pd257-Feb18-web_Neat

Blackstone’s cobalt story
gathers pace

Amid-year acquisi- Recent rock chip sampling from histor- adits and drilling with
tion transformed ical adits returned 6.2% cobalt and 46 g/t first-pass diamond
Blackstone Minerals gold last year while historical drilling from drilling programmes
Ltd, pushing it to the the adits returned multiple intersections set for 2018,” William-
vanguard of global co- including 1.8m @ 2.4% cobalt and 112 son said. “Those re-
balt developments. g/t gold, 3.3m @ 1.4% cobalt and 12.3 sults should get peo-
g/t gold and 2.9m @ 0.9% cobalt and 12 ple excited about this
When Blackstone g/t gold. project. We have also
listed in January 2017, done some stream
it did so with a tradi- Such results will be the focus of follow- sediment sampling on
tional mix of West Aus- up drilling this year. targets around Little
tralian precious and Gem and we are also
base metals assets. “We will follow-up on the historical considering down-
However, its focus hole EM.”
deviated from August
when it picked up the Blackstone is one
high-grade Little Gem of more than half a
cobalt project in British dozen ASX-listed jun-
Columbia, Canada. iors to pick up ground
in North America in
The company’s the last 18 months.
shares subsequently Williamson believes a
jumped from 18c to more fertile Australian
a high of 60c as in- market has allowed
vestors warmed to ASX companies to
cobalt’s role in the steal a march on their
battery story. Black- TSX-V peers.
stone capitalised on
the new-found inter- “It is a reflection of
est, raising a further the appetite on the
$5 million through a ASX for exploration,”
placement in Decem- he said. “The TSX-V
ber. hasn’t moved into the
next cycle and there is
“Since the acquisi- a disconnect between
tion we have rerated the two. We picked up
significantly and this Little Gem for $6.5 mil-
money sets us up for lion in scrip and it is al-
a great 2018,” newly ready worth more than
appointed managing that.”
director Scott William-
son said. “There was Not that Williamson
a lot of demand for believes Blackstone’s
the capital raising and run is complete.
there is a real appetite
for battery metals and “Although we have
particularly cobalt and done really well, look
with such high grades, at our peers. We have
Little Gem is ideal.” not moved as much in
comparison,” he said.
The company plans to spend $3-4 mil- “Perhaps we found Little Gem a bit late
lion on Little Gem this year with a further in the cobalt run and we are only just get-
$1 million going into its Australian assets. ting the story out there. That’s why 2018
will be a big year for us. Once we get a
Having picked up further ground along full 12 months of the company story out
strike from Little Gem, Blackstone has there we will see what happens.”
335sq km of prospective tenure to play
with in 2018. – Dominic Piper

“We think we will go close to a maiden
resource within 12 months,” Williamson
told Paydirt. “We know it’s high grade
but need to understand just how big it is.”

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT FEBRUARY 2018 PAGE 51

2017 IPOs

Investors surf Quicksilver wave

Investors who tipped money
into what was supposed to be
a promising gold float received a

nice surprise late last year when

Golden Mile Resources Ltd un-

earthed a new nickel-cobalt dis-

covery.

Drill testing of the company’s

Quicksilver nickel-cobalt project,

about 340km south of Hyden in

Western Australia, has consist-

ently returned high-grade hits of

over 2% nickel and up to 0.9%

cobalt since emerging as Golden

Mile’s flagship asset shortly after

completing a $4.5 million IPO in

June.

In November, an enticing inter-

cept of 13m @ 2% nickel and 0.1%

cobalt from 37m was reported to

the market and saw Golden Mile’s

stock soar from below 20c/share

to a high of $1.27/share over just Golden Mile believes it could have unearthed a new nickel-cobalt district in WA’s South-West

10 days as investors salivated at

the prospect of a major new nickel-cobalt nickel-cobalt plays four years ago, which of good nickel-cobalt projects. When the

district in WA’s South-West. was when this project was picked up, promotors behind Golden Mile looked at

Golden Mile has since extended because we could see the upside in the them, they took a liking to Quicksilver and

Quicksilver’s known nickel mineralisation nickel-cobalt space. picked it up from the generation group.

beyond 3km and reported further prom- “I think we’re starting to see that ac- And the rest is history, as they say.”

ising hits of 44m @ 1.24% nickel and celeration occurring, particularly in the Exploration activity at Quicksilver was

0.08% cobalt from 24m, 28m @ 1.1% cobalt price, and I think that will drag the ongoing at the time of print, with an ex-

nickel and 0.04% cobalt from 52m and nickel price with it as time goes on. We tensive EM survey being undertaken

24m @ 1.27% nickel and 0.05% cobalt, believe we’re going to see nickel and co- across the southern tenement area. All

including 8m @ 2.16% nickel and 0.08% balt at levels where virtually anyone who of the current work is leading towards a

cobalt from 28m, among others. has got anything half decent will be very maiden resource estimate to be finalised

The company has also contracted attractive in the marketplace.” over the coming months.

technical consultants Newexco Services A package of gold tenements around Equity research group Hunter Capital

Pty Ltd – a key player in the major WA Leonora was the original premise for Advisors has set a price target of $1.60/

nickel discoveries of Nova, Flying Fox Golden Mile, but sponsoring broker Peak share for Golden Mile, identifying the

and Spotted Quoll – to assist with the Asset Management sensed the nickel- maiden resource estimate and further

geological modelling of Quicksilver. cobalt plays – to be thrown into the pro- positive drilling results as the leading

While Golden Mile’s share price has spectus as a “sweetener” – would garner catalysts for share price growth.

tailed off since its November surge – 70c/ more interest from potential investors. “The feedback we’re getting from our

share at the time of print – chief executive Quicksilver and the Minara nickel- investors and from the market is they

Tim Putt believes his team has only just cobalt project, about 45km north-east want us to advance Quicksilver more or

scratched the surface of a greenfields of Leonora, were vended into Golden less as fast as we can,” Putt said.

project he describes as having “potential Mile from Avenger Projects Ltd, a private “It’s turned out not to be what we ini-

beyond belief”. company run by Putt and long-time con- tially thought it was. We thought we were

“It’s been interesting to watch how the fidant Brian Cikara. looking at a pure, normal nickel laterite

market has behaved over the last few “We as a project generation group in play, but now that we’re starting to un-

months,” Putt told Paydirt. “We’ve cer- Avenger did a lot of work on what metals derstand the geology and the mineralisa-

tainly seen a substantial discount applied were looking confident for the future, so tion a lot more, we can see there’s also

to our company off the market highs, but when lithium took off two or three years a lot of potential at depth with this thing

then so have a lot of our peers and many ago we had a closer look at what else as well.”

of them are more advanced than us be- goes into a lithium-iron battery, and one Exploration of the Leonora gold tene-

cause they’ve got resources and are now of the big things which came out of that ments will continue in the background,

moving into feasibility. was cobalt,” Putt said. with an infill drilling campaign recently

“We’ve probably copped a little bit of “We actually generated a number of completed at Ironstone Well.

an exploration discount, but I think this projects with cobalt in them. We also re- – Michael Washbourne
year will be a different year for us. We ally liked the idea of working in our own

originally targeted and started looking at backyard in WA, so we pegged a number

PAGE 52 FEBRUARY 2018 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

CLASS OF 2007

A question of staying power

There have been a few bumps along the way in the 10 years since Galaxy listed on the ASX

2017 may have represented a rebound The first jolts had come in August 2007 commodity in five of them.
for new resources floats but the mar- with the onset of the US sub-prime mort- Other trends differ widely. In 2007, with
ket has some way to go before it can gage crisis. That scenario saw $70 billion
match the heady heights of a decade wiped off the ASX within a month and the uranium spot price hitting $US130/
previous. suddenly, after three years of the kindest lb, yellowcake stories were all the rage
of conditions, new floats were harder to with 33 new listings boasting of uranium
From an IPO perspective, 2007 will get away. prospectivity.
be remembered as the high point of that
decade’s mining boom with 134 new re- The problem for many of the IPOs of Many of these were in the Northern
sources listings hitting the ASX boards 2006 and 2007 was that they had raised Territory (18) and South Australia (15),
that year. minimal amounts of capital, some as little two jurisdictions which have witnessed
as $2 million, in the hope they could re- little in the way of new arrivals in more
It was a year of change for the Aus- enter a buoyant market soon after listing recent years, with only one 2017 listing –
tralian mining industry. The “stronger to fund further activity. However, the sub- Northern Cobalt Ltd and Todd River Re-
for longer” boom mentality was in full prime induced market slump saw most sources Ltd – boasting projects in Cen-
swing and there seemed little in the way stopped in their tracks. tral Australia.
of warning signs about the impending
crash. Rio Tinto Ltd paid $US38 billion The 134 mining floats on the ASX Queensland-focused floats were also
for Alcan, Xstrata spent $C4.6 billion on in 2007 was a 12-month record which popular in 2007 with 22 companies list-
LionOre and $3 billion on Jubilee Mines remains unsurpassed and a glance ing with assets ranging from traditional
and, most eye-catchingly of all, BHP through Paydirt’s review of that year’s coal and base metal targets to uranium,
Ltd – having just broken the $200 billion new listings reveals the similarities and molybdenum and gold.
market cap barrier – formalised its long- differences between 2007 and 2017.
rumoured bid for rival Rio. The growing importance of Africa was
Gold and Western Australia dominated also apparent in 2007, with 10 compa-
However, by the end of the year, the the IPO scene in both years with 64 of nies hitting the bourse with African pro-
seeds had been sown for the eventual the floats of 2007 associated with the jects. Asia-Pacific was still the preferred
end of the commodity super-cycle narra- precious metal and 51 holding interests destination, however, with 14 listings in-
tive which would eventually see resource in Australia’s premier mining state. For cluding companies with projects in Laos,
IPO activity on the ASX grind to a near- 2017, eight of the 29 new floats were WA- India and China.
standstill. focused but gold was only the primary
One region to increase in popularity
from 2007 to 2017 was North America.

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT FEBRUARY 2018 PAGE 53

CLASS OF 2007

With the TSX-V failing to generate the with a recovery in the company’s share The biggest change Kasbah has under-
same enthusiasm for exploration as the price which had fallen from highs of plus- gone came only last year when founding
ASX, Australian juniors – including five of $6 in mid-2016 to $2.50 by April 2017. managing director Wayne Bramwell left
the new floats – have taken the opportu- the company. In the executive role now is
nity to pick up promising projects across I’m a survivor Russell Clark, former managing director
the US and Canada in commodities such Junior resources companies are so of Wolf Minerals Ltd.
as copper, gold and cobalt. often at the whim of larger market con-
ditions, it is likely their portfolios under- Emmerson Resources Ltd
Paydirt looks back at some of the go drastic change over the course of a A true explorer, Emmerson has been
standout companies from the Class of decade. However, a select group of the plugging away in the Tennant Creek min-
2007 in an effort to find some encourage- Class of 2007 have proven their commit- eral field since IPO. Led by geologist Rob
ment for 2017’s arrivals. ment to the cause and ridden the crests Bills, Emmerson has stayed focus on the
and troughs of 10 years of choppy wa- enticing prospectivity around Tennant
Top performers ters. Creek and despite several JVs and near-
Like racehorse foals, it is very difficult Silver Lake Resources Ltd things, it is still hunting for the company-
to pick an IPO that will eventually turn out It has been a rollercoaster 10 years for defining discovery.
to be a champion and the Class of 2007 any investors who still retain their IPO West Wits Mining Ltd
had its fair share of disappointments. offering in WA gold miner Silver Lake. Political turmoil has never been far
There were a few sustained winners Shares have oscillated from highs of from the surface in South African mining
though, including three who have made $3.71 in October 2012 to as low as 14c and neither has West Wits. The Austral-
a name for themselves in commodities just two years later. Following its $426 ian junior was listed as a JV vehicle be-
which have gone from unheralded to the million takeover of Integra Mining, Silver tween Mintails and DRDGold Ltd which
height of popularity. Lake was touted as Australia’s next mid- were both focused on reprocessing of
Galaxy Resources Ltd tier gold miner before it ran into cash cost tailings on the Witwatersrand Basin.
Galaxy was a bit of an oddity when it and grade issues at its mines in both the West Wits’ strategy has been slightly dif-
listed. Greenbushes was, of course, pro- Murchison and Eastern Goldfields. In ferent, focusing on near-surface, in situ
ducing lithium but the market appeared 2017, the survival strategy evolved into mineralisation around Soweto. The com-
so small that there was little incentive for the pursuit of growth with net profits of pany started small-scale mining activity
new production. When it released its first $2 million generated on gold production last year.
marketing studies for its Mt Cattlin pro- of 137,000oz. Wolf Minerals Ltd
ject in late 2007, Galaxy was forecasting Kasbah Resources Ltd Tungsten and tin were the commodi-
spodumene prices of $US500/t. By 2017, Tin in Morocco was an unusual sell ties of choice in Wolf’s prospectus but
prices were around $US950/t and lithium back in 2007 and given how little opinion after going into trading halt soon after
was the hottest commodity in resources. has changed in the intervening decade listing, it re-emerged with the geographic
Galaxy has rewarded loyal sharehold- credit is due to Kasbah and its share- focus switched from New South Wales
ers. The company dropped to 15c/share holders for sticking with the Achmmach to south-west England. The company
in early 2015 but has rebounded to be tin project in the North African country. eventually brought its Drakelands project
above $4/share at the start of 2018. into production but despite recent price
Orocobre Ltd
Like Galaxy, Orocobre was an ear- Kasbah should be credited for hanging onto the Achmmach tin project in Morocco
ly believer in the lithium story, listing
on the back of its Olaroz lithium brine
project in Argentina. The company
endured testing times in its formative
years but since the start of 2016 it has
made the most of market momentum,
building a 17,500 tpa lithium carbon-
ate operation at Olaroz which led to a
maiden operating profit of $17.5 mil-
lion in FY2017. The company is now
capped at $1.2 billion with its shares
hitting $7 in January.
Syrah Resources Ltd
Another company whose success
is pinned to the battery revolution,
this time through graphite, Syrah
had actually started life as a spin-off
from Copper Strike Ltd and retained
the latter’s Queensland base metals
focus. The company moved to East
Africa in 2011 – following a brief flir-
tation with Saudi Arabian assets in
2010 – and quickly found Mozam-
bican graphite tenure to its liking. The
company announced first production
from its massive Balama graphite
project in November. This coincided

PAGE 54 FEBRUARY 2018 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

improvements, is still struggling to get company plans to have financing
operations moving in the right direction.
and final approvals in place before
Chameleon-like
Changes in sentiment, changes in the end of this year.
management and geological bad luck all
force the hand of companies to change Lincoln Minerals Ltd
tack and reinvigorate their portfolio.
Some who did divert from their origi- Lincoln has never strayed from
nal 2007 prospectus failed to convince
shareholders of the need for change its South Australian commitment
while others, such as the companies be-
low, managed to retain support. but it has shown agility, switching
Oklo Uranium (now Resources) Ltd
One of a slew of yellowcake explor- from iron ore to graphite during its
ers to list during 2007, Oklo started with
six Australian uranium projects and one time on the ASX. The company
in West Africa, Kidal in Mali. The next
six years saw the uranium price stead- is now hoping to receive final ap-
ily slide from its 2007 highs but Oklo did
not let its foothold in West Africa slip. It provals for its Kookaburra Gully
acquired gold prospects in Mali and after
four years of frustrated ambitions, it final- graphite project this year but will
ly made a major breakthrough in 2017,
producing a string of wide gold intercepts do so without founding manag-
on its Dandoko project. Oxide minerali-
sation hits of 42m @ 6.14 g/t gold, 30, ing director Dr John Parker, who
@ 4.47 g/t, 76m @ 1.65 g/t and 40m @
1.41 g/t were followed up by primary gold stepped down in January.
intersections of 59m @ 2 g/t and 79m
@ 2.17 g/t. Long-suffering shareholders Metminco Ltd
were rewarded with a share price in-
crease from lows of 11.5c in early 2017 to A tiny IPO – just $1.35 million
45c at the beginning of 2018.
Carbine Resources Ltd in this case – means a company
When it listed, Carbine was focused on
a single asset, the Red Dam gold project needs to quickly assess whether it
near Kalgoorlie, WA. Ten years on, the
company remains a sole gold asset com- has anything in its portfolio capa-
pany but its attention is now devoted to
ble of listing its share price quickly.

Unfortunately for Metminco, there

was little in the mix of Australian

assets which could do the job. In-

stead, Metminco became, in 2009,

the reverse listing vehicle for the

South American assets of Hamp-

ton Mining Ltd. Despite building

an impressive resource base at

its Los Calatos project in Peru,

Metminco failed to attract a ma-

Fast-forward 10 years and Oklo has switched focus jor JV partner and in March 2016
from uranium to gold in Mali it changed tack again, acquir-
ing the Miraflores gold project in

the Mt Morgan gold project in Queens- Colombia. The company’s shares have
land. Mt Morgan is a tailings retreatment dropped in value from more than $20 in
story and Carbine has spent $11.2 million January 2010 to less than 5c today.

since 2014 on finding a path to commer-

cialisation for its four tailings dumps. The

Metminco failed to attract a major JV partner for its project in Peru and has gone onto acquire the Miraflores gold project in Colombia
AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT FEBRUARY 2018 PAGE 55

SOUTHERN STATES

Victoria’s TARGET

Although boasting a 160-year follows all other jurisdictions with up and has taken some time for the technology
strong mining history, Vic-
down investment cycles, but with recent to emerge to separate that fine grained
toria’s mining potential is often
success at Fosterville that has really at- potential. Hopefully we will get to some
forgotten.
tracted a lot of interest,” Megan Davison, mine development in the future, both in
Closure of the Hazelwood coal-fired
power station and mine in 2017 was high- executive director, Minerals Council of the east and west of the State.”
ly publicised and added another dent to
Victoria’s mining sector, however, there Australia Victorian Division, told Paydirt. Players such as Iluka are enjoying high
are some bright spots emerging.
“Principally, the investments are into times in the mineral sands sector and
Canadian-based Kirkland Lake Gold
Ltd has reinvigorated the gold space with hard rock gold and some base metals with the restart of operations at Jacinth-
great success at the Fosterville mine,
north of Bendigo. potential, but we also have some world- Ambrosia (South Australia) and project

The company listed on the ASX class mineral sands deposits. We have approval for Cataby (Western Australia),
in late 2017 on the back of produc-
tion guidance of 250,000-260,000oz had a significant amount of extraction of it was decided the Hamilton MSP opera-
gold from Fosterville for the calendar
year and an ambition to increase mineral sands through Iluka [Resources tion in Victoria’s Murray Basin was best
that output with the onset of the
Swan zone – 281,000t @ 58.8 g/t for Ltd] projects, but there are a number of placed on care-and-maintenance.
532,000oz – in 2018.
other companies that have some fine Nevertheless, Iluka is committed to ful-
Exploration success last year dou-
bled underground reserves to 1.03 grain mineral sands [potential] and it ly evaluating the large, high-grade rutile-
moz gold at an average grade of
17.9 g/t. rich Balranald underground project.

“Of course success breeds suc- An estimated $25 million will be
cess and we are seeing a significant
upswing in private exploration ex- spent by Iluka at Balranald this year
penditure, albeit they are coming off
some pretty low numbers. Victoria as it moves towards a third produc-

tion trial, with the aim of a staged

approach to production start-up in

2021.

The fruits of such an operation as

Balranald will be welcomed by the

State, which is far from reliant on the

resources sector as a source of rev-

enue generation.

Coal is the biggest game in the

State, in which the minerals industry

contributes about 2% GSP annually.

Therefore, while Australia’s for-

Megan Davison tunes are very much aligned with

PAGE 56 FEBRUARY 2018 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

those of the mining industry, Victoria it- economic contribution but employment, “They are all symbiotic and we look
self does not. regional development, infrastructure de- to other jurisdictions to understand how
velopment and all of those ancillary ac- they have achieved more rapid approv-
“Having said that, the gross value- tivities that the minerals industry brings als, while maintaining appropriate pro-
add per employee [in the mining sector] to a community.” tections for the environment and com-
dwarfs any other sector in Victoria. That munities and more appropriate whole of
is a high value industry still and if you Akin to SA’s PACE initiative, the Vic- economy decisions around strategic land
include the METS sector, Victoria has a torian Government also supports a co- use and access to land,” she said.
very large mining sector,” Davison said. funded drilling initiative for players invest-
ing in the State. A major regulatory and policy setting
“The METS sector is actually double reform is underway in Victoria, with the
the GSP for Victoria. Obviously, all of the Davison said the $15 million TARGET likes of Davison pushing for a modern-
head offices for the global mining ser- Minerals Exploration Initiative, run by the ised approach to how the industry is gov-
vices companies are here as well. If you Earth Resources department, had deliv- erned.
include the mining and METS sector in ered some successes.
Victoria, the latest data we have on the “The industry is a very advanced in-
value-add is that it is worth about $13.5 “Nothing has eventuated into a mine dustry that is continually changing and
billion and provides full-time equivalent yet, but the initiative [which excludes ex- regulators need to be cognisant of that
employment of 120,000 people, both ploration for oil, coal and gas] is relatively and enable outcomes-based regulatory
direct and indirect. It is not insignificant, young and we all know the timeline from regimes,” she said.
but it’s not like the mining industry repre- exploration to production is quite long,”
sents about a third of the economy.” she said. “Regulators themselves need to un-
derstand the dynamic nature of the in-
Given mining is a relatively small con- The lag between discovery and pro- dustry and its technological advances. A
tributor to the Victorian economy, the duction is a test of patience and in a ju- well governed, strong regulator is impor-
sector lacks in profile. risdiction such as Victoria, which doesn’t tant for the industry and the communities
have the geological richness of other the industry operates in.”
“The attention given to the sector and Australian states – WA, SA and Queens-
contribution could be greater from our land – the task of attracting potential in- – Mark Andrews
perspective,” Davison said in relation to vestment in the mining sector is much
the role government could play in pro- greater. TARGET is a government initiative assisting
moting industry. mineral explorers in Victoria
Therefore, the State
“More public acknowledgment of not can ill-afford to be per-
only the value of the resources owned ceived as a difficult ju-
by the Crown, but the extraction of that risdiction to operate in,
resource is valuable for not only the particularly with con-
stant competition for
capital at a premium in
the mining sector.

“Victoria over the last
decade has performed
poorly [in surveys such
as the Fraser Institute]
compared to the other
jurisdictions in Aus-
tralia and mostly the
reasons for that are
the regulatory and pol-
icy settings,” Davison
said.

“The uncertainty in
regulatory and policy
settings and the time
taken to go through the
approvals process is
also a constant frustra-
tion. It is very difficult
for any other initiatives
to be successful when
you have these drags
on investment incen-
tive. We are working
very hard to inform
government and de-
cision-makers of the
barriers to investment,
but there are a com-
prehensive range of
barriers you just can’t
pick off.

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT FEBRUARY 2018 PAGE 57

SOUTHERN STATES

Kirkland invests tion of the mine in September and quickly near Eskdale, north-east Victoria.
heavily at Fosterville
moved to display its commitment to the Dart is aiming to quickly identify and
Tony Makuch
project by divesting its Queensland as- sample only the larger pegmatites along
Kirkland Lake Gold Inc has confirmed
its commitment to Victoria through the sets in favour of a sole focus on Victo- the northern end of Dorchap as the fre-
launch of the State’s largest mineral ex-
ploration programme of the last 10 years. ria. A name change to AuStar Gold Ltd quency of individual dykes in the area

Since acquiring the Fosterville mine followed in December as the company means a highly targeted approach is re-
in November 2016, Kirkland Lake has
established itself as the largest gold ramped up trial mining at Morning Star quired.
miner in Victoria, producing 263,845oz
from Fosterville in 2017. The company and began drilling on the high-grade In his AGM presentation in November,
is now targeting 400,000 ozpa produc-
tion from Fosterville from 2021, thanks Rose of Denmark mine. Dart chairman James Chirnside said the
largely to development of the high-grade
Swan Zone (281,000t @ 58.8 g/t for First results from the diamond drill- company would be seeking a JV partner
532,000oz).
ing programme were encouraging with to accelerate the regional exploration
Such has been Kirkland Lake’s satis-
faction with Fosterville, the company is visible gold encountered in multiple drill programme.
stepping up exploration efforts in 2018
with a budget of $60-75 million commit- holes and assays from the first three
ted to its Victorian and Northern Territory
assets. holes returning hits of 0.25m @ 8.44 g/t Navarre finds its Irvine
gold, 0.22m @ 9.52 g/t, 0.3m @ 2.74 g/t focus
“We are increasing our commitment to and 0.5m @ 3.28 g/t.
exploration in 2018, with a focus on Aus-
tralia,” Kirkland Lake chief executive Tony AuStar chief executive Tom de
Makuch said. “At Fosterville, we are plan-
ning extensive exploration programmes Vries said the results were in line
aimed at continuing to grow the Swan
Zone, expanding Harrier South, extend- with expectations, confirming both
ing Lower Phoenix and Robbin’s Hill min-
eralisation and investigating a number of the newly established geological
other regional targets.”
model for Rose of Denmark and
The company will also spend $10 mil-
lion on its LODE (large ore deposit explo- preferred assaying techniques.
ration) programme at Fosterville, which
will include greenfields drilling, surface “This initial indication already
soil sampling, gravity and 3D seismic ge-
ophysical surveys as well as reconnais- provides us confidence in achiev-
sance work on newly granted exploration
licences. ing the objectives of the drill pro-

AuStar provides new gramme,” de Vries said. “The
Morning
data received shows that AuStar’s
A new owner and renewed corporate
strategy could be the catalyst needed to tests of various assay techniques
bring the much-maligned Morning Star
gold mine into production. have been successful in measur-

Mantle Mining completed its acquisi- ing both the coarse and fine gold

components in the deposit. Of

significance is the ability of the Navarre Minerals plans to start resource definition
drilling to highlight the ore shoots. drilling on its Irving project this year
This will be a valuable tool in plan-

ning further works. Navarre Minerals Ltd is hoping it can
“We are confident of further success repeat Kirkland Lake’s recent Victorian
gold success at its own Irvine project
given the geological mapping and plan- near Stawell.
ning that has already been done prior to
mobilising the drill rig.” Navarre struck a deal with Stavely Min-
erals Ltd last month to farm out its copper
Rose of Denmark produced 37,000oz assets in the State (see pages 60-61), al-
gold at 12.5 g/t from both a near-surface lowing it to solely focus on gold projects
adit and a 200m deep production shaft. at Irvine and Tandarra.
The first phase of AuStar’s 500-600m di-
amond drilling programme is designed to Irvine is located halfway between
hit the dyke 20m above and 30m below Stawell and the Ararat alluvial goldfield
the adit level which will assist in gaining with Navarre believing it to be the prima-
a clearer understanding of geology and ry source of the alluvial gold. Last year
structural controls on mineralisation. saw the company make two discoveries

Dart starts Vic lithium – Resolution Lode and Cullings – with
drilling in December highlighting the po-

hunt tential for further mineralisation to the
north of Cullings.

The lithium rush has landed in Victoria On December 15, the company report-

with Dart Mining NL stepping up its ex- ed hits of 6m @ 5.1 g/t from 24m, 4m @

ploration for the battery metal in northern 2.4 g/t from 11m, 2m @ 2.5 g/t from 36m

Victoria. and 8m @ 1 g/t from 30m.

In December, Dart launched a recon- Resolution Lode and Cullings were the

naissance mapping and sampling cam- first two of six targets set to be tested via

paign with results expected late last aircore drilling. Once first-pass drilling

month. In the meantime, the company is completed, Navarre plans to launch

is planning to accelerate its early-stage a resource definition drilling programme

exploration by deploying a helicopter to later in 2018 with a view to delineating a

carry out further reconnaissance work maiden resource for the project before

as it looks to identify large, unmapped the end of the year.

dykes along the Dorchap Dyke Swarm

PAGE 58 FEBRUARY 2018 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

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SOUTHERN STATES

Planets align for Stavely

Stavely is closing in on a major discovery at the Thursday’s Gossan prospect, western Victoria

Stavely Minerals Ltd has received the “We’re seeing that early stage mag- ing is the main mineralised body. We’re
strongest indication yet that it is on netite quartz-veining extending up to probably, to our estimate, maybe 100m
the cusp of making a major discovery at 350m away from the intrusive complex, away from the main system.”
its namesake copper project in western whereas the main mineralised phase is a
Victoria. lot more restrictive, it only extends about The fourth and final diamond hole of
80m out from the intrusive complex. the current “sighter” drilling programme
Recent diamond drilling at the Thurs- at Thursday’s Gossan was being com-
day’s Gossan prospect intersected about “We think that we’re in between those pleted at the time of print to a likely depth
100m of magnetite-rich ‘M’ veins which two zones, so we’re definitely seeing the of about 600m.
are typically the precursor to the main end zones, but the thing we’re not see-
mineralising phase of gold-rich copper At the time of print, Stavely reported
porphyries. Chris Cairns partial assays of up to 14.75% copper
and 0.6 g/t gold, along with the first evi-
“All the indications are there,” Stavely dence of sulphide-rich ‘D’ veins which
managing director Chris Cairns told Pay- can constitute economic mineralisation
dirt last month. in some large copper-gold porphyry sys-
tems.
“It’s been a steady progression of good
applied science to try and get us into the Stavely was then planning to move the
main mineralised zone and certainly drill rig to the Toora West prospect, about
what we’re seeing to date indicates that 15km north-west of Thursday’s Gossan,
we’re knocking on the door to discovery.” for another short campaign while assays
and various other analytical work is final-
Stavely has been modelling the geol- ised.
ogy of Thursday’s Gossan against that of
the giant Cadia-Ridgeway system which Cairns, who was widely praised by the
catapulted Newcrest Mining Ltd to promi- industry for guiding Integra Mining from
nence almost three decades ago. explorer to producer last decade before
its subsequent takeover by Silver Lake
The ‘M’ veins observed in Stavely’s Resources Ltd in 2011, said the current
drill core are understood to be “remark- programme was about “drilling for geol-
ably similar” in character to those docu- ogy” rather than discovery.
mented from the Cadia-Ridgeway cop-
per-gold mine in New South Wales. “We’ve been drilling for geology as op-
posed to discovery to give us a firm han-
“Porphyry copper-gold deposits are dle on where to vector and which direc-
pretty well understood and even though tion we want to go to find the core of this
each deposit is unique, they do share at- system,” he said.
tributes by and large,” Cairns said.

PAGE 60 FEBRUARY 2018 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

“It’s been a very, very have been doing quite a

technical programme. lot of work trying to pro-

We’re pretty happy that mote various domains and

we’re moving towards the what commodities they’re

core of the system – we’re prospective for, and I

pretty confident in that think to a degree that was

respect – what we don’t instrumental in our deci-

know is what the grade is sion to become involved

going to be when we get in Victoria because we did

there. It’s a 500 million- see the potential that they

year-old deposit so there were promoting,” he said.

could be some structural “I think that relative to

complexity or late stage Western Australia, for ex-

intrusion that’s stoped at ample, the approvals pro-

the mineralisation. cess in Victoria is probably

“There’s still a bit of risk not as mature. They don’t

in the project, but we’ve have as large a mining in-

probably taken most of the dustry as WA does, so I

technical risk out of it.” would expect that should

Investors appear to be we be looking at a devel-

backing Cairns’ belief the opment situation down the

company is on to some- track, whilst the approvals

thing big at Thursday’s process is relatively well

Gossan, with Stavely’s understood, it’s likely to

share price doubling to take quite a bit longer than

38c in January as news it would in a more mature

of a potential discovery jurisdiction like WA.”

piqued the market’s atten- Meanwhile, Stavely has

tion. entered into a JV with Na-

A major find at the varre Minerals Ltd to earn

Stavely project would be up to 80% of an explora-

more than welcome relief tion licence which abuts

for Cairns and fellow direc- Stavely recently entered into a JV with Navarre Minerals to acquire the former’s namesake
tors Bill Plyley, Peter Iron- up to 80% of a neighbouring exploration licence and Yarram Park projects.
side and Jennifer Murphy Under the terms of the

– all of whom were key members of the admin and corporate overheads. We’ve earn-in agreement, Stavely must sole-

former Integra board and management used our funding quite judiciously and I fund $150,000 of exploration costs in

team – after toiling away for four years on think that has resulted in us not blowing the first two years to earn a 51% interest,

a shoestring budget in a jurisdiction few out our capital structure and it remains with an additional $300,000 required to

others are prepared to tip money into. quite tight almost four years down the be spent over a further three years to lift

track.
““We’ve taken a large risk,” Cairns said. that stake to 80%, should the company

“Management own over 50% of elect to proceed.
the company and we put quite a
lot of money into this before we “Navarre approached us in Au-
came to market with the project.
We’re probably, to our gust last year and indicated that
“We’re heavily invested both fi- estimate, maybe 100m their focus was primarily on their
nancially and emotionally, so it’s gold opportunities in the Ararat
been very pleasing to see that
away from the main system. area and asked us if we would be
interested in a JV agreement,”

our initial interpretations of what Cairns said.

this system was are proving cor- “We have maintained our con-

rect.” “We’ve achieved a lot in terms of drill- fidence that this is an underexplored belt

Cairns maintains his company made ing and I think in terms of value for money and it works well with our current land

the right decision to list on the ASX via expenditure-wise, shareholders should holding that we include that JV area and

a $6.1 million IPO in early 2014, even be quite happy.” work all of the areas together without

though the wider resources market was Stavely’s exploration success and having to worry about tenement bounda-

in the midst of a crippling downturn. Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd’s impressive re- ries, etc in terms of the programmes.”

“We needed some funding to really turns at the Fosterville mine near Ben- Stavely also holds ground in the Ararat

progress the project,” he said. “Drilling digo have been the few shining lights for area, with drilling planned this month for

these deep holes, looking just for geo- Victoria’s mining industry in recent years. the Honeysuckle gold prospect and Car-

logical information is an extensive pro- Cairns said while Victoria’s mineral po- roll’s VMS target.

cess, so we really needed some funding tential was not being disputed, he con- – Michael Washbourne
to help us out with that. ceded the typically lengthy approvals

“Having said that, we’re pretty effective process to clear the way for mine devel-

in terms of our expenditure – about 71% opment often turned people away from

of our expenditure goes into the ground investing in the State.

– so there’s not a lot of fluff in terms of “The Geological Survey of Victoria

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT FEBRUARY 2018 PAGE 61

SOUTHERN STATES

A revival for Tassie’s West Coast

The long-mothballed Zeehan
zinc operation could be given
a new lease of life after prospec-

tive float Tartana Resources Ltd

acquired it in January.

Zeehan, in Tasmania’s north-

west, has sat in the portfolio of

SciDev Ltd since the early 2000s

but with the chemical wastewa-

ter treatment company keen to

refocus on its core capabilities,

it has been on the lookout for a

buyer for some time.

Improved market conditions

for zinc saw interest in Zeehan’s

zinc resources increase and

in October 2017 privately-held

Tartana agreed to pay SciDev

$500,000 in cash and issue 15

million shares for the zinc resi-

dues project.

SciDev managing director

Kieran Rodgers said the deal

made sense for both compa-

nies. London outfit NQ plans to exploit Hellyer’s tailings where a resource of 9.5mt @ 2.61 g/t gold,

“Our predecessor Intec had 104 g/t silver, 3.03% lead and 2.5% zinc exists

Zeehan in its portfolio for 10

years and it has been sitting there idle for work as it is non-sulphide material, and es in both commodities. Bartrop expect-

a long time,” Rodgers said. “It is a project we know that works. We are also looking ed Tartana’s asset mix to go down well

which is zinc price-dependent and one at fuming where there is a variety of op- with investors.

which is better suited in a more appropri- tions and we have been approached by a “There is quite a bit of interest in the

ate portfolio.” number of potential overseas customers IPO market at the moment and we are in

Tartana plans to list on the ASX this interested in processing the material at the right commodities, particularly as we

year and managing director Stephen their smelters around the world.” are starting to see some signs of cobalt

Bartrop said the acquisition of zinc would The first option to be investigated is in some of the old intersections at Tar-

add diversity to the IPO’s portfolio. closer to home, however, with Tartana tana,” he said.

“Our flagship asset is the namesake preparing to send a 5,000t sample to Meanwhile to the east of Zeehan, Lon-

copper porphyry project near Chillagoe Nyrstar’s Port Pirie smelter in South Aus- don-listed NQ Minerals plc received ap-

in Queensland,” Bartrop said. “But, we tralia. proval of its environmental management

had been looking at opportunities around Bartrop said positive momentum in plan for the Hellyer gold project.

Zeehan for around 18 months. It has the zinc prices had led to interest in the Zee- NQ picked up Hellyer from Bass Met-

capacity to generate healthy cash flow han product increasing and the company als Ltd in May 2017 as the latter’s focus

under a variety of scenarios. If we can expected to flesh out further economic shifted to graphite mining in Madagascar.

get it into production it could help drive and logistical opportunities following the NQ plans to exploit Hellyer’s tailings

Tartana and a few other projects for- IPO process. where a resource of 9.5mt @ 2.61 g/t

ward.” Zeehan will join the Tartana copper gold, 104 g/t silver, 3.03% lead and 2.5%

Zeehan contains a non-JORC re- porphyry project in the Tartana prospec- zinc exists.

source of 430,000t @ 14% zinc, stem- tus, Bartrop saying the namesake asset In November, NQ chairman Brian

ming from the Zeehan smelter which would remain the company’s flagship. Stockbridge said the company expected

operated intermittently between 1898 Tartana – 40km north-west of Chilla- Hellyer to be back in production within

and 1946. Historical mine workings and goe – comprises four granted mining 12 months. NQ has assessed a post-tax

tailings dump remnants also remain but leases and a copper sulphate plant. The NPV of $276 million and IRR of 130%

the region has seen little activity since company plans to explore for additional based on a 10-year mine life and $20

the nearby Fossey mine at Hellyer was copper oxide material to restart and feed million capex.

closed in 2012. the plant as well as drilling the underlying – Dominic Piper
Bartrop said finding a suitable treat- porphyry system.

ment flow sheet held the key to Zeehan’s Tartana also contains the Queen

successful redevelopment. Grade zinc prospect which Bartrop said

“We are investigating a variety of ways was similar to the nearby King Vol mine.

of processing the slag,” he said. “We Zinc and copper are tipped to trade

have already conducted leaching test higher this year thanks to supply squeez-

PAGE 62 FEBRUARY 2018 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

SAVE THE DATE

23 October 2018

Perth,Western Australia

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MINING SERVICES

SGS geared up

SGSprovidesworldleadingservicestoexplorationfirms,miningcompanies,financialorganisationsandgovernmentsaroundtheworld

Multifaceted services outfit SGS Min- portfolio which includes the metallurgical port requirements in the mining sector.
erals is well positioned for the next
phase of growth in the resources sector. testing capability, process design and The diversity of its business is critical

At the time of print, SGS executive vice engineering, geological resource mod- given the fast-moving and highly com-
president for global minerals Derick Gov-
ender was happy to report that SGS`s elling and studies, as well as plant opti- petitive nature of mining and related in-
global onsite laboratory network of over
70 site labs was still showing signs for misation service capability, allows SGS dustries.
further growth in 2018, with the Austral-
ian entity demonstrating strong perfor- to provide more than just site lab ser- To keep up with an ever-evolving min-
mance in this segment of the minerals
business. vices to its onsite client ing sector, SGS strives

“We have grown consistently in this base,” he said. for continuous improve-
segment, even in the downturn,” Goven-
der told Paydirt. SGS provides ex- ment across its nine

“We have seen opportunities come pertise in inspection, business streams and re-
along mainly as mining companies are
focusing on their core businesses and verification, testing and mains open to expansion
have sought out specialists like SGS in
the field of laboratories. certification across a through acquisitions in the

“The global SGS footprint and solid ex- number of disciplines, ilk of the Bateman trans-
perience in setting up and operating over
70 site labs holds SGS in good stead to not just mining and action in 2016.
continue its strong growth in this seg-
ment. In addition, the integrated services minerals. The acquisition of Bate-

The company’s ca- man Projects boosted

pabilities in areas such SGS’s capabilities in pro-

as transportation, lo- cess plant design and

gistics, construction, engineering, project man-

energy, training, risk agement and commis-

management, health sioning and optimisation

and safety, trade, en- services for mineral pro-

ergy and environment cessing plants.

means SGS has the The Bateman Modular

capacity to fulfil pit-to- Derick Govender Process Plant business

PAGE 64 FEBRUARY 2018 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

A SGS sample prep lab at Kipoi, DRC

SGS has 90,000 employees and 2,000 offices across the world

formed part of the transaction, while the The SGS team with the Strategic Precious Metals Processing team. SGS has been
addition of more skilled people was also awarded the onsite contract to design, equip and operate the new, state-of-the-art
welcomed by SGS and will hold the com-
pany in good stead as positivity returns on-site laboratory for an Antimony roaster project in the Sultanate of Oman
to the mining sector.
“Within our organisation we have a vanced groups with the objective of cre-
Govender said he expected confi- specific business portfolio which over- ating more efficient solutions for its client
dence in the mining industry to continue sees projects related to innovation and base,” Govender said.
to improve this year. digitalisation. This group tends to harmo-
nise ideas, proof of concepts in a global “In our minerals services portfolio, we
“But, I still believe mining companies network, help with interaction of the are constantly reviewing opportunities
are going to be cautious in their spend- relevant technology and service provid- related to innovative approaches which
ing. The pricing of the major commodities ers and technology developers and ad- can unlock increase value to our clients
[especially those hovering well above the businesses.”
levels seen in 2016] will continue to be
the key factor,” he said.

“If we see commodity prices remaining
at a consistent level or moving up, we will
see more money coming into exploration
as mining companies seek to increase
their resources. We are already seeing
the number of drill rigs to sites increas-
ing, which is always an indication of an
improving market.”

SGS’s mantra to innovate and focus on
business improvements has it well placed
to handle the looming mining boom.

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT FEBRUARY 2018 PAGE 65

Avesoro lands full suite BGC boosts
of mining toys Pilbara profile

A subsidiary of dual-listed West Afri- BGC Contracting Pty Ltd

can gold producer Avesoro Resources has boosted its Pilbara oper-

Inc has entered into multiple equipment ating portfolio after securing

finance facility agreements with Mapa two new contracts with BHP

İnşaatve Ticaret A.Ş. to purchase a Ltd.

collection of heavy mining equipment One contract is for ma-

and additional auxiliary tools valued at jor refurbishment works to

$US17.1 million. BHP’s Coondewanna air-

Avesoro, via its wholly-owned subsidi- port, while the other involves

ary Bea Mountain Mining Corp, is set to an expansion of the mainte-

take control of three Sandvik DP1500 nance facilities associated BGC Contracting has bolstered its Pilbara operating
surface drills, three Komatsu PC1250 ex- with the Jimblebar mine site. portfolio with two new contracts
cavators and eight Komatsu HD785 haul
BGC provided an opti-

trucks. The additional auxiliary support mised alternative design for the Coonde- shop expansion is scheduled to start

equipment includes a Komatsu GD655 wanna airside refurbishment project, next month and be completed within 12

grader, two Komatsu D275A dozers and which was developed in conjunction with months.

two Bomag BW213 drum rollers. its design partners Golder Associates Meanwhile, BGC has subcontracted

Delivery of the equipment to Avesoro’s and Aerodrome Management Services. the unincorporated JV between Njamal

New Liberty gold mine in Liberia was The scope of work involves design Services Pty Ltd and the Pilbara Re-

scheduled to occur at the time of print. and construction to resurface the runway source Group (NPJV) to provide mobile

The finance agreements also include with imported crushed rock and an as- plant and dump truck operators at Atlas

the purchase of eight MTU Onsite En- phalt surface. Additional work includes Iron Ltd’s Mt Webber mine, near Marble

ergy 2,290 kVA diesel generators which the taxiway and apron lights and the re- Bar.

will replace the existing rented power placement and upgrade of the precision NPJV has previously assisted at Mt

generation facility on site at New Liberty. approach path indicator (PAPI) system. Webber through provision of construc-

Work on the airport tion and mining services, including the

project is expected to be building of a satellite crib and amenities

completed this month. facility.

BGC won the tender for Up to 20 people from the Njamal com-

the workshop expansion munity will be employed at Mt Webber

project at Jimblebar after over the course of the 12-month contract.

proposing to build main-

tenance facilities similar Sun rises for
to those previously con- SNC-Lavalin and
structed for other clients.

Clean TeQTechnical consultants

GHD Pty Ltd have started

detailed design work on Project management firm SNC-Lavalin

the project, with a focus has been selected as an alliance partner

on minimising disruption by Clean TeQ Holdings Ltd for the de-

to ongoing maintenance velopment of the Sunrise nickel-cobalt-

services and achieving scandium project in New South Wales.

commonality between the Under the first phase of an alliance de-
Avesoro is acquiring an extensive suite of mining equipment new and existing facilities. velopment agreement, SNC-Lavalin – in
conjunction with CB&I and Clean TeQ
for its New Liberty gold operation in Liberia Site work on the work-

PAGE 66 FEBRUARY 2018 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

– will produce a project proposal and GR Engineering will oversee the DFS on in other Asian countries where graphite
target cost estimate to bring Sunrise to the Hayes Creek zinc-gold-silver project demand is strong.
a final investment decision by mid-2018.
This includes provision to provide EPC for PNX Metals China is one of the largest end-users
services. of graphite, both in the traditional indus-
and capital works required for the con- trial sector and the emerging battery
SNC-Lavalin is currently working with struction, commissioning and ramp-up of technology space.
Clean TeQ to execute a DFS which is the process plant and associated infra-
scheduled for completion in early 2018. structure. Siviour is the largest graphite deposit
The TSX-listed company was awarded the in Australia and among the largest in the
FEED contract for a high-pressure acid PNX expects the DFS to build on the world. A PFS is currently progressing,
leaching circuit, acid plant and power gen- robust results reported in the PFS which with results due towards the end of next
eration last September. was released last July. month.

Downer, Ausenco join A drilling programme at Hayes Creek, Under the terms of the consultancy
forces at Carrapateena about 170km south of Darwin, was con- agreement, Mastermines will be initially
cluding at the time of print with the results remunerated by the issue of Renascor
Downer EDI Ltd and Ausenco Pty Ltd to be fed into the DFS via a potential ex- ordinary shares on a periodic basis, with
have been jointly awarded an EPC con- tension of mine life. those shares subject to trading restric-
tract at Oz Minerals Ltd’s Carrapateena tions for the duration of the contract.
copper-gold mine in South Australia. Renascor set to master
Chinese off-take FYI lines up alumina
wThe scope of work includes engi- study contractors
neering, procurement and construction Graphite hopeful Renascor Resources
of a new processing plant, including the Ltd has appointed China-focused com- FYI Resources Ltd has awarded key
non-process infrastructure to support the modity marketing advisor Mastermines study contracts to Independent Met-
operations, site power distribution, plant to assist with commercial relationships allurgical Operations Pty Ltd and GR
bore fields development for regional wa- with potential off-take partners for its Engineering Services Ltd as it looks to
ter supply and full communications and Siviour project in South Australia. progress its Cadoux Kaolin high purity
telemetry network. alumina project in Western Australia.
Mastermines is expected to open
Initial works began in late December doors for Renascor in China, as well as IMO will act as the metallurgical study
under a limited notice to proceed, with manager for the economics studies stage
full construction activities scheduled for of project development, with deliverables
later this quarter. including scoping study metallurgical test
work aimed at optimising pre-beneficia-
The full contract is valued at $312 mil- tion, including attritioning, leach optimi-
lion. sation and by-product treatment options.

GR studies up on Hayes GR Engineering has been appointed
Creek DFS the engineering study manager and will
be responsible for refining the proprie-
GR Engineering Services Ltd has tary HPA flowsheet with preliminary eco-
been appointed study manager of the nomic parameters.
DFS on PNX Metals Ltd’s Hayes Creek
zinc-gold-silver project in the Northern The scope of works will be to PFS level
Territory. for a processing facility supporting treat-
ment capacity of 120,000 tpa of kaolin ore
The Perth-based engineering firm will for feed to a specifically designed benefi-
be responsible for the process design ciation and refining plant to produce up to
and engineering aspects of the project, 10,000 tpa of high purity alumina.
including all of the facilities, equipment

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT FEBRUARY 2018 PAGE 67

REGIONAL ROUNDUP AFRICA

Tanga expands west to Namibia

Tanga Resources Ltd has option on a good zinc project in the
achieved the diversification it stable jurisdiction of Namibia,” Stu-

has been seeking following the ac- art explained. “But, from there you

quisition of an enticing base metals have to be patient and wait for the

project in Namibia. market to turn.”

Tanga had been a single-as- Stuart will join the Tanga board

set company for more than two as non-executive director.

years with its sole focus being the Market reaction to Tanga’s new

Hanang gold project in Tanzania venture was decidedly flat following

but when new managing director its announcement on December 5

Matt Bowles’ arrival coincided with but since reopening of trading after

political upheaval in the East Afri- the Christmas break, the compa-

can country the company thought ny’s shares have moved in a posi-

it prudent to spread its risk profile. tive direction.

That aim was achieved in De- “The timing of the announcement

cember when the company struck probably meant people were not

an option agreement with private following it but since Christmas in-

vendors to acquire an 80% inter- terest has picked up considerably,”

est in the Joumbira zinc project in Bowles said, pointing to a 60% in-

Namibia. crease since December 12.

Joumbira – 190km north of “The response from investors –

Windhoek – was first explored in both existing and new – has been

the late 1970s by Messina Trans- resoundingly positive.”

vall but has lain largely dormant Bowles said the company was

since with state-owned mining eager to get into exploration again

company Epangelo Mining Com- after a frustrating nine months in

pany having held the project since Tanga’s newest acquisition, the Joumbira zinc project, Tanzania but he is also adamant

2005. sits on the prolific Damaran belt in Namibia Hanang remains an integral part of

Bowles told Paydirt Joumbira the Tanga portfolio.

offered Tanga the perfect opportunity to The historical results are not JORC- “We are certainly not walking away

gain traction in the market while the Tan- compliant, a situation Tanga intends to from Hanang or Tanzania,” he said.

zanian political situation played out. rectify in its initial work. “Just a few weeks ago we finished drill-

“Hanang is a sensational asset which “We are committed to a minimum ing a water bore for the local community,

we want to retain but we had to add some spend of $100,000 on drilling,” Bowles so we are still working there. It is about

geographic and commodity diversifica- said. “That will likely cover the first few balancing how much to spend; you want

tion,” Bowles said. “We wanted to stay in holes and if we like what we see we can to get the best share price response for

Africa and get something which was not exercise the option and carry on with the every dollar you spend and currently Na-

completely greenfields; Joumbira gives work of verifying those old results.” mibia will give us a better response than

us this.” Coldstone’s option agreement with Tanzania.”

Timing is favourable for Tanga with the Epangelo, allows it to acquire an initial The ability of Tanga and Advino to

junior exploration sector, and zinc plays 80% (by spending $1 million over two quickly strike a deal was also advan-

in particular, attracting widespread mar- years) and up to 90% of Joumbira with tageous to both groups, according to

ket attention. the state-owned miner retaining a 10% Bowles.

“It really ticks all the boxes; it is in a free-carried interest. “You always prefer to pick up assets

well-regarded jurisdiction, it is a JV with Tanga’s acquisition of Coldstone will from private groups because it is quicker

the state-owned mining company and see it initially spend $100,000 on due dil- and then the market can make an as-

it is in zinc-lead which the market is so igence before issuing 44 million shares sessment of what it is worth,” Bowles

keen on them at the moment,” Bowles and paying a further $400,000 in cash said. “This is essentially a new asset to

said. dependent on milestones. the market, people weren’t aware of it

While little work has been undertaken Coldstone is part of the Advino Re- and there has been little modern explo-

on the project this decade, Tanga does sources Pty Ltd group which is headed ration done on it.

have access to a historical database up by respected mining executives “This project is of a size that perhaps it

which includes hits of 14m @ 9.5% zinc, Vince Algar and Ian Stuart. Advino has would have fit into an IPO. We believed

8.2% lead and 70.8 g/t silver from 39m, held Joumbira for several years but Tanga was the best vehicle for it.”

5m @ 8.73% zinc, 2.30% lead, 23 g/t Stuart told Paydirt in December there – Dominic Piper
silver from 68m; 23m @ 5.86% zinc and had been a definite turn in market in-

6.3% lead from 29m, 11.5m @ 8.29% terest for earlier stage projects towards

zinc and 1.24% lead from 54m, 10m @ the end of 2017.

5.29% zinc and 4.30% lead from 32m “Our model is based on being oppor-

and 11m @ 7.06% zinc and 3.73% lead tunistic and when companies couldn’t

from 36m. raise money in a flat market, we got a soft

PAGE 68 FEBRUARY 2018 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

29 - 31 August 2018

Perth,Western Australia

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REGIONAL ROUNDUP

Symbol to reverse trends
in Nigeria

Symbol has built a 17km-long road to complement the existing infrastructure to get zinc from the Macy deposit to port

Asuccessful RTO of Swala Energy Ltd industry going and has bent over back- country’s northern provinces, Simpson
has brought a near-term zinc produc- ward for us and we couldn’t be happier.” and his team – Barry Bolitho and Ian Mc-
ing company in Nigeria to the ASX. Cubbing (non-executive directors) – be-
With President Muhammadu Buhari lieve a new dawn is upon Nigeria.
Symbol Mining Ltd completed the taking great strides to stamp out corrup-
Swala transaction and listed on the ASX tion and eliminate Boko Haram from the Simpson and Bolitho can speak from
in December, with high hopes from the experience, with the pair arriving in Ni-
host nation that it can be a beacon of Symbol Mining Ltd (ASX: SL1) geria six years ago, privately funding
light for other miners and explorers to their exploits since and seeing first-hand
follow. Listed: December 22 the changing nature of the economy.

“We are really being seen by the Min- Market cap: $28.2 million The country is desperately trying to
istry as some sort of flagship for getting soften its reliance on the oil sector, with
their mining industry going,” Symbol Share price: 6.3c/share (mid-January) agriculture and mining deemed the next
chairman Andrew Simpson told Paydirt. pillars to prop up the economy.
Board: Andrew Simpson (chairman),
“We have met with the Minister [Hon Barry Bolitho (non-executive), Ian Mc- Therefore, Symbol is timing its run in
Dr Kayode Fayemi] on a number of oc- Cubbing (non-executive) Nigeria perfectly in many respects.
casions, including at Africa Down Under
[Perth], and we are very impressed with Focus: Zinc-lead mining and explora- The company has government sup-
him. He is determined to get the mining tion opportunities in Nigeria port, a powerhouse commodity trader in
Noble Group Ltd as a major shareholder

PAGE 70 FEBRUARY 2018 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

AFRICA

(18%) and is focused on zinc which is Symbol will look to add to its portfolio of high-grade zinc opportunities in Nigeria
trading at five-year highs.
production] so our level of confidence in growth strategy is also in play.
Furthermore, Symbol is a matter of terms of making these major resources is “We have a very good association with
months away from bringing its high- very real and our expectations are very
grade zinc concentrate to market, high,” he said. the Ministry and they have been very
which will enhance its credentials as encouraging. We have already been of-
being the real deal in a jurisdiction not Simpson is confident significant re- fered additional projects to this point,”
typically favoured by the investment sources will be unearthed at Tawny and Simpson said.
community. Imperial – Symbol has a 60% interest in
both – but just how big those resources “We know that over the next six months
“We will start stripping in April as the are remains unknown. we definitely will be offered additional
first stage of our mining programme, projects. To this point though we have
while obviously targeting some addi- High-grade projects in the ilk of Tawny been a private company and haven’t had
tional tonnes as we go along. In respect and Imperial are seldom seen anymore, the funding to take them on and make
to making people more comfortable particularly in Australia but the underex- the necessary commitments to them.
with Nigeria, we anticipate that we will plored nature of Nigeria means its base
get our first tonnes of shippable prod- metals potential is largely unknown. “Once the first shipment goes down
uct on the wharf in April/May,” Simpson the road, there is at least one other sig-
said. While Symbol has immediate produc- nificant project there that we’re lining up
tion and resource development ambi- to be a candidate for as we believe the
“The way the market is for zinc con- tions at its existing assets, executing its opportunity in Nigeria is very significant.”
centrates at the moment trading com-
panies are lining up wanting to buy our Such is Simpson’s bullishness on Ni-
product.” geria, he believes that once the mining
sector starts to open up, the country has
Noble has the marketing rights for a the potential to rival one of Africa’s re-
third of the zinc produced by Symbol sources powerhouses.
in Nigeria, however, its interest in the
company extends beyond the tonnes “I won’t be at all surprised if over the
on the horizon from Macy, a deposit next decade or two you see Nigeria de-
which is part of the Imperial project JV velop to something that is not too dis-
with Irish-led consortium Goidel Re- similar to Ghana. There is a lot of stuff
sources. there, but it hasn’t been touched be-
cause of the political situation which we
At the time of print, RC and diamond believe is stable now. Both Barry and I
drilling had restarted at Macy – 122,900t have seen strong change in the country,
@ 21.9% zinc and 4.4% lead (indicated particularly in the last couple of years,”
and inferred) – to follow up on the 28 Simpson said.
holes already completed for 2,482m.
– Mark Andrews
Simpson expected drilling to be com-
pleted no later than the end of January Andrew Simpson
and was confident of converting more in-
ferred resources to indicated status.

“Barry and I did a lot of the funding our-
selves and we did a bit of seed capital
raising as well, but our resources have
been fairly limited in what we have been
able to achieve,” Simpson said.

“We did commit to an initial drill pro-
gramme because we are very confident
in what we have got; even with a very
limited drilling we have got these spec-
tacular results [including 4m @ 51.7%
zinc from 51m, 8.9m @ 41.1% zinc from
30m, 6m @ 38.1% zinc from 30m] and
130,000t of inferred resources at an av-
erage grade of 22% zinc.”

In addition to the Imperial JV, Symbol
is involved with a local community group
at the Tawny zinc-lead-silver JV, east of
Abuja.

Simpson said Tawny would also be
drilled out and a substantial resource
defined over the next 12-18 months.

“Both projects have strong small-scale
mining histories, Tawny has a very rudi-
mentary small-scale mining history pro-
ducing 20,000t of very high-grade zinc
and lead concentrates. Imperial is even
higher with about 30,000t [historical

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT FEBRUARY 2018 PAGE 71

REGIONAL ROUNDUP

Good Endeavour starts to pay off

Endeavour upgraded its Karma mine in Burkina Faso during 2017

Multi-jurisdictional gold miner Endeav- the flagship Ity CIL project has started. between 30,000oz and 35,000oz at an
our Mining Corp is looking to expand The prowess of Endeavour’s own AISC of $US550-600/oz for Q4 2017,” he
its footprint in West Africa. said.
construction team was demonstrated
The company is already present in at Houndé, with commercial production Such was the achievement at Houndé,
Burkina Faso, Mali and Cote d’Ivoire, achieved two months ahead of schedule Endeavour hopes to repeat the dose at
with five mines and two development and $15 million cheaper than initial budg- Ity using the same formula.
projects in play. et designs.
“Our in-house construction team has
“We are very enthusiastic about the Nameplate capacity was achieved now transitioned from Houndé to our Ity
region and will continue to invest in op- within weeks of ore through the mill with CIL project in Cote d’Ivoire,” de Montes-
timising our operations here, developing Endeavour reporting 96% plant capacity sus said.
projects and advancing both near-mine and 95% gold recoveries; both above de-
and greenfields exploration activity,” En- sign parameters. “Once complete, Ity is set to become
deavour Mining Corp president Sebast- another top tier asset for Endeavour
ien de Montessus told Paydirt. The immediate success at Houndé has with robust project economics, a strong
allowed Endeavour to adjust its group long-life production profile and signifi-
“But, as we continue to add to our ex- forecast from 600,000-640,000 gold cant exploration upside. Average an-
ploration footprint to source our next pro- ozpa production to 630,000-675,000oz nual production in the first five years of
ject organically we are also expanding at AISC of $US900/oz, with free cash 235,000oz with AISC of $US494/oz and
our footprint in neighbouring countries flow from the Burkinabe project also in- an after-tax IRR of around 20%, even
such as Guinea and Niger, where we creased to $US165 million. at a low gold price of $US1,000/oz, are
were recently granted some promising proof of the compelling economics of the
exploration licences.” Late last year de Montessus said min- project.”
ing activities had continued to progress
While Niger and Guinea represent new well with nearly three months worth of Current reserves will see Ity in produc-
frontiers for Endeavour, the company has feed stockpiled. tion for 14 years, with first gold expected
firm footings in Burkina Faso – where in mid-2019.
Houndé was commissioned in 2017 – “Positive grade reconciliation against
and Cote d’Ivoire where construction of the resource model is also being Endeavour is currently producing from
achieved. We now expect to produce Ity via heap leach, with output of 75,000-

PAGE 72 FEBRUARY 2018 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

AFRICA

80,000oz at AISC of $US740-780/oz Based on current reserves average production from Houndé is forecast
guided for Q4 given greater priorities to to be 190,000 ozpa gold at AISC of $US709/oz over 10 years
construction of the CIL.
Endeavour has embarked on, with the life – is expected towards the end of this
While the emphasis is on the Ity CIL former acting as operator on the project year.
project, exploration will not be ignored, in which $3.8 million was budgeted to be
with Endeavour’s five-year discovery tar- spent on exploration at the back end of “We have reinforced our presence in
get being 4-6 moz gold. 2017 and into this year. Mali with the acquisition of our Kalana
development project [in 2017] and ac-
The company is confident of hitting “2018 will also be an important year for quired more exploration ground north of
that target, given it controls the entire Ity our exploration team as we continue to our Tabakoto mine,” de Montessus said.
Birimian belt and was able to discover deliver on our exploration strategy which
1.5 moz gold between November 2016 was unveiled in November 2016. We’ve While increasing its position in various
and November 2017. had some great successes [in 2017] – parts of West Africa, Endeavour recently
both with near-mine and greenfield ex- announced the divestment of Nzema,
Having been in production at Agbaou ploration activities – which we will con- Ghana, for $US38.5 million.
for some time, Endeavour knows the tinue to build on as we gradually aim to
ground in Cote d’Ivoire well and has set progress our most promising greenfield Nzema, a key asset in Endeavour’s ac-
itself a goal of finding 500,000-1.5 moz exploration into potential development quisition of Australian outfit Adamus Re-
gold at the mine in the few next years. projects in the long term, post Ity CIL and sources, was considered non-core and
Kalana,” de Montessus said. disposed of to BCM International Ltd.
A total of 45,000m was planned to be
drilled at Agbaou in 2017, with deeper Kalana, south of Bamako, Mali, is one Subject to certain milestones being
drilling aimed at testing the depth poten- of the near-term development projects achieved, additional deferred payments
tial scheduled. which Endeavour is currently optimising. of up to $US25 million are expected to
be received over the course of 2018 and
In addition to exploring its own ground, An updated feasibility study on Kalana 2019, based on mine free cash flow gen-
Endeavour can also look forward to what – 1.2 mtpa CIL plant, 1.96 moz open pit- eration.
is revealed within the JV with Randgold table gold @ 2.8 g/t for an 18-year mine
Resources Ltd in Cote d’Ivoire. – Mark Andrews

“With Endeavour’s Sissedougou and
Randgold’s Mankono properties lying
next to each other in the north of the
country and mineralisation likely to be
extended across the two properties, it
made sense for Cote d’Ivoire’s two larg-
est gold producers to combine efforts,”
de Montessus said.

“It allows both companies to acceler-
ate exploration in the area, while benefit-
ting from the synergies that come from
working together. Sissedougou’s poten-
tial was initially confirmed with a drilling
programme carried out in 2011 when the
property was owned by La Mancha. It
suggested the presence of a promising
800m mineralised structure. This JV will
allow us to accelerate exploration on our
Sissedougou property while we continue
to focus our efforts on our 100% con-
trolled corridor near the Ity mine, which
our exploration strategic review identified
as our highest priority.”

The JV with Randgold (70%) is the first

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AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT FEBRUARY 2018 PAGE 73

REGIONAL ROUNDUP LATIN AMERICA

Peru eyes $2.4 billion
copper railway

The Government of Pe- A railway might help ease Los Chancas, Panoro Minerals Ltd’s Co-
ruvian President Pedro tabambas and Buenaventura’s Trapiche,
Pablo Kuczynski is evaluat- tensions between mining Labo said.
ing a $US2.4 billion railway
project to transport mineral companies and farming Las Bambas alone produced about
concentrates from a copper- 453,000t of copper last year.
rich Andean region to the communities in the Andes
Pacific coast for export, a “That kind of volume...requires more
government official told Re- that have complained about efficient transportation solutions, such
uters last month. as a railway,” Labo said.
the dust and noise created
Deputy Mines Minister Kuczynski had called for a railway to
Ricardo Labo said the pro- by hundreds of diesel trucks transport copper from Las Bambas as
posed railway would start part of his Government’s renewed bid to
in the highland region of Apurimac and that transport MMG’s cop- focus on key infrastructure projects after
stretch 600km to the coast, carrying con- he was nearly removed from office in the
centrates from Chinese-owned MMG per over unpaved roads wake of a graft scandal.
Ltd’s Las Bambas mine and other copper
and iron projects slated to come online in every week. “For example, in Las Bambas, I spoke
the next 15 years. with the Chinese. I told them: ‘you’ve got
Ricardo Labo In 2016, a farmer near to put a railway there’,” Kuczynski said in
Preliminary estimates suggest the Las Bambas was killed in broadcast comments following a meeting
project would cost at least $US2.4 bil- with regional governors.
lion and would likely be paid for through clashes with police in a pro-
joint public-private financing, Labo said. Kuczynski reiterated that his Govern-
But the transportation ministry must first test over MMG’s use of local roads, and ment still plans to pave roads around Las
study the proposal and determine if it Bambas as promised.
would be feasible, he added. three were killed in 2015 demonstrations
Peru, the world’s second biggest pro-
against the mine. Villagers sometimes ducer, expects to produce at least 3mt of
copper in 2021.
block roads used by Las Bambas to de-
– Reuters
mand compensation or action from the

Government or company.

Peru’s southern copper belt is expect-

ed to be a key source of the country’s fu-

ture copper output.

The railway could transport copper

from future mines in the region, including

deposits such as First Quantum Minerals

Ltd’s Haquira, Southern Copper Corp’s

Chile, SQM strike deal in lithium dispute

Lithium major SQM has struck a deal The deal also includes an option that earlier this year by the merger of Cana-
with Chilean development agency would permit SQM to work with state dian Potash Corp of Saskatchewan and
Corfo, ending a long dispute over royal- miner Codelco to begin developing the Agrium, must sell its shares in the Chile-
ties and paving the way for the company Maricunga lithium deposit. Codelco, one an lithium miner as part of an agreement
to lift production. of the world’s largest copper producers, with Indian regulators.
has lithium assets in Chile but is currently
The deal frees the miner to apply for not producing the metal. After talks collapsed in October last
an increase in its production quota as it year, Corfo announced in December that
looks to reassert its standing in a global “Our intention is to make it available for representatives of SQM and Potash had
lithium market transformed by the elec- Codelco so it can ... make viable the de- met with Chilean authorities to reopen
tric vehicle revolution. velopment of a new activity in this area,” negotiations.
Bitran told reporters.
Corfo chief executive Eduardo Bitran The deal removes the miner’s former
said SQM had agreed to overhaul its Under the new contract, SQM would chairman Julio Ponce, who has been
corporate governance board to ensure be able to produce up to 216,000 tpa of fined for market manipulation, from con-
adherence to global standards, a key lithium carbonate through 2025 in the trol of the company.
condition put forward by Chilean authori- Salar de Atacama, the source of half the
ties. The deal also hikes the royalties company’s revenue, if it makes certain Bitran had previously said Chile could
paid by SQM to equal those established investments and obtains the relevant earn up to $US7.5 billion in royalties by
in a similar contract between Chile and permits. 2030 from a new contract with SQM.
SQM competitor and lithium producer
Albemarle. The arbitration began in May 2014, af- The SQM deal was not good news for
ter Chilean authorities accused SQM of emerging Australian lithium miners and
SQM, like the U.S.-based Albemarle, underpaying royalties and violating envi- developers, including the ASX’s three
would be required to supply Chile with ronmental regulations. largest lithium players; Orocobre Ltd,
lithium at a favourable price, a stipulation Galaxy Resources Ltd and Pilbara Min-
intended to incentivise value-added pro- The dispute had threatened to compli- erals Ltd.
duction in Chile. cate Nutrien Ltd’s bid to divest its stake
in SQM. The fertiliser company, formed – Felipe Iturrieta, Reuters

PAGE 74 FEBRUARY 2018 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

LATIN

AMERICA

16-17 May 2018

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REGIONAL ROUNDUP

Nusantara’s bid for change

Nusantara Resources Ltd managing Nusantara is set to complete a DFS on Awak Mas by mid-year
director Mike Spreadborough is on a
mission to change investor perceptions focuses is to really increase the knowl- “We’re very pleased with the work
about Indonesia’s mining industry, espe- edge that people have in Australia on we’ve been able to achieve since the
cially those from Australia. Indonesian mining because it is very at- start of the IPO,” Spreadborough said.
tractive and there are lots and lots of op- “We’re very excited about this project.
“I think it is unfortunate that the Aus- portunities for high-grade deposits.” There’s a lot of people in Asia who are
tralian investment community – and very positive about gold going forward
probably the Australian community as a Nusantara raised $16.2 million via an and we see that Asian influence as a big
whole – has lost touch with what’s going IPO in August – the largest new gold float part of our overall investment strategy.”
on Indonesia,” Spreadborough told Pay- on the ASX since Dacian Gold Ltd in late
dirt. 2012 – having been strongly backed by Spreadborough, most recently Sand-
the likes of Lion Selection Group, Aus- fire Resources NL’s long-serving chief
“It is a very vibrant economy. If you go tralian Super, Macquarie Group Ltd and operating officer, knows he is in for an-
to Jakarta, it’s no different to any other Zhaojin Mining Industry Company Ltd. other busy year, particularly on the back
major city in the Asia-Pacific region. You of the latest drill results from Salu Bulo,
see that across the whole archipelago Within two weeks of listing, the compa- about 1.8km south-east of the main
when you visit.” ny had obtained access to grid power and Awak Mas deposit.
was embarking on extensive resource
Nusantara’s ongoing success at the and exploration drilling campaigns. A de- Assays from the first seven of a 12-hole
Awak Mas gold project in Sulawesi is cision was made in early September to programme have confirmed the continu-
therefore crucial towards improving atti- proceed with a DFS, having verified the ity and strike potential of Salu Bulo, with
tudes about Indonesia and its oft-trouble- results of a PFS completed by the previ- best intercepts including 30.1m @ 2.8 g/t
some mining sector. ous owners. gold from 53.4m (including 8m @ 7.4 g/t
from 69.5m), 23.2m @ 2.8 g/t gold from
Updated resource estimates for the Nusantara has also begun the search surface (including 9.5m @ 4.1 g/t) and
1.74 moz Awak Mas gold project and for a strategic partner from Indonesia 13m @ 1.9 g/t gold from surface (includ-
high-grade Salu Bulo satellite deposit to assist with the development of Awak ing 2m @ 5.5 g/t from 9m).
are due this month, with the revised mod- Mas.
els to be fed into a DFS slated for release “I think last year I spent 50%
mid-year. of my time out of Perth and this
year will be the same,” Spread-
Pending a positive final investment borough said. “I’ll also be
decision by Nusantara, development of spending a lot of time in Sydney
Awak Mas will effectively mark the end of and Melbourne talking to the
a dark chapter for foreign-owned mining Australian investment commu-
assets in Indonesia. nity. I’m really hoping the Aus-
tralian investment community
Australian company Intrepid Mines Ltd grabs hold of this project when
walked away from the Tujuh Bukit cop- they see those positive results
per-gold project in 2014 following a bit- and what we’ve done to push
ter ownership dispute and more recently the project forwards. The next
London-based Churchill Mining plc’s bid 3-4 months will be a very, very
to seek damages from the Indonesian exciting time for shareholders.”
Government after the expropriation over
rights at the East Kutai coal mine was Resource updates for Awak Mas and the high-grade – Michael Washbourne
dismissed by the International Centre for Salu Bulo satellite deposit are due this month
Settlement of Investment Disputes.

Spreadborough said governmental
support for his company’s work in
country to date had been nothing
but positive.

“We actually see very strong
support for the mining industry,
whether it’s nickel, coal, gold or
copper; the Government is very
supportive of mining,” he said.

“It’s no different to any other
regime, there are rules and regu-
lations you’ll work through, but
when you break down those you’ll
find they’re no different to what we
have in Australia and elsewhere.
They want clarity on what you’re
doing with the resource so that the
community gets some benefits.

“I would say one of our continual

PAGE 76 FEBRUARY 2018 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT

ASIA

Mayur targets domestic markets

Both Australia and Papua New “Kumul is very keen to see us suc-
Guinea are set to benefit if May- ceed because they are mandated by

ur Resources Ltd’s long-term vision the PNG Government to diversify up-

stays on course. stream, midstream and downstream

With almost seven years of experi- opportunities with the gas they have,”

ence in PNG already under its belt, Mulder said.

Mayur was one of the strongest new- Mayur’s ties with PNG communities

comers to the ASX last year following also extend to its MoA with the Gulf

an imposing $15.5 million IPO in Sep- Provincial Government over develop-

tember. ment opportunities in the region, in-

Mayur holds a diverse suite of pro- cluding the company’s Orokolo Bay

jects in PNG – including Port Moresby industrial sands project.

(limestone), Orokolo Bay (industrial With a DFS due for completion

sands) and Basilaki (copper-gold) – within the next 12 months, Mayur

all of which managing director Paul could make a final investment deci-

Mulder believes are potentially game- sion on development of Orokolo Bay

changing assets for his company and before year’s end. The company al-

the country in which it is based. ready holds a permit to export up to

“If you look at PNG, it’s really only 200,000t of material, with permission

got copper-gold and nickel as miner- to send bulk samples for customer

als that have been developed, yet it’s testing from December.

got the full suite of everything else you “Our key focus there is to design

can think of,” Mulder told Paydirt. and get up the trial plant,” Mulder said.

“We’ve got a big opportunity, we “We have approval to produce up to

believe, to diversify their mineral base A maiden resource was recently announced for 2,000t of heavy mineral sands, so
firstly, but secondly vertically inte- Mayur’s Port Moresby limestone project in PNG we’ve gone and mapped out the area
grate some of those minerals for the
where we feel we will be first mining

long-term benefit of the country.” displace importation,” Mulder said. “The on a trial basis. The guys are in the field

With strong market support behind the industry importing into PNG will not be at the moment doing all of the production

company, Mayur has made more than a able to compete with our product, even drilling prior to finalising the production

smooth transition to public life, with its without any sort of tariff duty protection. block model and then the final design of

stock comfortably sitting around the $1/ “We have a 2,500 nautical mile freight the plant.”

share mark for the past two months. advantage over places like Thailand. It Mayur is confident that construction

Mayur has ticked off a number of key doesn’t take Blind Charlie to work out sand, which will essentially be produced

milestones since listing, including the what to do if you’ve got similar grade ma- as a waste by-product from Orokolo Bay,

recent declaration of a maiden resource terial, cheaper energy and the technol- will be a cheaper alternative for custom-

for the Port Moresby project containing ogy. As long as you can give confidence ers in Sydney than current material they

382mt of high-grade limestone across to end-users that you’re reliable and you are sourcing from Newcastle, about

the Kido and Lea Lea deposits, both deliver what you say you’re going to do, it 180km north of the Harbour City.

within 25km of the coastline. should be a no brainer.” “We can ship product for less than

Sub-categories of 205mt @ 53.5% Mulder said his company was also what the trucking cost is,” Mulder said.

quicklime (measured), 182mt @ 51.8% keen to take on the “big boys” of the Aus- “Compare circa 30,000 truck move-

quicklime (indicated) and 49mt @ 43.8% tralian limestone market, believing his ments a year, in a 32t truck, trucking

quicklime (inferred) were defined, with business could offer cheaper or compa- over 1 mtpa from Newcastle through the

proven and probable reserves being cal- rable energy and labour costs, particu- Sydney congestion, to shipments on a

culated at the time of print. larly with the local powdered cement and 100,000t vessel; the economies of scale

PNG currently imports a majority of its clinker industries currently in a state of speak for themselves.

lime from Thailand and New Zealand, flux. “We see ourselves as being a bit of dis-

with its cement sourced PNG is backing the ruptor to quite a few markets because of

from countries such as Ja- company’s limestone our access to cheap gas, cheap labour

pan, China and Vietnam, strategy, with the and our proximity to the coast.”

despite having plenty of country’s national oil Drilling is currently ongoing at the Basi-

both in its own backyard. and gas body – Kumul laki copper project, with up to eight holes

Mulder believes the pro- Petroleum – recently set to test a series of geophysical anom-

ject’s coastal location is signing a MoU to as- alies and targets identified from recent

just one of the many ben- sist with gas supply to surface sampling and mapping.

efits which will put Mayur the proposed vertically Mayur has secured funding from an

on the radar of global lime- integrated lime and ce- unnamed North American investment

stone consumers. ment hub at Caution partner for the current work programme.

“As a minimum, we will Mayur is eyeing entry into several Bay, 25km north of Port – Michael Washbourne

be setting up a business to industrial sands markets Moresby.

AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT FEBRUARY 2018 PAGE 77

PLAN WITH PAYDIRT

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MARCH S MT WT F S APRIL S MT WT F S
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MAY JUNE 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
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COMINGS AND GOINGS

William Witham Burke has replaced Neville on January 1. In the interim, its Colulli potash project in
Bassett as chairman of Mete- Chris Hartley will act as an Eritrea, as well as completing
William Witham has been oric, while executive director executive director and com- a LSE listing. Head of market-
appointed chief execu- Graeme Clatworthy has tran- pany secretary Paul Jurman ing Danny Goeman has been
tive of the Australia-Africa sitioned to a non-executive as a non-executive director promoted to the chief execu-
Minerals & Energy Group board role. until Mosig’s replacement is tive’s chair.
(AAMEG). Witham has held appointed.
senior executive roles across Robert Gregory has re- Syrah Resources has ap-
both the Australian and Af- placed David Fowler as Clean TeQ Holdings Ltd pointed Simone Diem as
rican resources sector over chief executive of Sumatra has appointed Stephen general manager of market-
more than two decades and Copper & Gold plc. Fowler Grocott as chief technical de- ing. Diem was recently the
has worked directly in Namib- will act as the company’s velopment officer to support lead buyer for RHI Magnesita
ia, Botswana, Cameroon, Ga- chief financial officer until a the development of its Sun- NV, the world’s largest buyer
bon, Egypt, Niger and Kenya. new appointment is made. In rise nickel-cobalt-scandium of graphite for the refractory
other management changes, project. Current chief techni- and industrial markets.
Peel Mining Ltd has an- Joe Dymott has been ap- cal officer and founding direc-
nounced experienced ge- pointed general manager, de- tor Peter Voigt will refocus his Greg Cochran has been
ologist and mining executive velopment. attention on the commerciali- appointed chief execu-
Ian Bamborough will head sation of new technologies in tive of Reward Minerals Ltd.
up Saturn Metals Ltd, the up- Consolidated Zinc Ltd has Clean TeQ’s water treatment Cochran was most recently
coming spin-out of its Apollo appointed experienced business. managing director of Deep
Hill gold project. DDH1 Drill- mining engineer Eduardo Yellow Ltd for five years and
ing commercial manager An- Valenzuela as its new techni- Jeremy Gray and Richard prior to that he oversaw the
drew Venn will also sit on the cal director. Valenzuela has Crew have joined Orinoco Australian arm of TSX-listed
board of the new company previously held senior roles Gold Ltd as managing direc- Uranium One Inc.
to be chaired initially by Peel at Sundance Resources Ltd, tor and chief operating officer
managing director Rob Ty- Southern Hemisphere Mining respectively. Gray replaces Andrew Radonjic has suc-
son. Ltd and Lithium Australia NL outgoing director Jonathan ceeded Hamish Halliday
and is currently manager of Challis on the company’s as managing director of Ven-
Bernard Olivier has joined mining and geology at Wood board, while Brian Thomas ture Minerals Ltd. Radonjic
Mustang Resources Ltd Group plc (formerly Amec has also stepped down as has been involved with Ven-
as the company’s new man- Foster Wheeler). chairman. Joseph Pinto, Ori- ture since its inception and
aging director, with chairman noco’s second largest share- held the role of technical di-
Ian Daymond reverting back Justin Tremain has been holder, has been appointed rector for the past eight years.
to a non-executive role. In appointed managing direc- interim non-executive chair- Halliday will remain with the
other board and management tor of Novo Litio Ltd follow- man. company as a non-executive
changes, Cobus van Wyk has ing the resignation of David director and corporate con-
been elevated to chief operat- Frances. Tremain founded Rod Lovelady has joined sultant.
ing officer/executive director Renaissance Minerals in Red River Resources Ltd
and Peter Spiers has stepped 2010 and served as the com- as chief financial officer, re- Ted van Heemst
down to pursue other busi- pany’s managing director placing Cameron Bodley who
ness interests. until its takeover by Emerald will remain company sec- NTM Gold Ltd appointed
Resources NL in late 2016. retary. Meanwhile, director Andrew Muir as manag-
Andrew Tunks has re- Frances will continue to work Paul Hart has resigned due ing director. Muir is an expe-
signed as chief executive closely with the Novo Litio to increased commitments in rienced gold geologist who
of Auroch Minerals Ltd to take board as an advisor to the his executive role at Canary has spent the past 12 years
over as managing director company. Capital. in corporate finance. Sub-
of Meteoric Resources NL. stantial shareholder Ted van
Executive chairman Glenn David Frances John Parker has retired as Heemst has agreed to join
Whiddon is now responsible managing director of Lin- the board as a non-executive
for the day-to-day running of Platina Resources Ltd is coln Minerals Ltd after more director, while current chief
Auroch, with chief geologist on the lookout for a new than a decade in the role. executive Rodney Foster will
Peter Sheehan managing chief executive after long- Parker joined the company transition to the role of non-
the company’s exploration serving managing director at a time when it had no re- executive (technical) director.
activities. Meanwhile, Patrick Robert Mosig elected to retire source to now on the verge
of becoming a recognised
graphite producer. Lincoln is
yet to announce his replace-
ment.

Danakali Ltd managing di-
rector Paul Donaldson is
transitioning to a non-exec-
utive role as the company’s
focus shifts to securing bind-
ing off-take agreements for

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LEFTFIELD

Roy Hill in biodiversity consortium

Roy Hill Holdings Ltd is throwing its Roy Hill and its project partners will Roy Hill environment manager John
support behind a new research pro- work together to locate important habi- Wynne said the project would assist the
ject aimed at securing a future for some tats, refuges and movement corridors company by providing direction on devel-
of our most endangered and threatened which in turn will direct where ground oping wildlife conservation programmes.
mammals. management will have the greatest
conservation benefit for wildlife, includ- “This project will provide a foundation
Working alongside Roy Hill in the con- ing the endangered northern quoll and for assessing the impacts of our develop-
sortium is the WA Biodiversity Science greater bilby. ments and inform strategies to mitigate
Institute (WABSI) and its research part- or even alleviate these impacts,” he said.
ners Murdoch University, Department of The Pilbara region will be the focus,
Biodiversity, Conservation and Attrac- with small to medium-sized mammals WABSI programme director Lesley
tions, Western Australian Museum and being targeted. Gibson said the institute was excited to
the CSIRO, as well as the Australian Na- facilitate and support a collaborative pro-
tional University and Biologic. The project aims to locate refuges that ject that will deliver on the biodiversity
offer stable and buffered habitats that science knowledge needs of key deci-
The partnership will be supported with species can retreat to, thrive in and ex- sion-makers and contribute to improving
ARC Linkage funding and was one of 26 pand from under changing environmen- biodiversity outcomes for WA.
grants awarded nationally in round one tal conditions, as well as locate critical
of 2017. As one of five grants awarded to habitat and dispersal routes and use The project will kick off in early 2018
WA, this project will generate significant planning tools to identify conservation and is expected to yield results over the
benefits by applying a genetics approach strategies that will enhance and protect next three years.
to landscape conservation. important habitats.



INDEX

Accelerate 18, 36 E2 Metals 39 Matador 41-42 Rumble 48
AIC 38 Emerald 45, 80 Mayur 42, 77
Albermarle 74 Emmerson Metals X Sandfire 44, 76
Alderan Endeavour 54 MetalsTech 43 Saturn 80
Anglo American 38, 50 Epangelo 5, 72-73 Meteoric 42 Sheffield 47
Ardea 7, 46 Evolution Metminco 80 Sinosteel 8-9
Atlas Iron 68 Mineral Resources 55 Sibanye 7
Auris 38, 49 25, 34, 45 Minotaur Silver Lake
Auroch 47, 66 MMG 9 SQM 54, 60
AuStar First Cobalt 39 Mt Gibson 12 Southern Copper 4, 74
Avesoro 38 First Quantum 74 Mustang 74 Southern Hemisphere 74
80 Fortescue 22-26 80 Stavely 80
58 Freehill 40 Navarre 80 Strandline
66 FYI 67 Nelson Sumatara Copper 58, 60-61
Newcrest 58, 61 Sundance 21
Base 20-21 Noble 43 Symbol 80
Northern Cobalt 60 Syrah 80
Bass 62 Galaxy 4, 54, 74 Novo 80
Glencore 19 Novo Litio 70-71
BHP 4, 7, 14-15, 22, 26, Goidel 71 NQ Minerals 43, 53 54, 80
Gold Fields Nusantara 40, 48
35, 36, 53, 66 Gold Road 10, 28-29, 41
Golden Mile 22, 25, 28-29, 37 Okapi 80
BCI 8-9 Oklo 62
40, 52 Orinoco 43-44, 48
BCM 73 Orocobre
Oz 44
Black Cat 36 55 Tanami Gold 38
Panoro 80 Tando 45, 48
BlackEarth 36 Peel 4, 54, 74 Tanga
Pilbara Minerals 14-15, 67 Tartana 68
Blackstone 38, 51 Hampton 55 Platina Teck 62
Heron 49 PNX 74 Tietto 46
Breaker 45 Hexagon 16 Podium 80 TNG 5, 36
POZ 4, 48, 74 TNT Mines 45
Bryah 38 Pursuit 80 Todd River 45
67 45
Buenaventura 74 Randgold 36
Raptor 18
Carawine 38, 47 iCobalt 42 Red Metal 44, 46, 48 Uranium One 80
Carbine 55 Iluka 20-21, 56 Red River
Cassini 15 Impala Renascor 4, 5, 19
Churchill Independence 7 Reward 36
Clean TeQ 44, 76 Intrepid 34 Rio Tinto 15
Cobalt Blue 66-67, 80 Investigator 44, 76 Riversgold 80
Codelco 12 67
Consolidated Zinc 38-39 80
Copper Strike 74 Jupiter 36 Vedanta 36
Cygnus 4, 9, 53 Venture 80
45, 80 44-45 Venturex 48
54
37 Kasbah 54 West African 5
Kalium Lakes 9 West Wits 54
Dacian 76 Kin Westgold 43
Danakali 80 Kirkland Lake 10-11 Wolf 54
Dart 58 40, 56, 58, 61 Woodside 35
Davenport 39 World Titane 21
De Beers 18 Lincoln 55, 80
Deep Yellow 80 Lithium Australia 80 Zhaojin 76
Diatreme 21 Lonmin 7
Doray 44 Lustrum 41
DRDGold 54
Magmatic 41
Marquee 41

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