WWW.RESOURCEGLOBALNETWORK.COM
MINING | NTM Gold
NTM GOLD
Resource Global Network
Breaking new ground in a historic Western Australian goldfield
MINING | NTM Gold
When ASX-listed junior explorer The Mertondale Shear Northern Manganese merged Zone with fellow Western Australia“The main mineralising structure is the focused junior Redcliffe Mertondale Shear Zone which is a major Resources in 2016, the former linking structure between two major regional gained access to the Redcliffe structures,” says Muir. “It’s highly fertile, Gold Project, located 240 km and there has been quite a lot of gold found North of Kalgoorlie and 40 km previously in the Mertondale Shear.” Northeast of the historic gold mining town Leonora. Renamed In fact, over 1.4 million ounces (Moz) of gold NTM Gold and with a new single has been extracted and produced from the asset focus, the amalgamated Mertondale Shear in both past and present company made instant progress endowment, most of which has been shallow in the shape of five successful oxide gold. However, large swathes of the drill programmes towards region have received little to no exploration the back end of 2016, which attention due to the presence of deeper significantly enhanced NTM’s cover. It is amongst these underexplored areas that NTM has focused its efforts. understanding of the geology and the mineralisation present across the site. Drilling continued “Nearby exploration and existing deposits highlight the potential of the region and throughout 2017 while the company refined its management whilst there has been some exploration, it hasn’t been conclusive with regards to finding team under the leadership of veteran geologist Rodney Foster. mineralisation at deeper depths. So, it’s been our philosophy to drill deeper and we’ve had
At the start of 2018, Foster handed the
some good exploration success so far.
reins of the company to Andrew Muir, another highly experienced geologist with
“We are also in the unusual position of having
an additional 13 years in the finance sector.
a reasonable sized land holding. We’ve
RGN finds out how the new managing
got about 170 km² of prospective ground,”
director plans to build NTM through
reveals Muir.
advancing the Redcliffe project. “We already have a modest resource The Redcliffe project is located in the vast
base which is growing, but one of the key
Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia,
differentiators between us and our peers is
within a prolific gold bearing structure of
that we have four or five processing plants
which NTM has secured a substantial tenure
within 50-75 km of our project.”
in.
Resource Global Network
MINING | NTM Gold
Therefore, while the project is well connected gold rest with the Redcliffe project, which has to WA’s unofficial gold capital Kalgoorlie, it
a current resource estimate of 278,100 oz
is also conveniently located within trucking
(5.48 Mt @ 1.57g/t Au).
distance of a number of processing plants, which gives NTM a range of development
NTM has completed a succession of drilling
options once the company looks to
programmes across a number of prospective
commence gold production.
targets over the last 18 months, many of which have provided excellent results.
However, there is plenty of work to be done before the company can begin to think about “We are getting grades of up to 10-15 g/t in processing any ore, and its hopes of striking
some of the higher-grade parts. Not all of
Resource Global Network
them are like this, but we are chasing higher-
metres of defined strike that could potentially
grade shoots at depth. To date, the high-
rise to 1.5 km.
grade parts are probably averaging at 5 g/t which is easily mineable underground.�
The Bindy prospect
Until recently the drilling completed at Bindy was coarsely spaced at 100 metre intervals, so during the first quarter of
Some of the most impressive results from
2018 the company returned with a more
the sustained drilling activity at the Redcliffe
comprehensive infill RC drilling programme.
project comes from the Bindy prospect, a large mineralised system with over 800
MINING | NTM Gold
ResourceGlobal GlobalNetwork Network Resource At the beginning of April, the company published an enticing set of assay results from the infill programme at Bindy, with notable intersections including: 20 metres @4.25g/t Au (Incl.10m @ 7.92g/t Au), 10 metres @4.20 g/t Au (Incl.5m @ 7.83g/t Au) and 15 metres @2.37g/t Au (Incl.5m @ 4.93g/t Au). Overall, this drilling programme has significantly enhanced NTM’s understanding of the prospect and increased the company’s confidence in the grade distribution by giving a fuller picture of the continuity of mineralisation at Bindy. In the same statement, NTM also revealed it had initiated diamond drilling at the Nambi prospect, another target within the Redcliffe project for which the company has high expectations. The diamond drilling was quickly completed and now NTM is analysing the data and will publish the results in due course. Significantly, there was visible gold in the drill core, further boosting expectations of the deposit. Taking into account the wealth of drilling activity conducted over the last 18 months, NTM hopes to significantly increase the overall resource at the Redcliffe project, with an updated resource announcement due by mid-2018. “Based on the drilling we’ve done to date I am very confident that we can significantly increase our resource base in both the short term as well as the long term. We are confident that there will be a meaningful resource base on the project,” Muir declares.
MINING | NTM Gold
Investor support
Widening his gaze to the contemporary
On the investor side, the company has been
global commodity market, Muir believes
continually well funded from its investor base
there is always a case for having a portfolio
on the ASX and this was demonstrated by a
with exposure to gold. “It has safe haven
recent $1.25 million capital raise, a crucial
status and with the current geopolitical
result for the junior as it looks to continue
climate at the moment, we think that gold is a
with its aggressive drilling campaigns.
very good place to be.
“We had some very strong demand from the
“Of course, the Australian dollar is also
market so we decided to increase the raise
helping. With the dollar at about 80 cents
to $1.5 million. We also had bids for over $4
it boosts the Australian gold price up quite
million which was a fantastic outcome.
nicely. The sentiment largely shifts on US dollar pricing, but we think gold is an easily
“But given our current capacity and aims, we
understandable commodity, it’s a very
didn’t want to make the raise too big. We’ve
transparent, very liquid market and you can
still got plenty of funds to go out and do what
always sell it.”
we need to do in the short to medium term.”
Resource Global Network
For now, NTM is occupied on getting its
“We are active, we are drilling, we will have
updated mineral resource out by the middle
strong news flow over the next few months
of 2018, but beyond this it aims to expand
with the drill results coming through at all
greenfields exploration across its large land
three major prospects and we will have the
holding in the Mertondale Shear.
resource update by mid-year.
“In addition to the majority of our deposits
“That will be a major piece of news and value
having significant upside at depth and
point for the company. Beyond that we will
strike, there is 15 km of our 40 km length of
be looking to expand exploration beyond the
tenements that hasn’t been tested properly,
deposits in an aggressive exploration drive.”
so that’s another target for us,” says the MD.
ASX:NTM
Published by Anderson Murray Media Ltd
To tell the resource market your story, contact: editorial@resourceglobalnetwork.com
WWW.RESOURCEGLOBALNETWORK.COM