, a capex of $US297 million (plus Downie said there was no direct mining
tor of projects at Queensland Nickel – said $US65 million contingency) is required to risk associated with importing ore from
he, Robert Pearce and Andrew Matheson build the 600,000 tpa refinery in Towns- New Caledonia, about 2,100km east of
had got together several years ago and ville. The annual operating cost of the facil- Townsville, pointing to the success the
mulled over options to fill the void left in the ity is estimated at $108 million. likes of Queensland Nickel, POSCO and
market by the high-profile collapse of the Japan’s Nippon Yakin have enjoyed and,
Clive Palmer-owned nickel refinery. QPM has already signed ore supply in some cases, continue to enjoy from em-
agreements with two New Caledonian ploying the same business model.
“We were looking at life after Queens- mining partners for feed averaging 1.6%
land Nickel with the plant shutting down nickel and 0.17% cobalt. The contracted “We recognise that’s not going to con-
and how those tonnages were going to be minimum grade is 1.4% nickel and 0.15% vince the market sceptics that love to
replaced because there was definitely go- cobalt. have their own mine and want to do it all
ing to be a gap in the market that needed themselves and all that sort of stuff…but if
filling,” Downie told Paydirt. A PFS is slated for a June/July release, you look at each year by year, look at the
to be followed by further metallurgical test grades and quantities, it’s been tremen-
“We liked the idea of building a plant work using the DNi processing technology dously reliable, there hasn’t really been
in Townsville because there’s a lot of in- for which QPM has entered into a frame- any hiccups in supply,” Downie said
frastructure, a lot of really good, very ex- work agreement with proprietor Direct
perienced people, but more importantly Nickel Projects Pty Ltd. “We’re only talking about 600,000 tpa,
they’ve traditionally always imported ma- so we’re even more confident than any-
terial from Indo, the Philippines and New “We’ll bring 100t across from New Cal- body could be because it’s such a small
Caledonia, and it’s worked well. edonia and do a considerable process run quantity in terms of what they traditionally
after the PFS is signed off; we’ll be spend- export, and there’s minimal competition in
“We’re only looking at a fairly small plant,
ing quite a bit more capital to do

that work, and then the BFS,” that arena.”

Downie said. Some of the by-products the company

“What we’d like to do is be in a could earn credits for include hematite,

position in Q3 2020 to be rolling alumina and magnesium oxide. About

out the BFS and certainly by then 2,500 tpa of manganese will also be pro-

have a reliable offtake partner in duced, which ties in nicely with Pure’s

the show. Commissioning will be existing links to the mineral via its Battery

pretty straightforward because Hub project in Western Australia.

it’s not HPAL where it might take “Once we get our feet under the table,

you three, four, or five years to we’ll have a good look at those deposits

sort out all of the bugs.” and look at how they might fit in,” Downie

QPM has also been collaborat- said.

ing with the CSIRO on optimising – Michael Washbourne
its processing flowsheet, includ-

High-grade ore from New Caledonia will be fed

into the new Townsville-based nickel refinery

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT APRIL 2019 Page 79

REGIONAL ROUNDUP

AVZ raises the stakes

Interest is building in lithium hopeful AVZ end of this quarter. will also be factored into the feasibility
Minerals Ltd as the company inches clos- While the release of the DFS may slide study outcomes.
er to a decision to mine at its Manono pro-
ject in the DRC. into the new financial year due to unex- Ferguson said the company would seek
pected delays with some information being to increase the confidence of some in-
AVZ declared it is now fully funded to a reported back to the company, Ferguson ferred resources at Roche Dure over the
final investment decision after raising $15 said he was more concerned with making coming months.
million for current and upcoming activities, sure the final study document was 100%
in the process welcoming a new strategic accurate and suitable to be put in front of AVZ has been buoyed this year by a se-
investor to its register while an existing potential project financiers during the sec- ries of impressive drilling results from the
shareholder moved to boost its stake in ond half of the year. Carriere de l’Este prospect, including a
the company. headline intercept of 89m @ 2.01% lithium
The feasibility study will build on an un- oxide and 384 ppm tin.
As part of an oversubscribed placement reported scoping study which assessed
raising $9.8 million, new investor Lithium development options for 5 mtpa and 10 “Some of the grades there are just phe-
Plus Pty Ltd chipped in $3 million to grab mtpa operations at Manono. nomenal; we’re getting 20-30m @ 2%
an initial 3.46% interest in AVZ. Led by [lithium oxide] at surface within a broader
Chinese-Australian geologist Bin Guo, the A 2 mtpa development option will also 200m thick zone,” Ferguson said.
specialist lithium investment company has be considered, although Ferguson be-
close ties to the battery minerals industry lieves that may be too conservative for “This will be a world-class project in its
in China. AVZ given Manono already boasts a total own right and it will provide additional re-
resource of more than 400mt. source to us, not that we need it, so we
Existing shareholder Zhejiang Huayou stand by our original exploration target of
Cobalt Co Ltd – one of the DRC’s most The 2 mtpa study reported last October 1-1.2bt at somewhere around 1-1.5% [lith-
prolific cobalt chemical manufacturers flagged a $US150-160 million capex with ium oxide].
– increased its stake in AVZ to 9.49% by average cash costs of $US297/t. NPV was
subscribing to $1 million in the placement, estimated at $US1.79 billion with an IRR of “If this was sitting in Western Australia,
roughly 90%. it would have been found years ago and
would be owned by one of the major min-

AVZ has drilled 27,500m of diamond core at
its Manono lithium-tin project in the DRC

which complemented an earlier SPP col- “We could be conservative and go with ing companies, but it’s in the Congo and
lecting $5.2 million. the 2 mtpa project, but I think 5 mtpa is we’ve got to develop it from here, which I’m
probably the sweet spot for this project sure we can.”
AVZ managing director Nigel Ferguson given the size of it,” Ferguson said.
said the support from new and existing in- Ferguson said his company was unaf-
vestors indicated interest for the company “We’ve got 200mt of measured and indi- fected by the recent presidential elections
was high, particularly with discussions cated resources, so 200mt at 2 mtpa is a in the DRC which saw Felix Tschisekedi
around offtake soon to be accelerated. hell of a long time to be mining this deposit. succeed the long-serving Joseph Kabila
My general feeling is there’s a window of as leader of the country.
“We’re pretty keen on progressing this opportunity for this deposit which is prob-
project, given the Tier 1 status of it,” he told ably in the order of 30-50 years until new “We’re very comfortable with the fact we
Paydirt. technology is brought on board. have the rights to our licences, there’s no
risk there whatsoever, and we can move
“These investments open doors into “Scaling the project up is probably some- these projects forward,” he said.
China more than anything else in terms of thing we would look at doing. Whether we
what they can bring to the table. I’m keen do it immediately and go for 5 mtpa or 2 “We’ve got a very good relationship with
to talk to them about offtake funding, so mtpa, we’ll find out after those 5 mtpa and our JV partner Cominiere and very good
we’ll be looking to get to know these guys 10 mtpa scenarios come forward. The 10 links through to senior government levels
a bit better.” mtpa I think would probably be a bridge too in both Kinshasa and, most importantly, in
far, but you never know with what’s hap- the Tanganyika province that we’re operat-
Backed by its strong cash position and pening with the market.” ing in.”
with no further drilling planned for the key
Roche Dure deposit, AVZ will look to wrap Potential recoveries of tin and tantalum – Michael Washbourne
up a feasibility study on Manono by the

Page 80 APRIL 2019 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

AFRICA

Chengtun Kalongwe, however, its efforts to finalise feedstock from Kalongwe would prove vi-
snaps up terms with a series of potential debt provid- tal over the long run.
ers were stymied by changes to the DRC
Nzuri mining code and the subsequent presiden- “Our ore has got huge advantages,
tial elections. whether as a concentrate or even as an
Nzuri Copper Ltd’s quest to secure fund- ore, because they’re currently buying arti-
ing for its Kalongwe copper-cobalt pro- “It was like a perfect storm, we got the sanal ore by the bag,” Smits said. “They’ve
ject has ended with a juicy cash takeover double whammy,” Arnesen said. designed their plant to be expanded. Eve-
proposal from a major Chinese player in rywhere you look there is room for this
the DRC. “When the new mining code came along, thing to grow in multiple directions.”
that really slowed down the process. We
Pending a successful shareholder vote didn’t lose any parties, but we had to ex- According to the updated DFS released
in July, a subsidiary of Chengtun Mining plain the impact of the mining code and, of last April, development of an initial open pit
Group Co Ltd will acquire all the issued course, that took a long time because we and 1 mtpa DMS plant spitting out 18,657
shares in Nzuri for an all-cash considera- still didn’t have total certainty in respect to tpa copper and 1,370 tpa cobalt (based on
tion of 37c/share. how that would impact our project funding. an eight-year operating life) would require
a capex of $US53 million. Cash flow from
Chengtun is a major player in the Kol- “We then got ourselves to a position those operations was then to be directed
wezi region which hosts the Kalongwe pro- where we were progressing again, but towards construction of a $US220 million
ject, having just finished construction of a along came the elections and every debt SX-EW circuit for processing of DMS-gen-
$US150 million SX-EW processing facility provider, almost in unison, put their hands erated mineralised rejects and cobalt-only
with a specialised cobalt hydroxide circuit. up and said, ‘look we’re not pulling up ore.
stumps, but we want to wait until we see
Nzuri’s board has unanimously recom- the election results’. So, from a timing point While both Arnesen and Smits are
mended the company’s shareholders ac- view, it did prove to be quite challenging pleased to have struck a deal with Cheng-
cept the offer from Chengtun, in the ab- and very frustrating.” tun, their feelings are somewhat bitter-
sence of a superior proposal. sweet at not being able to oversee full
Nzuri is maintaining a “business as usu- development of the project they rescued
Chengtun popped up on Nzuri’s radar al” approach to pre-development activities three years ago.
in 2017 as a potential offtake and funding at Kalongwe with construction of the main
partner and discussions around strategic access road to the project the No.1 priority “What we’ve done with the project has
co-operation have remained ongoing ever for the company on site. The 2019 explora- been largely satisfying, it’s a shame we’re
since. tion programme is also set to kick off this not building it,” Smits said. “Turning what
month. was really just a scoping study into a
Nzuri chief executive Mark Arnesen said proper, auditable feasibility study to plus or
while the company was keen to fund and Any addition to the 302,000t copper and minus 10% with a FEED, that’s not a bad
construct Kalongwe in its own right, the of- 42,700t cobalt resource at Kalongwe will effort for a junior.”
fer from Chengtun was too good to knock be beneficial for Chengtun, which is seek-
back. ing to expand the capacity of its 10,000 tpa Arnesen added: “The restructuring of
copper and 3,000 tpa cobalt processing the project ownership and getting rid of
“You can only make a decision based facility. some of the various potential litigation is-
on what you know at the time and we be- sues in country and in Australia, I’m really
lieve in doing this it accelerates returns Nzuri chief operating officer Adam Smits proud of how we did that.”
to shareholders,” he told Paydirt. “Don’t said with Chengtun looking to specifically
get us wrong, we obviously believe in the triple its copper processing capacity, any – Michael Washbourne
quality of our assets, but a transaction just
brings forward a lot of that value.” Nzuri is poised to accept an all-cash offer from Chengtun
for the Kalongwe copper-cobalt project in the DRC
Chengtun’s offer represents a 42% pre-
mium to Nzuri’s closing share price when
the proposed takeover was announced to
the market in late February, as well as a
64% premium to the company’s 30-day
VWAP.

As part of the deal, valued at just under
$110 million, Chengtun will provide Nzuri
with an interim loan of up to $5 million for
ongoing pre-development activities at Ka-
longwe, meaning a separate $3 million fa-
cility from major shareholder Tembo Capi-
tal is now unlikely to be drawn.

Nzuri has been undertaking project fi-
nancing discussions since late 2017 fol-
lowing the release of a robust DFS on

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT APRIL 2019 Page 81

REGIONAL ROUNDUP AFRICA

BFS insight for Cardinal

It has been a long time since Cardinal Re- both in South America. and Thomas will serve Cardinal well in de-
sources Ltd managing director Archie Ko-
imtsidis has spent any significant amount Therefore, it is no surprise that Gold fying some of the scepticism people have
of time in Perth, however, the need for him
to be connected to the company’s head- Fields Ltd has shown an interest in Cardi- about explorers taking on production am-
quarters is now crucial.
nal and currently holds over 11%. bitions.
Cardinal is at the pointy end of a BFS
into the Namdini gold project, north-east- Just like any other investor on the reg- “For this scale of project, we have the
ern Ghana, which is expected to be com-
pleted in Q3. ister, Gold Fields’ position in Cardinal has right people,” Koimtsidis said.

A PFS released to market in September been bought on-market. Ghana’s rich gold history has stemmed
was based on a throughput of 9.5 mtpa to
treat an ore reserve of 4.76 moz gold from Koimtsidis said that Cardinal was not from operations in the country’s south, far
129.6mt @ 1.14 g/t gold (0.5 g/t cut-off) at
Namdini. “closed” to any discussions on the future from the northern fields where Cardinal

At a gold price of $US1,250/oz, payback of Namdini and consideration to its de- is marking its territory. It occupies a large
may only take 1.8 years, with AISC on a
starter pit estimated at $US599/oz, while velopment path would no doubt intensify landholding, seemingly abundant with

life-of-mine AISC would be $US769/oz. once results of the BFS were announced. shallow, high-grade gold mineralisation.
A pre-tax cash flow of $US1.4 billion
A partial sale, full sale or JV agreement While the drill bit is hardly exciting Aus-
was given in the PFS, with post-tax NPV
(5% discount) of $US586 million and post- could become potential options for Cardi- tralian investors in general, ASX/TSX-
tax IRR of 38%.
nal, however, for now Koimtsidis said, the listed Cardinal will look to defy the market
Development costs for Namdini, which
was discovered in 2015, are estimated to company needed to head in the direction once again and attempt another world-
be in the range of $US414 million.
of building the project and adding value for class gold find.
While the global gold market appears to
be fixated on the spate of major consoli- shareholders. Koimtsidis said the Australian market
dations in play, a lesser known fact is that
there are few projects representing the A highly anticipated BFS on Cardinal’s Namdini was perhaps another 12
scale of Namdini trekking down the devel- project is scheduled for completion in Q3 months away from taking an
opment path at the moment. interest in exploration and

Koimtsidis told Paydirt that in addition drilling activity, however, the
to Namdini, there were two others of simi-
lar scale in the world that he was aware of, company won’t stand still and

will continue to pace its drill-

ing activities looking for high-

grade, shallow gold potential

in Ghana.

While exploration activ-

ity heats up in other West

African jurisdictions such as

Cote d’Ivoire, Koimtsidis said

Cardinal would remain fo-

cused in Ghana.

“If we were to expand it

would be in the Upper East

region [of Ghana]. We have a

tight grip on the geology and

plenty of existing opportunity

in Cardinal’s land package,”

Koimtsidis said.

An example of the pro-

spectivity Cardinal is dealing

with comes from within the

To this end, Koimtsidis said a coup for Ndongo prospecting licence where the

the company had been adding the likes Ndongo East discovery is standing out.

of Ken Thomas and Trevor Schultz to the Post the wet season, Cardinal reported

board as non-executive directors. 14m @ 7 g/t gold from 69m, including 2m

In recent times, Schultz, a mining vet- @ 42.2 g/t from 80m at Ndongo East ear-

eran with more than 45 years’ industry lier in the year.

experience, was responsible for the build The latest result followed previous high-

of Centamin Egypt’s 12 mtpa processing grade gold intersections from Ndongo

plant, which has a similar flowsheet to East, including 9m @ 23.3 g/t from 60m,

Cardinal’s proposal at Namdini. 7m @ 4.4 g/t from 14m, 6m @ 12.6 g/t

Meanwhile, Thomas enters the fray at from 2m and 3m @ 29.3 g/t from 45m.

Cardinal after project development, con- Gold mineralisation has been demon-

struction and operations expertise honed strated over a strike length of 1.2km, with

with the likes of Kinross Gold Corp, Bar- drilling ongoing to determine strike and

rick Gold Corp and Anglo Americas plc depth extensions at Ndongo East, which is

during a 45-year mining career. 24km north of Namdini.

The expertise and success of Schultz – Mark Andrews

Page 82 APRIL 2019 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

4 - 6 September 2019
Perth,Western Australia

PRESENTERS INCLUDE:

John Welborn Julian Hanna Tim Carstens Archie Koimtsidis John de Vries
Managing Director & CEO Managing Director Managing Director CEO & Managing Director CEO & Managing Director
MOD Resources Ltd Base Resources Ltd
Resolute Mining Ltd Cardinal Resources Ltd Black Rock Mining Ltd

Tom Revy Trevor Benson David Flanagan Len Kolff Justin Tremain
Managing Director Executive Chairman Managing Director Chief Operating Officer Managing Director
BlackEarth Minerals NL Walkabout Resources Ltd Battery Minerals Limited IronRidge Resources Ltd Exore Resources Ltd

Craig Mackay Phil Edmands Mike Christie Chris Evans William Witham
Managing Director Partner - Energy Resources Director - Exploration Managing Director Chief Executive Officer
Golden Rim Resources Ltd First Quantum Minerals Ltd
Gilbert + Tobin Birimian Ltd AAMEG

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AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT MARCH 2019 Page 83

regional roundup LATIN AMERICA

Meteoric’s Brazilian
crusade

Crusader Resources Ltd’s fight for sur- “I said to them I felt gold was the way to the prolific Alta Floresta belt which has
vival has received a massive boost go, given my own personal experience, produced more than 7 moz gold to date.
with Meteoric Resources NL set to take so we’ve been on a worldwide search.
the high-grade Juruena gold project in We’ve reviewed over 50 projects, both “Novo Astro could be anything; it’s
Brazil off the distressed junior’s hands. desktop and/or field visited, on every 15sq km of artisanal workings, an enor-
continent except for Antarctica. mous soil anomaly and then multiple
Meteoric will acquire Juruena at the very high-grade grab samples, but that’s
neighbouring Novo Astro project, in the “I think the timing was perfect. Through the limit of the exploration,” he said.
central Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, no fault of the projects they’ve got, Cru-
in a deal worth $3 million, including $1 sader desperately needed money and “The Alta Floresta belt is going nuts at
million cash upon completion of the sale. we were in a position to make a cash of- the moment. Anglo American announced
fer, at least in part, and cash is king for a porphyry discovery there last year and
Crusader will also receive $500,000 them at the moment. subsequently picked up 1.9 million hec-
worth of escrowed Meteoric shares plus tares, all around what was the Crusader
two further share tranches valued at “It’s the right size for us. It’s not a multi- ground. We think that is a fantastic en-
$750,000 apiece, to be issued upon the million ounce thing that’s going to require trée into a potentially Tier One world-
new owner defining at least 400,000oz of enormous capex, it’s a small bonanza class deposit.”
resources at Juruena and/or Novo Astro, grade project. I’m over the moon about
followed by a decision to mine at either this acquisition. This is just a stunning Meteoric plans to initially run geophys-
project. deal for Meteoric and will completely re- ics over the Novo Astro property and
vitalise the company.” has employed new geological and min-
It has been a torrid 18 months for Cru- ing services group Target Latin America
sader which began with a failed merger Meteoric is looking to raise up to $3.39 – led by former Orinoco Gold Ltd execu-
targeting a dual listing on London’s AIM million to fund the acquisition costs and tives Marcelo de Carvalho and Klaus Pe-
exchange as it sought development fund- its immediate plans for both projects, in- tersen – to assist with that process.
ing for its 2.4 moz Borborema gold pro- cluding an upgrade of the 1.3mt @ 6.3 g/t
ject in north-east Brazil. gold for 261,000oz resource at Juruena. Tunks is also close friends with former
Crusader managing director Rob Smak-
While Crusader did eventually float on Juruena’s resource is comprised of the man, who has already provided valuable
AIM in its own right, it left the exchange high-grade Dona Maria and Querosene insight into both projects.
earlier this year after encountering seri- deposits (436,000t @ 14.7 g/t gold for
ous financial trouble. The company’s 205,000oz) and the larger-tonnage, low- Having also consulted to Orinoco prior
new board and management is desper- er-grade opportunity at Crentes (846,000 to that company developing what is now
ately trying to recapitalise the business @ 2 g/t for 55,000oz). the Cascavel gold mine, Tunks is no
with a sole focus on Borborema, making stranger to Brazil and plans to draw on
Juruena and Novo Astro surplus to its re- “The bulk of the resources are still in the lessons learnt from that “challenging”
quirements and a quick sale mandatory. inferred, so I think there’s an immediate experience”.
opportunity for us to go in and drill within
Juruena and Novo Astro appear a the resource boundaries and increase “I observed what happened there and
good fit for Meteoric, which had been the confidence to get it into indicated,” I think I’ve learnt a hell of a lot from that
undertaking a global search new project Tunks said. process and that project and I think we’ll
opportunities following a series of mod- be taking a subtly different approach as
est results from its cobalt exploration as- “Crusader have done a PEA, it’s very we go forward,” he said.
sets in Canada. positive, but because the resources are
in inferred they weren’t allowed to re- “I think we all learned some serious
“We’ve worked those assets pretty lease the results, so that’s another rea- lessons about trying to do things when
hard, but we have just not been success- son to go in and upgrade and increase you’re undercapitalised. What I will say
ful, so I approached the board about six the resource straight away.” is it didn’t put me off Brazil, I still think it’s
months ago and said, ‘guys, there’s a lot a fantastic place to explore and there’s
of risk here and we have to diversify’,” Having just returned from a due dili- many great juniors doing great work
Meteoric managing director Andrew gence trip to Brazil, Tunks is also ex- there.”
Tunks told Paydirt. cited about the potential of the undrilled
Novo Astro project, which is hosted on – Michael Washbourne

Page 84 APRIL 2019 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

ALMAALEMTARETIRINICINCAA www.latintaimnaemriecra15-16 May 2019
Perth,Western Australia
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ThTeheprpePremer1mti5hei,r-eW1rfo6eforsMtureumramnyfAof2our0rsAt1Ar9uaulsisattrraa“lliiaann-“-LLaattiinnAAmmeerirciacnanrerlealtaioti“nosnsSPEAKERS INCLUDE:MHiniostne.rRoafGNpuhaytauaernalalTRreoPstoamjuyoarcdbneisri,nt ccoDSrTnMerer.acatinArintensildifnetnuoaegxrrgeamyOansnotaldihdtfvtriooeGeeMnierVpdi,aoniBloeldaorriatgaagzflyaniol,lrammfaoMzSrsien.tchCgreeaAtrasrogreyleinoncaftoiMnSsnaáotinnPimnicaneehyTgjneodch,ztbirserett/siodrneceIioblmgchciVsnlNriaoedioiettcndnaeiinaeenfiTatfnnsfttixeDnuoPeihhg,rnptrdenrareoeoeweegoesvacDfnasosnhtliomtiCdthceldupMhceomlsveeoeyrpeerGeeieesdlepnn.osove”lopwotioauirrmtnennlt–hentpPacgeiaruzbanerimatocInaeolnifAnlyllageulolesmieytagLtsarnarezymfoermasdtrnrrmo,ntettfotoaideiuocoafonmzakoylmnrhimbiAkrentAoalexgtmewlkhutpwdHpeteeseaoloiortsraamsriinegrcMcaWek.paeealgniieBeonnnt.acrsidirdeesltcatletasaPoneJrnetudnroottnhftfrALomoontrurarlesmieestMtepitueoensrwwrimtanene.iA”lienet,sitMTalhmgs–telhhsLnkteEereAdhtnewrmaeeimdoactifbetlwiVaielvhnaly.einee.csir.ttwgse
“ The premier f “JPoreecssoLidoonewmtnirtney, ecnrtesd/riebgleioenExxspeN,ocwiusctkhuivMereerDaetiirnhteehcorteouyrr, amrearakbelteDpZieltraeonccotgenoer.WtPorozjneicatks,meettkhMneaondTwaoegnnliyencggRooaDuvtiriineroactnrtoiser,sfr.oOmursClmMihgarehinseatttlgiyaiinnnlggeEsDsassirteecrtdoary,
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M 19 AmManaging Director,
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LATIN AMERICA

Metminco and Andes
smell the roses

Andes Resources has some 800sq km of ground in Colombia. An estimated
40 moz gold has been discovered within 30km of Andes’ concessions

After four years of accumulation, pri- 51% in a project involving AngloGold and son said: “The acquisition of Andes gives
vate concern Andes Resources Ltd its control of a potential near-term produc- Metminco not just further exposure to a
has been built a land package in Colombia ing asset at Miraflores (877,000oz gold large exploration portfolio in the Mid-Cau-
other juniors would find hard to come by resource) are being weighed down by a ca gold belt of Colombia, but also access
now that the floodgates to exploration are debt to RMB, which is perhaps reflected to an experienced board, management,
starting to open. in a share price of 0.2c and market cap of and a new shareholder base of influential,
$2.4 million. experienced and financially strong share-
The multiple exploration assets com- holders,” Wilson said.
piled by Andes are not yet drill-ready, but Enter Andes.
their potential gold-rich endowment would The Jason Stirbinskis-led company had “Together with our Quinchia gold pro-
compliment a suite of more developed pro- been contemplating its future, which in- ject [Miraflores, Tesorito, Chuscal] we
jects. volved staying in its current shape, launch- now have two exploration camps that we
ing an IPO or RTO. Discussions with Met- believe offer near-term development po-
Enter Metminco Ltd. minco arose and before long – six weeks tential. Along with the favourable restruc-
A DFS on Metminco’s 457,000oz Mira- of serious consideration – a non-binding ture of our existing repayments to RMB,
flores project was completed in 2017, with indicative offer for Metminco to acquire the transaction brings enhanced financial
the company completing and on track to 100% of Andes off-market was agreed. capacity enabling us to substantially defer
submit an environmental impact study in Due diligence from both parties was in debt repayments thus maximising capital
Q3. Meanwhile Tesorito – 253m @ 1 g/t progress at the time of print, with the aim of towards exploration activities.”
gold from surface starting at 2.9m, includ- having the deal “done and dusted” before
ing 64m @ 1.67 g/t from 144m – is an the end of the financial year. A proposed conversion of $2.5 million
enticing porphyry prospect in Metminco’s The ASX has confirmed that Listing of repayments due to RMB into equity in
portfolio. Rule 11.1.3 does not apply to the transac- Metminco at a price of 0.3c/share, with im-
Furthermore, Chuscal, 2km from the tion and given there will be no material im- proved payment terms for the final $2 mil-
proposed Miraflores plant, is considered pact on Metminco, the merger has been lion due to RMB should ease Metminco’s
a world-class target given Metminco and exempt from chapters one (admission) and immediate debt burdens.
AngloGold Ashanti Ltd entered a JV over two (quotation) of the process, resulting in
three licences. At the time of print, Metmin- time and cost savings of about $300,000- As a condition of the merger, Metminco
co announced EL applications at Chuscal 400,000. will raise $4 million (Metminco share-
would be granted in the next two months, Commenting on the proposed merger, holders offered $1 million priority), while
with drilling imminent. Metminco executive chairman Kevin Wil- the company was in the throes of raising
Unfortunately, Metminco’s earning of $750,000 in aid of the merger.

Once all details of the merger are sat-

Page 86 APRIL 2019 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

For a number of reasons Colombia has been shut off to exploration
for decades, however, the gold potential is undeniable

isfied, the combined Metminco entity, of can investment community, particularly for
gold plays with a quick pathway to produc-
which Stirbinskis will be managing director tion.

and Wilson remain as chairman, will have The connectedness of South America
and North America has seen some ASX-
a cash balance of listed companies go down the path of a
Canadian listing and while there is merit in
$2.5 million. the opportunity, Stirbinskis said Metminco
would remain on the ASX.
Speaking to
Therefore, Stirbinskis has the task of
Paydirt last connecting Australian investors with the
Metminco story and Colombia itself.
month, Stirbin-
Currently, there are some 700 multina-
skis said Andes’ tional companies active in Colombia, which
is flourishing in the exports of coffee, flow-
shareholders, in- ers, sugar, textiles, ferronickel, emeralds,
gold, platinum, coal and oil.
cluding Sandfire
Tourists are also flocking to the country
Resources Ltd – Colombia was voted behind only Canada
as the place to visit in the 2017 Lonely Plan-
(19.45%), were et – and it appears mining companies are
not far behind.
right behind the
Newmont Mining Corp recently com-
deal. mitted $US50 million to a $US175 million
financing package for Continental Gold
“Sandfire has Inc, which will see the Buriticá gold mine
through to first gold pour in early 2020.
endorsed the
Buriticá – 828,870t @ 14.15 g/t gold
merger and takes and 22.9 g/t silver for 377,000oz gold and
611,000oz silver (measured and indicated)
the view that – will be Colombia’s next mine of scale and
is about 150km north of Quinchia.
Metminco is very
Meanwhile, Canadian company Royal
complimentary to Road Minerals has recently acquired
2,000sq km of ground containing some drill
our package. An- ready targets from AngloGold, as the latter
focuses on three of its more advanced pro-
des has compiled jects in Colombia, where a mining royalty of ing out of decades of slow exploration and
3.2% and a tax rate of 34% applies. now with new technologies, which can also
a cohesive parcel be applied to existing discoveries, it just
“That’s a big deal for Royal Road and it might show us something significant.”
over four years was announced at about the same time as
our merger. Andes has a fraction of ground Stirbinskis said that recent community
and has done that Royal Road has, so they will have their consultations concerning Chuscal were
hands full,” Stirbinskis said. positive and he was excited by the poten-
multiple deals to tial of a maiden drilling programme at the
“Political and personal risk has retarded project soon after the merger is completed.
do so; it would be growth and exploration, but Colombia is be-
coming a real hotspot. It is a country com- “We’ve known about Chuscal and its at-
impossible for a tractiveness for a long time; it is a shining
light in the region and Metminco’s involve-
junior to do what ment triggered our interest. We are neigh-
bours so we’ve talked a fair bit,” Stirbinskis
we have done said.

and that is com- “When we started talking about our syn-
ergies and opportunities to combine our
pile 800sq km of portfolios it made sense. Metminco has far
less ground than us, but has a reserve with
ground in one of granted leases. We have lots of ground, but
nothing drill-ready at the moment so there
the most prolific gold belts in the world,” is upside and we are very complementary
to each other.”
Stirbinskis said.

“Now we have critical mass that appeals

to the bigger institutions and corporates. It

makes so much sense to do it, particularly

in the junior space, and while our projects

look really, really good, the common feed-

back has been that we are not big enough

for the institutions and corporates.”

Having attended PDAC, which really

started the ball rolling for Andes and Met-

minco, Stirbinskis said the shackles were

starting to loosen within the North Ameri- – Mark Andrews

A merger between Metminco and Andes would consolidate dominant
positions in Colombia’s prolific Mid-Cauca gold belt

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT APRIL 2019 Page 87

regional roundup LATIN AMERICA

Brazil kick-starts
efforts to

mine indigenous
reserves

Brazil’s Government wants to Brazil’s 1988 constitution
enact rules that allow mining states that mining can only be
in indigenous reserves which oc- conducted in indigenous areas
under rules approved by Con-
cupy 13% of the country’s territo- gress that ensure the indigenous
communities benefit, and not by
ry and hopes it can get Congress any type of presidential decree.

to reconsider a decades-old pro- But Congress never estab-
lished such rules, effectively pro-
posal to do so, a Mines and En- hibiting the practice.

ergy Ministry official told Reuters. Congress can reactivate a
legislative effort that has existed
Mining Secretary Alexandre since the 1990s that would lay
out rules to mine indigenous re-
Vidigal de Oliveira was asked to serves, Oliveira said.

clarify comments made in March “Since 1996, there’s been a bill
regarding this. Back then there
by Mines and Energy Minister was a scenario where this dis-
cussion didn’t awaken interest,”
Bento Albuquerque, who said he said.

while visiting the US and Canada “Today we need economic
growth, so it makes more sense
that Brazil would seek to open in- to debate this as it is necessary
to open up new areas for Brazil to
digenous reserves to mining. produce wealth.”

Albuquerque’s remarks Oliveira declined to give a time-
line for pushing the bill through
sparked an angry response Congress, saying it was at the
legislature’s discretion and Bol-
from indigenous advocates, who sonaro must prioritise items on
his legislative agenda.
said it was disrespectful after
Separately, the Government
the country had just suffered its will seek to end a prohibition
on foreign companies holding
largest-ever mining disaster that controlling stakes in mining op-
erations within 150km of interna-
killed hundreds in January. tional borders, Oliveira said. That
law is a holdover from Brazil’s
The Indigenous Missionary 1964-1985 dictatorship when the
government feared foreign en-
Council said it “repudiated, with croachment on its borders.

vehement indignation” Albu- That move would require Con-
gress to approve reducing the
querque’s proposal and blasted 51% minimum domestic owner-
ship for mining enterprises oper-
the administration of right-wing ating in the border zone, he said.

President Jair Bolsonaro, who – Jake Spring, Reuters

assumed office on January 1 and

has pledged to open more of the

country to mining.

“By globally humiliating indig-

enous peoples of Brazil, the Bol-

sonaro Government humiliates

the very Brazilian nation,” it said

in a statement.

Oliveira defended mining in-

digenous reserves in an envi-

ronmentally sustainable manner

as bringing needed economic

growth.

“We are talking about explora-

tion to generate riches for all, in-

cluding indigenous peoples, and

also the well-being of Brazilian

Indigenous reserves occupy 13% of Brazil’s territory society,” Oliveira said.
Page 88 APRIL 2019 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

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Paydirt deputy editor Mark Andrews at Hot Chili Ltd’s San Antonio project, Chile in 2018

regional roundup

Canterbury’s tales of
porphyry discovery

The market for junior explorer floats is the political risk associated with the re- paused while Rio Tinto handles technical
still pretty rough but other fundamen- gion – dried up. issues. Craighead was confident drilling
tals drove Canterbury Resources Ltd to would restart midyear by which stage the
brave the conditions and list on the ASX Canterbury took advantage, patiently company hopes to be regularly announc-
in March. building an asset base which it believed ing its own results from the Ekoato pros-
would see the majors return when they pect on its Ekuti Range project in PNG.
Canterbury hit the bourse on March 7, eventually switched back onto explora-
having raised $6.15 million at IPO. Can- tion. In March, the company announced it
terbury managing director Grant Craig- had completed the first hole of a five-hole,
head admitted investor interested hadn’t The company spent several years un- 1,350m diamond drilling programme at
been overwhelming – the company was dertaking geophysical and geochemical Ekoato, a porphyry copper-gold prospect
forced to issue five supplementary pro- work on the asset suite before choosing sitting on the same mineralised belt as
spectuses – but the company sees great- to take the story to market. other epithermal and porphyry deposits
er trends at play than short-term market such as Hidden Valley and Wafi-Golpu.
performance. “Recently, we got to the point where we
needed next level funding to take us to The drilling is targeting a magnetic
“We are, I believe, transitioning to a drilling,” Craighead said. high with a coincident copper-gold soil
phase of the majors being interested in anomaly. The company said visual inter-
exploration again, particularly in copper The company can already count on pretation indicated the presence of broad
and gold,” Craighead told Paydirt. “Post- the support of Rio Tinto Ltd which has zones of propylitic alteration, with minor
GFC there was not a lot of effort put into entered into a JV to farm-in and then copper (chalcopyrite) and molybdenum
exploration but they are now looking to acquire the Bismarck project on Manus (molybdenite) in the fractures and quartz
participate in that space.” Island. veins; all features synonymous with por-
phyry systems.
Canterbury’s portfolio is geared to- Under the JV agreement struck with
wards attracting the majors with the Syd- Finny Ltd (acquired by Canterbury in PNG has largely fallen off junior cop-
ney-based junior hoping to prove it can 2018), Rio Tinto has sole-funded more per exploration radars in recent years as
do the heavy lifting on Tier 1 greenfields than $5 million of exploration activity, investors express their preference for ei-
targets before deeper pockets can be ap- earning a 60% interest in the project. If ther lower political risk destinations such
plied. Rio Tinto completes the Stage 2 explora- as Latin America or higher grade geolog-
tion phase, including sole-funding a fur- ical settings such as Central Africa.
The company – put together by the ther $12.5 million of exploration activity, it
same team responsible for the success- will increase its JV interest to 80%. Craighead admitted the country could
ful sale of Anchor Resources’
antinomy interests in 2011 – Exploration on Manus has been
has built a portfolio stacked
with porphyry and epithermal After five years in the country, Canterbury is confident it has
targets in Papua New Guinea, built up a strong rapport with its host communities in PNG
Queensland and Vanuatu.

“The Canterbury story goes
back eight years when the
principals were running An-
chor,” he said. “We sold the
antimony project and decided
to keep the band together. We
had a lot of exploration IP for
around the South-west Pacific
for porphyries and epithermal
copper-gold deposits and so
we slowly built the portfolio.”

Canterbury’s timing was
adroit. Having spent more
than a decade trying to follow
up the success of Porgera
and Wafi-Golpu, the majors
had begun exiting the Pacific
Islands as corporate office
appetite for exploration – and

Page 90 APRIL 2019 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

ASIA

Canterbury has started drilling
on its Ekuti Ridge project in
Papua New Guinea

be challenging but said the vast experi- Success on all three projects will likely soon as we get anything they will engage.
ence of the Canterbury management generate further interest from Rio Tinto “We still have our eye on other ground
team in the region held it in good stead. and others, or at least that’s the plan. If
Craighead himself worked extensively in it does play out that way, Craighead is and have got some early-stage projects
the country as did exploration manager prepared to keep the project generation as well. Once we have done the low-cost
Erceg. process running. work we will open them up. The oppor-
tunities are still there. PNG is still wide
“PNG is ok but having good community “We’ve taken advantage of the market open but the barriers to entry are consid-
relations is vital,” he said. “The mining law conditions to pick up early-stage projects erable and it is not easy to get in there.
is based on Australian law and has always as well,” he said. “The plan is to take It can take more than two years to build
been honoured by the Government. But, these projects up the value curve and re- your network, etc. but that means we’re
because of the land ownership structure, tain the relationship with the majors and ahead of the curve.”
it can be very difficult to ascertain owner- introduce them to projects as they enter
ship; it is very opaque. You have to take the higher cost phases of exploration; – Dominic Piper
the people on the journey with you. drill-out, etc. because then they rapidly
get beyond the means of a company our Canterbury exploration manager
“Manus is not bad from that regard. size. We are constantly talking to majors Michael Erceg on site in PNG
There is a long history of exploration there and they are monitoring our activity and
so the people understand it and land own-
ership is well-documented. At Ekuti, we
have worked hard to identify the right in-
terest groups, haven’t had any trouble in
the 4-5 years we’ve been there. We have
locally-based people working for us who
know the place well.”

Drilling is also set to start on the compa-
ny’s Briggs copper-gold target in Queens-
land. The ownership history of Briggs
reads like a who’s-who of the Australian
exploration scene with the likes of Noran-
da, Geopeko, Plutonic, CRA Exploration
and Rio Tinto all having tested the ground
at various points over the last 50 years.

That work has resulted in the outlining
of multiple large porphyry-style systems
and while drilling has encountered low-
grade copper mineralisation, no one has
cracked the higher grade intrusion creat-
ing the smoke. Canterbury believes by
applying modern understanding of the
porphyry system, it can be the first to
do so.

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT APRIL 2019 Page 91

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

Mardie salt added project in Nevada. RCT taps into Alkane’s
to GR mix Kemetco is one of Canada’s largest operating network

GR Engineering Services Ltd has privately-owned contract research and RCT will assist Alkane Resources
been appointed lead engineer for the up- development laboratories, specialising in Ltd with commissioning of autonomous
coming DFS on BCI Minerals Ltd’s Mar- extractive metallurgy, chemical process- technology at the Tomingley gold mine,
die salt and potash project in the Pilbara. ing and specialty chemical analysis. It south of Dubbo in New South Wales.
has extensive experience with the Rhyo-
The Perth-based group will be respon- lite Ridge flowsheet, having completed The work involves installing and com-
sible for coordination and integration prior bench-scale test work as part of the missioning ControlMaster Guidance
of the process and engineering design Ioneer’s PFS in 2018. Automation on two Caterpillar R2900G
packages for the ponds and crystallis- LHDs for at the company’s underground
ers, salt and SoP plants and port facili- Bulk ore samples from both outcrop and operations.
ties. drill core will be run through the Vancou-
ver-based pilot plant, which is expected to RCT will also supply a TeleCabin, in-
GR will also prepare and verify the start operating later this month, with the cluding operator chair, LCD monitors and
DFS-level capital and operating cost es- main run set for May. laser guard containment control, with the
timates, as well as undertake the design option to operate from the mine’s surface
and supervision of the pre-final invest- Outcropping lithium-boron ore will be via the ControlMaster fibre optic control
ment decision site works and supporting sourced from Ioneer’s fully permitted bulk station.
infrastructure. sample site where about 30t will be col-
lected. About 7t of drill core from the recently Guidance Automation removes opera-
The site works include a 135ha trial completed drill programme is already in stor- tors from machine cabs, which improves
pond, seawater intake pumps, 20km of age for use in the pilot plant, which will re- safety, while the technology enables
access road upgrades, an initial accom- main available for Ioneer for future test work. faster tramming speeds and eliminates
modation camp and power generation. machine damage from operator errors,
Late last year, Fluor was appointed as the thereby reducing unplanned mainte-
BCI’s final investment decision is pen- engineering and design firm for the DFS, nance works.
cilled in for Q1 2020. which is on track for completion in Q3 2019.
The technology will be installed by
GR Engineering has been appointed lead Wood gears up to make mid-2019, with operator training to be
DFS engineer for BCI’s Mardie salt project Longonjo stick held simultaneously.

Ketmenco charges up Wood Group has been tasked with
Rhyolite Ridge DFS undertaking a PFS on Pensana Metals
Ltd’s Longonjo neodymium-praseodym-
Ioneer Ltd has appointed Kemetco Re- ium project in Angola.
search Inc to build and operate the pilot plant
which will form a key part of the DFS for the The study will focus on delivery of a
company’s Rhyolite Ridge lithium-boron low capital open-pit operation with ex-
ports of flotation concentrates to cus-
tomers in China via the recently upgrad-
ed $US1.8 billion Benguela rail line and
the Atlantic deep-water port of Lobito.

Pensana has opened discussions with
potential financiers, with the company
hopeful of finalising a funding package
for Longonjo while undertaking the PFS.

Wood is expected to deliver the study
in September, having previously com-
pleted the original scoping study on the
project for Pensana.

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Nucleus Mining Logistics

Providing turn-key logistics and supply chain solutions into Africa

Page 92 APRI8L 2019 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

www.nucleussc.co.za

Orion renews power Students from Kent Street Senior High School were on hand to welcome the new Cat
search for Prieska simulator to Roy Hill’s ROC-Ed Learning Centre

Orion Minerals Ltd has entered into a enables students to immerse themselves works construction contract at Albemar-
collaboration agreement with juwi Re- in the experience of operating a large Cat le’s $1 billion Kemerton manufacturing
newable Energies Pty Ltd to investigate wheel loader, just as they would if working facility, near Bunbury in Western Aus-
renewable energy generation for the at the Roy Hill mine, 344km south-east of tralia.
Prieska zinc-copper project in South Af- Port Hedland.
rica’s Northern Cape Province. Under the terms of the contract, BGC
Students from Kent Street Senior High will provide early construction access
The preliminary scope will be to inves- School, along with Roy Hill chief execu- and site facilities installation, site clear-
tigate the feasibility of generating and tive Barry Fitzgerald, WesTrac counter- ing and topsoil management, as well as
supplying 35MW of electricity for the part Jarvas Croome and special guest cut to fill and installation of underground
project from a hybrid power system us- WA chief scientist Prof Peter Klinken AC, piping and electrical cabling at Kemer-
ing integrated wind and solar technolo- were all on hand to welcome the simula- ton.
gies. tor to Roy Hill’s ROC-Ed Learning Centre.
Albemarle has secured both federal
The renewable energy generation site BGC diversifies into and state environmental approvals to
will be located within 20km of the project, WA’s Lithium Valley develop the plant, which will be the larg-
making the establishment of a dedicated est lithium manufacturing facility in WA
feed via an overhead power transmis- BGC Contracting has diversified into when operational.
sion line possible. lithium for the first time with an earth-
Production capacity of up to 100,000
One of the world’s leading renewable tpa lithium hydroxide is proposed.
energy companies, juwi is focused on
both solar energy and onshore wind en-
ergy and is a recognised leader in off-
grid hybrid solar/wind-diesel-storage en-
ergy solutions. To date, juwi has built five
utility-scale solar plants in South Africa
totalling 121MW.

Cat makes educational
impact at Roy Hill

Australia’s leading Caterpillar dealer
WesTrac has donated a new Cat simula-
tor to Roy Hill’s ROC-Ed Learning Centre.

Roy Hill’s ROC-Ed Learning Centre
has been running since 2017 and is de-
signed to support classroom teaching
and learning in maths, science, geogra-
phy and business studies for Year 8 and 9
students. The half-day programme aligns
with the Australian Curriculum and pro-
vides an opportunity for students to expe-
rience first-hand a busy mining operation
centre and corporate headquarters in ac-
tion.

WesTrac’s donation of the Simulator

Nucleus Mining Logistics pNrUoCviLdEesUhSigh levels

of service to clients seeking world-class
supply chain management solutions.

greenfield exploration / construction projects / operational logistics

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT APRIL 2019 Page 93

www.capdrill.com

Cheeser makes nice 600sq km AEM survey over Citadel, with The Mark Creasy backed Galileo hit anoma-
move in Senegal the conductors potentially representing sul- lous nickel and copper in the first ever drilling
phides associated with gold and/or copper
The market reacted kindly to Chesser mineralisation. programme at the Lantern prospect in the
Resources Ltd last month when it an- Fraser Range. Creasy is pictured here with
nounced its first batch of assay results from AEM has been instrumental in discover- Galileo managing director Brad Underwood
the phase one 5,000m drilling programme ies made in the Paterson in the past.
at Diamba Sud, eastern Senegal. Mining Ltd at the Lantern prospect, within in
NTM on a high the Fraser Range, Western Australia, has
Highlights from the first 12 holes included at Redcliffe returned highly anomalous nickel and cop-
18m @ 5.61 g/t gold from 6m, 10m @ 2.72 per assays increasing the prospectivity of
g/t from 19m, 8m @ 3.48 g/t and 11m @ NTM Gold Ltd was diamond drilling at the the area
1.16 g/t. Redcliffe gold project, near Leonora, follow-
ing a fruitful RC campaign. Galileo’s interpretation of Lantern has
A total of 51 RC holes for 3,485m had strengthened, as a magmatic system with
been completed at the time of print, with the Multiple high-grade hits at new prospects multiple prospective intrusions has been re-
programme to be completed by the end of continue to highlight the potential of Red- ported along with sulphide minerals recog-
March and further assays expected. cliffe, with the company reporting 14m @ nised in rock chips at the drill site and sent
2.96 g/t gold (including 2m @ 6.79 g/t and for petrological examination.
Antipa lines up drilling 2m @ 6 g/t) at Redcliffe East; 2m @ 4.67
at Paterson play g/t and 2m @ 2.38 g/t from Hub and 1m @ Best laboratory assay results included:
8.43 g/t at Bindy North. 27m @ 0.18% nickel and 0.17% copper
Antipa Minerals Ltd was planning the from 47m (maximum copper value 0.36%
start of drilling of high priority AEM targets Mineralisation remains open, with the from 47-48m) and 8m @ 0.21% nickel and
at the Citadel farm-in project with Rio Tinto company to conduct more aircore drilling 0.03% copper from 45m (maximum nickel
Ltd in the Paterson province last month. once the diamond programme was com- value 0.34% 50-51m).
pleted.
Rio Tinto can earn up to 75% by spend- “Following on from our initial assays at
ing up to $60 million in the Citadel project, Lantern flickers the Lantern prospect, the project continues
which is within 5km of the major’s Winu for Galileo to deliver high quality results,” Galileo man-
copper-gold discovery. aging director Brad Underwood said.
A second round of laboratory assay re-
Antipa reported that 11 priority EM con- sults from maiden aircore drilling by Galileo “[The] announcement has enhanced the
ductor targets had been identified from a area’s prospectivity with new assay results,
sulphides in rock chips, and encouraging
The Rio Tinto-Antipa Citadel farm-in project is within 5km of Rio Tinto’s Winu discovery host rock geology, all supporting our view
that the Lantern prospect may hold signifi-
cant economic nickel-copper mineralisa-
tion. We have been fortunate to hit anom-

Page 94 APRIL 2019 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

www.capdrill.com

alous nickel and copper in the first ever lodes that comprise the 1.4 moz resource includes geoscience and industry stimulus
drilling programme given the target zone into the Goueli and Margou permits and programmes to maximise resources explo-
covers over 4sq km in size. We take this to drilling at the Red Hill gold discovery. ration in the NT.
be a very encouraging sign for the overall
prospectivity of the area.” NT drilling With an aim of addressing gaps in the
applications open critical understanding of the geology of the
Golden drilling in NT, the collaborative grants programme will
mid-April Applications for the latest round of col- encourage projects that may open up new
laborative grants for exploration drilling and areas for exploration and ensure the data
Golden Rim Resources Ltd has exe- geophysics in the Northern Territory will is made available to the wider exploration
cuted a major contract for 17,000m of RC close on April 15. community.
and 4,000m of diamond drilling at its 100%
owned Kouri gold project in Burkina Faso. The Geophysics and Drilling Collabora- Now up to its 12th round of collaborative
tions programme provides collaborative grants, 2018 saw a record number of ap-
Mobilisation of a multi-purpose drilling funding of 50% for up to $125,000 per plicants received for the programme, with
rig from Mauritania to Kouri was under way project of the total costs for drilling and 15 projects from 12 different companies
at the time of print, with drilling expected to geophysical programmes by industry. The potentially receiving more than $1 million in
start in mid-April. projects must be in areas of the NT where funding.
there is a lack of geological information.
The initial target areas for drilling were The Northern Territory Government’s
the footwall shear to follow-up recent high- The collaborative grants programme is Geophysics and Drilling Collaborations
grade drill intercepts including 4m @ 44.7g/t part of the NT Government’s $26 million
gold (BARC327); strike extent of the gold Resourcing the Territory initiative, which programme provides collaborative
funding of 50% for up to $125,000 per

project of the total costs for drilling

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT APRIL 2019 Page 95

comings and goings

Michael Rodriguez has Forsys Metals Corp and copper and studies, for Newmont Min- company following a sharehold-
joined Jervois Mining Ltd in explorer Caravel Minerals Ltd. ing Corp – as project director er vote, with Tim Kestell and
the newly created position of ex- Chamberlain replaces Shaun tasked with leading the DFS on Doug Jendry appointed to the
ecutive general manager, tech- Menezes who has resigned its newly acquired Adidi-Kanga new-look board.
nical services. Rodriguez, who followed the completion of Al- gold project in the DRC. Mean-
transitions from a non-executive liance’s merger with Tawana while, Vector managing direc- Marcelo Bastos has advised
director role with the company, Resources. tor Simon Youds has been ap- Oz Minerals Ltd that he will
was most recently chief operat- pointed chairman of Cauldron not be seeking re-election as
ing officer at Poseidon Nickel Energy Ltd. a non-executive director at the
Ltd. company’s AGM this month.
Celsius Resources Ltd man-
Jeremy Sinclair is reuniting aging director Brendan Marcelo Bastos
with his former Atlas Iron Borg has transitioned to non-
boss David Flanagan at Bat- executive director role following Terramin Australia Ltd chief
tery Minerals Ltd. Sinclair was a decision by the company to executive Richard Taylor
chief operating officer at Atlas has assumed company secre-
from 2012 until last year, hav- Chris Gale tary duties following the resig-
ing previously been its general nation of Simon Iacopetta, who
manager of Pilbara operations. Latin Resources Ltd manag- has joined Core Lithium Ltd as
In other board changes, Flana- ing director Chris Gale and chief financial officer.
gan will step up from managing chairman David Vilensky have
director to executive chairman, joined the board of Oakdale Re- Centaurus Metals Ltd has
while directors Brett Smith and sources Ltd, replacing outgoing appointed Chris Banasik
Gilbert George will not seek re- pair Graham White and Andrew as a non-executive director. A
election at the company’s AGM Harrington. founding director of Silver Lake
next month. Resources Ltd, Banasik re-
Graham Freestone has re- Brendan Borg places Steve Parsons, who has
David Lees has been ap- signed as a non-executive stepped down due to his grow-
pointed to the board of Sul- director of Kasbah Resources slow the progress of its Opuwo ing commitments as managing
tan Resources Ltd following the Ltd. cobalt project in Namibia. Borg director of Bellevue Gold Ltd.
departures of founding directors will consult to the company on
Eddie King and Lincoln Ho. Fiona Murdoch has joined the an ad-hoc basis following a Steve Zaninovich has joined
board of Queensland baux- three-month handover period. Indiana Resources Ltd as
Calidus Resources Ltd has ite miner Metro Mining Ltd. Mur- Pine van Wyk will remain pro- a non-executive director. Zani-
enticed Paul Brennan, for- doch is a non-executive direc- ject director and oversee the novich was chief operating of-
mer general manager of Sara- tor of KGL Resources Ltd and reduced work programmes at ficer at Gryphon Minerals prior
cen Mineral Holdings Ltd’s Ca- metallurgical services company Opuwo as well as other corpo- to the company’s takeover by
rosue Dam gold mine, to join Core Resources. rate matters, however, Laurent Teranga Gold Corp in 2016
the company as chief operating Raskin has opted to retire as a and recently served as project
officer. Dynasty Resources Ltd has non-executive director. director for Tawana Resources
appointed Gang Xu and at the Bald Hill lithium mine.
Rex Turkington has stepped Malcolm Castle as non-execu- Kingsrose Mining Ltd has Meanwhile, Chris van Wijk has
down from the board of tive directors. Xu was the former appointed Stuart Bodey as resigned as managing director
TNG Ltd to focus on his other managing director of Dragon chief executive on a 12-month of Indiana, but will continue as
directorships and business in- Energy, while Castle has more contract. Bodey has more than chief executive until a handover
terests. than 50 years of experience in 30 years of industry experi- of responsibilities to the board
exploration geology, including ence, including senior roles with has been completed.
Tony Leibowitz has joined his a founding role with Fortescue Xstrata Nickel Australia.
former Pilbara Minerals Ltd Metals Group Ltd. The new Steve Zaninovich
offsider John Young at Bardoc appointments coincided with Former Beadell Resources
Gold Ltd. Leibowitz has as- the resignation of director Ken Ltd managing director Si-
sumed the chairmanship of his Charteris. mon Jackson has joined the
new company, with David Hatch board of Botswana copper
and Sam Randazzo stepping Shawn Wang has replaced hopeful Kopore Metals Ltd.
down from the board. Li Binghan as a director
of Clean TeQ Holdings Ltd. Warren Hallam has re-
Vimy Resources Ltd has Wang is head of business and signed as managing di-
appointed Marcel Hilmer development and investment rector of Capricorn Metals Ltd,
as its new chief financial of- at Pengxin International Mining less than three weeks after ac-
ficer following the resignation Co Ltd, one of the Clean TeQ’s cepting the position. Hallam,
of Ron Chamberlain, who has largest shareholders. chief financial officer Jonathon
accepted the same position Shellabear and directors Debra
with lithium producer Alliance Vector Resources Ltd has Bakker, Geoffrey Rogers and
Mineral Assets Ltd. Hilmer was recruited Chris O’Brien – Peter Benjamin departed the
previously chief executive of former principal advisor, mining
TSX-listed uranium developer

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leftfield Bis has been recognised for its Rexx creation
with the Future of Mining 2019 Innovation Award
The future
is Rexx enough fuel for at least two 12-hour shifts, versing cameras for greater hazard man-
eliminating downtime needed for refuel- agement.
Bis has won the Future of Mining 2019 ling.
Innovation Award for its own engi- Rexx delivered impressive results in re-
neered and designed Rexx haul truck. Rexx is unique in its ability to be used cent trials carried out at a working mine in
with a range of interchangeable bins to suit the North Eastern Goldfields. Testing at
Rexx was the creation of Bis leaders different commodities and applications. Minara Resources’ Murrin Murrin mine,
who recognised a problem in double han- carried out in “real-life” operating condi-
dling product when it was being moved In line with Bis’ focus on zero harm, tions, has shown that Rexx has the ca-
from pit to processing. The solution: Rexx Rexx has also been designed with the pacity to deliver up to 30% operating cost
– a 20-wheeled, long range, out-of-pit highest safety requirements in mind, and reductions compared with conventional
hauler that combines the distance capac- is equipped with Bis’ fatigue management dump trucks.
ity of a traditional off-road haulage solution system, 360-degree view cameras and re-
with the ability to go out of pit.

Rexx has a vast range of innovative
features, including an industry leading
turning circle of just 13.6m, a four-times
greater distance capability than a conven-
tional dump truck and the capacity to carry



INDEX

Acacia 12, 13 Cauldron 96 Ioneer 92 Pensana 96
Adani 73 Celsius 96 Pilbara Minerals 67, 96
Albemarle Centamin 82 Jervois 96 Poseidon
Alkane 61, 67, 93 Centaurus 96 Jupiter 7 Pure 96
Alliance 92 Chesser 94 Pure Alumina 79
Altan Clean TeQ 96 70
Altech 44-45, 96 Coda 36
Andes 63 Collerina 70 Kasbah 96 Ramelius 14-15
Andromeda 70 Continental 87 Kazatomprom 10 Renascor 26-31
Anglo American Core 96 KGL 96 Resolute 10-11
AngloGold 86-87 Crusader 84 Kibaran 28 Rio Tinto 23, 48, 54, 63, 72,
Ansteel 46 Kingsrose 96 90-91, 94
Antipa 82 Danakali 10 Kinross 82 Royal Road
Archer Diatreme 78 Kopore 96 87
Arrow 10, 13, 86 Dynasty 96 Kropz 10
Ausmex 36
Australian Mines 94 Elementos 57 Latin Resources 96 Sandfire 87
AVZ 26 Enviro Copper 46 Lincoln 26 Saracen 96
72 Lithium Australia 55, 64-65 Sherritt 23
Forsys 96 Silver Lake 96
48-49 Fortescue 96 Sovereign 28
75-76 FYI 68-71 SQM 61
Sultan 96
80 Galan 63 Syrah 28, 58
Galaxy 63
Bardoc 96 Galileo 94-95 Marmota 42-43
Gemfields Meteoric 84
Barrick 10, 12, 63, 82 Gindalbie 7 Metminco
Glencore 36 Metro 86-87
Base 20-25 Gold Fields 48, 72 Mincor 96
Golden Rim 9, 82 MMG 9
Bass 59 Graphex 95 Mod 77 Teranga 96
28 10 Terramin 37-38, 96
Battery Minerals 28, 58, 66, 96 Havilah Thor
Heathgate 26 Tianqi 46
Beadell 78, 96 Hillgrove 31 TNG 61
26 Torrens 96
Bellevue 96 Impala 36
Independence 7
Berkut 78 Indiana 9 Nevada 63
96 New Century 77
BCI 92 Newcrest 49, 53
Newmont 87, 96
BHP 9, 33, 39, 48, 52, 61 Norilsk
Northern Star 9
Black Rock 28 56, 66 NTM 15 Vale 39
Nzuri 94 Vector 96
Blackstone 53 81 Venture 54
Vimy 96
Boss 43

Calidus 96 Walkabout 28, 56, 66
Capricorn 96
Caravel 96 Oakdale 96 Western Areas 9, 51, 52, 64-65
Cardinal 82 Orion 93
Cameco 30 Orinoco 84 Winmar 60, 66
Canterbury 90-91 Oz 33-34, 96
Carpentaria 39-41 WPG 26

Page 98 APRIL 2019 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

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