Tak ing
STOCK EXPLORING OPPORTUNITIES
Taking Stock Contents NEWS Market outlook for 2013
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NEWS Will the well run dry?
2-3
BLACKHAM RESOURCES Matilda makes the numbers
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CAULDRON ENERGY Wave of discoveries 5 Cassini Resources West Musgrave stacks up
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Cazaly Resources Early Rewards at Mt Angelo North
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RIU Explorers conference Conference Program 8-9 Horseshoe resources Production opportunities 10 Independence Group Cash-backed ambitions 11 Investigator Resources Targeting more silver 12 MACPHERSONS RESOURCES Silver superpit on the horizon
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Octagonal Resources Development and production options
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Rox Resources Ignites the market 15 MINING 2012 REVIEW Upbeat season close 16 DISCLAIMER: PPR has taken care to collect and publish this information in good faith but makes no warranties or representations as to the accuracy of any facts or representations, and has relied upon information provided to it in doing so. PPR does not accept any responsibility for the accuracy of any facts or representations published, or for any opinions expressed. PPR is not a financial adviser, and nothing within the publication is financial or other advice whatsoever. Subject to any terms implied or expressed by the law, PPR does not accept any responsibility for any reliance, loss, damage, cost or expense incurred by any reliance upon this information or anything published by PPR herein, or by acting upon it or for any error, omission or misrepresentation conveyed. The information published is general only and does not take into account any individual objectives of investors.
EDITOR: Denice Rice EMAIL: denice.rice@ppr.com.au DESIGNER: Gary Knights
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FRONT COVER: Drilling at Investigaor Resources Ltd’s (ASX:INV) Bute copper target on South Australia’s Yorke Peninsula
market Watchers see better times in 2013 In what is certainly music to the ears of explorers, analysts are predicting the return of risk money to the market in 2013 in what is shaping up to be a year of consolidation. State One Capital research analyst Peter Kopetz is one of those predicting a filtering through of money to lower-tier resource stocks, largely as a result of the extremely poor outlook for returns from the cash market. “Economists are predicting that interest rates will remain low, so you would expect investors looking for returns will want to look at something that is giving higher returns than the cash rate,” he said. “Equity markets are pretty good at doing that and the last three or four months of 2012 did see things pick up and investors move into higher-yield stocks. “Investors will start with more defensive stocks but what will likely happen is that the money will start flowing through to lower tier stocks. “If you look at the top 100 and top 200 stocks; a lot of them have done very well and could possibly now be classified as over-priced, so the next thing for investors is to probably look at the higher risk good-yielding stocks in the second tier and you will start to see the money flow through and investors take on more risk.” Kopetz said that while investors were generally moving back into the market and as a result smaller miners and explorers would likely see more action than they had over the past three or four years, those investors would be discerning in their choice of both project and commodity. “The common investor has learned a lot of valuable lessons in the past few years about how they employ their money,” he said. “They are going to look for projects that have a good chance of start-up, with low capex and low operating costs. Obviously companies that have a range of projects under their wing at different stages of development are going to be more attractive to investors.”
Mark Hinsley of Foster Stockbroking had a similarly upbeat outlook for commodities and mining equities heading into 2013, again characterised by a return to risk and better global economic indicators. “Data out of the US is encouraging and the change in Chinese government late last year should result in infrastructure initiatives and further spending, which is supportive for commodities and in turn bullish for mining equities,” Hinsley said. “Also, risk appetite appears to be improving with investment funds seen flowing out of bonds and into equities in recent months. “Financing of mining projects and for exploration from equity capital markets is likely to remain tight and be provided by investors on a case-by-case basis. We expect alternatives such as off-take finance, royalties and convertibles to feature as a means to raising capital. “We expect consolidation to remain a key theme throughout 2013 given the current cheap valuations of junior miners which provide opportunities for cashed up majors and mid-tiers to grow via acquisition rather than exploration.”
Craig Oliver Award finalists The Craig Oliver Award will be presented at the RIU Explorers Conference 2013 to one of Australia’s best emerging mining companies. Nominees for the 2013 award are: Doray Minerals, Northern Star Resources, Papillion Resources, Phoenix Gold, Regis Resources, Sandfire Resources and Sirius Resources. The award was created in memory of Mr Oliver, former nonexecutive director of Sundance Resources, who passed away in 2010 when a plane carrying the entire Sundance
Resources board crashed in the Congo, killing all on board. The award is given to a small to mid-cap Australian mining company which has excelled in several areas of performance, including exploration, mining, community engagement and environmental performance. The winner will receive a unique sculpture in silver, titanium, copper and gold created by Thomas Meihofer Jewellers in Subiaco, which will be presented by a member of Mr Oliver’s family. Past winners were Independence Group in 2011 and Silver Lake Resources in 2012.
Taking Stock 2013
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Australia’s well of plenty facing dry times Australia has for decades now drawn abundantly from its well of mineral resources, but the well is drying up, not because the raw materials aren’t there, but because too few explorers are finding them. Australia is blessed with some of the world’s most prospective ground for energy and minerals but the simple equation is that if the known mineral reserves are not replaced at the same pace they are being extracted, the mining sector will collapse and with it the biggest percentage of the nation’s export income. It’s one of those ironies of life that in tough times investors often seek refuge in the blue chip stocks of the global mining giants but at the same time desert those that are ultimately the lifeblood of those miners – the explorers. As high-risk entities, exploration companies are always on the tough side of the fund-raising spectrum but add to that soaring costs, ongoing global financial turmoil and contracting equity markets and it’s undoubtedly tough times for explorers at the moment. Association of Mining and Exploration Companies CEO Simon Bennison says there is little understanding about just how close the minerals supply crisis is for Australia. “Last year the University of Western Australia released a paper identifying an alarming decline in the size and quality of Australia’s resource base in precious and base metals,” he said. “The paper estimates ‘that in the absence of new significant discoveries, based on current reserve and resources, about half of Australia`s non-bulk commodities mines would be exhausted between seven and 18 years and that it takes on average, seven years to convert a new discovery into an operating mine’.” Explorers as a rule need to kiss a lot of frogs before they discover a prince and “kissing money” is getting hard to find. Statistics show that only one in 100 mining projects is successful and only one in 1000 is world class.
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Taking Stock 2013
“AMEC believes that state and federal governments must take action now to encourage greenfield exploration and find the mines of tomorrow,” Bennison said. “A short-term strategy is the immediate implementation of a mechanism that will encourage investment in minerals exploration, such as the Exploration Tax Credit model proposed by AMEC.” Sirius Resources managing director Mark Bennett did find a prince. In July last year, Sirius put down a hole at its Nova project in the remote Fraser Ranges south-east of Kalgoorlie to discover 4m grading 4.02 per cent nickel and 1.41 per cent copper beneath soil cover. The discovery sent Sirius’s share price rocketing from 5.7 cents to above $3 by November, before settling in the past couple of months to between $2 and $2.50. While Bennett agrees with Bennison that the lack of greenfields exploration is now critical and the sector needs some government support, he also sees the sector itself as partly responsible for its woes. “The market simply doesn’t have an appetite for risk money – which is what exploration is – and it’s also incredibly difficult for the market to spot serious explorers from lifestylers and real estate merchants,” Bennett said. “Many get burnt and that makes it harder for those that are real explorers. “I see it getting worse, with less funding available and many companies running out of cash. [Investors should] look for the serious explorers – those with good management and a good track record, who are actively spending money on exploration and not re-drilling holes in old assets or chasing the latest fad commodity. “It [exploration] is the lifeblood of the non-bulk commodities sector – without exploration the sector will shrink. The impact won’t be noticed immediately but when it is it will be too late as there is a two to five-year lag between investing and discovering and there is then another two to
five-year gap between making the discoveries and that translating into new projects.” In terms of government support, Bennett believes exploration should be afforded the same incentives as research and development is for other sectors. “Exploration to the mining industry is the equivalent of long-term R and D to the pharmaceutical and information technology industries,” he said. “Long-term R and D is a difficult, costly, high-risk process, but when successful its results benefit everyone – not only the company, its shareholders and employees, but the greater community via proceeds from taxes and royalties, plus direct jobs and business to service providers. “Therefore exploration, as an entrepreneurial process involving financial risk with potential benefit to all and as such should be treated as R and D and be given the same tax breaks.” Investigator Resources managing director John Anderson – who, like Bennett, found a prince with the Paris silver discovery on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula – said exploration for base and precious metals in Australia was critically low and not helped by mixed messages from governments and lack of community support. “The conflicting government desires for development versus votes mean most state governments are giving financial incentives with one hand and with the other hand are making life more difficult and expensive for explorers with increasingly complex access legislation,” he said. “I think the net effect for the promotion of minerals discovery is in the negative. The fracing debate has unjustifiably spilled over into minerals exploration and needs to be resolved sensibly. “The governments need to be more honest with farmers by clarifying that minerals belong to the crown, that licences are issued to explorers for a fee for the current right to find the people’s resources – as the federal government labels them – on the community’s behalf.” Les Davis, managing director of Silver Lake Resources, the 2012 winner of the Craig Oliver Award, said every government had talked about support for explorers but not one had yet come up with anything meaningful. “A few grants for a few hundred thousand dollars here and there isn’t enough; all that does is drill a few holes,” he said. “The Silver Lakes of the future are out there drilling now and they’re doing it tough. If you look at the quarterly reports of a
lot of the juniors over the past couple of quarters, liquidity is at a very low point. The equity markets are tough and there are a hell of a lot of juniors out there with a hell of a lot of good projects that just need the cash to keep drilling. “I’m not sure how that support should come, whether it be in the form of a share flow through scheme or some other way, but it needs to come or there will be nothing in the pipeline for the future.” WA Mines and Petroleum Minister Norman Moore said the Co-funded Drilling Program, which was the flagship of the Exploration Incentive Scheme had shown success, including support for the deep drilling which led to the re-opening of the Mt Magnet gold mine, the discovery of the East Tropicana gold deposit, the Speewah vanadium deposit, the Yeneena copper discovery, the Theseus uranium deposit and the Sirius Nova discovery. He said the government was also assisting with a comprehensive review of the Aboriginal Heritage Act; an agreement to allow reasonable access for exploration and mining in the Mt Manning area in the Yilgarn; an on-line approvals tracking system and streamlined approvals processing.
Taking Stock 2013
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Matilda makes the numbers for Blackham The Matilda Project in Western Australia’s Wiluna goldfield continues to prove up its credentials as a company maker for emerging gold player Blackham Resources (ASX:BLK). A resource upgrade announced last month grew the measured and indicated resource at the historic Matilda Mine to 3.8Mt at 2.1g/t for 260,000oz gold and the total resource of all deposits within the project to 24Mt at 1.9g/t gold for 1.5Moz of gold. The new total represents resource growth of 382 per cent at the project since Blackham acquired it in November 2011. The resource is contained within three main mining centres Matilda, Williamson and Regent – all of which are within 10km of the old Matilda Mine plant site and infrastructure and within 26km by existing haul roads of the Wiluna gold plant, giving Blackham a potentially viable toll treatment option for its ore. Historic production from Matilda is 2.7Mt at 2.3g/t for approximately 163,000oz of gold from seven open-pits. The project already has mining leases in place, as well as infrastructure from previous mining operations, including haul roads, ore and waste pads and tailings dams, sufficient to support an initial open cut operation producing more than 50,000oz of gold a year from 2014. All projects are based on open-cuttable ores but underground potential is high and in line with the scale of major underground mines in the region. Blackham controls 50km of strike at the projects which managing director Bryan Dixon says presents the company with some “outstanding exploration opportunities”.
Directors
REGISTERED OFFICE
Brett Smith: Chairman
Level 2, 38 Richardson St West Perth Western Australia 6005
Bryan Dixon Managing Director Greg Miles Executive Director - Geologist Alan Thom Non Executive Director Julie Hill CFO/Company Secretary
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Taking Stock 2013
T: +618 9322 6418 F: +618 9322 6398 WEB blackhamresources.com.au AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE (ASX) CODE: BLK
He said the company was delighted with the rapid growth of the project and was now advancing plans to drill the Williamson Mine which had a large exploration target and some very highgrade historical drill intercepts. “There is significant potential to increase the resources at Williamson and we are currently planning a drill programme to both increase the confidence in the existing resource and test the high-grade extensions down plunge,” Dixon said. “There are a lot more ounces there and they represent the potential for a hefty stand-alone operation. “The recent 3,000m reverse cycle drill programme that concentrated on the M1 and M4 lodes was successful in increasing the size and confidence of the resource in this area and we are very keen to follow up on this drilling. “The programme increased the M1 and M4 resources by 12 per cent and 38 per cent respectively, while also increasing the measured and indicated resource by 64 per cent.” Most of the gold deposits remain open along strike and down plunge with very limited drilling below 100m depth. The Matilda project is approximately 19km south of the township of Wiluna in the Wiluna greenstone belt in the Northern Yilgarn region of WA. Blackham’s current tenement holdings give it an exploration footprint of 600sq km in the region. Blackham anticipates completion of a pre-feasibility study this year.
Wave of discoveries haS Cauldron riding high With a year of spectacular exploration success and share price growth behind it, explorer Cauldron Energy (ASX:CXU) has plenty of diversified opportunities on which to build company value in 2013. It was a good-news year for Cauldron at its Yanrey uranium project in Western Australia in 2012 with the identification of a new paleo-channel. Yanrey currently hosts an inferred resource of 7.3Mt at 300 parts per million for 4.8 million pounds of uranium, at a 150ppm cut-off. Drilling at the Bennett Well South prospect at Yanrey late last year identified a third uranium paleo-channel, pointing to the likelihood there is more uranium than originally estimated. The new 10 to 20km long by 500m wide channel appears to have up to 4km of the right uranium bearing sediments and is open to the north and south. Significant drilling results include: 2.8m at 319ppm uranium from 82.2m; 2.5m at 481ppm uranium from 92.1m; and 3m at 384ppm uranium from 86.3m. The latest drilling supports the potential for redox fronts along the full length of the interpreted paleo coastline and are expected to result in a significant upgrade of the original exploration target size of between 25 million and 30 million pounds of uranium for the Yanrey region. “The intersections are exciting for us not only because of their width but also for the fact that they further highlight the potential for a new high-grade paleo-channel of very significant grade and length,” head of operations Simon Youds said. Uranium exploration work is also continuing at Cauldron’s Maree Project in South Australia where Korea Resources Corporation has committed to spend $6.2 million over three years to earn a 50 per cent stake in the uranium interests at the project. Two large uranium target areas have so far been identified.
Directors
REGISTERED OFFICE
Tony Sage Executive Chairman
32 Harrogate Street West Leederville WA 6007 Australia
Brett Smith Executive Director Qiu Derong Non-Executive Director
T: +61 (0) 8 6181 9796 F: +61 (0) 8 9380 9666 WEB www.cauldronenergy.com.au AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE (ASX) CODE: CXU
One of the first cabs off the busy rank at Cauldron in 2013 will be the fast-tracked drilling programme at the newly discovered silver/lead/zinc anomaly within the Marree Project. The potentially world-class discovery came as a blue-sky bonus for Cauldron after rock and soil sampling in October last year, following the identification of historic workings, identified the 10km by 8km base metals anomaly. Peak rock-chip results taken from the less-weathered margins of the historical workings, estimated to have been last worked in the 1930s, included: 936 g/t silver, +20 per cent lead, 23 per cent zinc, 1.72 g/t gold and 1.88 per cent copper. The anomaly is located in the same geological province that hosts the famous Broken Hill silver-lead-zinc Line of Lode and Cauldron believes its size and tenor are indicative of a major base metals find. “The significance of finding this silver-lead-zinc anomaly in terms of value is immense and has the potential to be a company-maker for Cauldron,” Youds said. Since the discovery, Cauldron has completed geological mapping and a ground gravity survey to define drill targets. Heritage clearance has been received for the first 10 holes. Marree is 550km north of Adelaide and covers 2,571sq km in the Eromanga Basin, adjacent to the uranium-rich Mt Babbage Inlier.
Taking Stock 2013
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evidence continues to stack up at West musgrave for Cassini Holding ground that’s been described as “one of the most significant unexplored opportunities for a large nickel-sulphide discovery in Australia”, Cassini Resources Ltd (ASX:CZI) is lining up some big exploration goals. Listing in January 2012, at a time when other explorers could not find support, Cassini clearly had something special to offer investors. The gold and base metals explorer came to the market on the back of a package of four early-stage projects in Western Australia, located in West Musgrave, Forrestania; Peak Charles and the Eucla Basin. In the 12 months since listing, Cassini has also added two highly-prospective gold projects in Nevada, USA, to its portfolio in addition to advancing exploration at West Musgrave. Interpretation work by recognised expert Dr Jon Hronsky on West Musgrave last year identified the project as “one of the most significant unexplored opportunities for a large nickelsulphide discovery in Australia”. At West Musgrave, Cassini is targeting Norilsk (Siberia) or Voisey’s Bay (Canada) style mafic-intrusion hosted nickelcopper sulfide mineralisation similar to that recently discovered by Sirius Resources at Nova. This class of nickelcopper deposit includes the largest known examples in terms of contained metal.
several discrete anomalies at West Musgrave, identifying them as high priority, potentially large-scale nickel sulphide targets. By generating these discrete targets we can carry out airborne electro-magnetic surveys over a much smaller area, with the aim of generating drill targets,” Bevan said.
The potential of the West Musgrave region for this style of deposit has been previously established by the discovery of the Babel-Nebo deposits (400Mt at 0.3 per cent nickel and 0.3 per cent copper for about 2Mt contained nickel and copper metal) by Western Mining Corporation following interpretation work by Dr Hronsky. The deposits are now held by BHP Billiton.
“We’ve already entered into an access agreement with the traditional owners, completed heritage surveys and conducted reconnaissance mapping to determine appropriate exploration techniques. We have also applied for additional exploration licenses, contiguous with the existing Musgrave licenses, where additional targets have been identified.”
Cassini managing director Richard Bevan said the interpretation of geophysical data by Dr Hronsky had given context to
In Nevada, Cassini’s two projects are situated among a number of multi-million ounce gold deposits and operating mines.
DIRECTORS
HEAD OFFICE
“Nevada has long been one of the world’s premier gold districts and continues to produce new multi-million ounce discoveries despite 150 years of mining and exploration,” Bevan said.
Mike Young Non-Executive Chairman
945 Wellington St West Perth WA 6005 Australia
Richard Bevan Managing Director Phil Warren Executive Director Greg Miles Non-Executive Director David Johnson Executive Director
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Taking Stock 2013
T: +61 (0) 8 9322 7600 F: +61 (0) 8 9322 7602 WEB www.cassiniresources.com.au AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE (ASX) CODE: CZI
“It’s a safe, mining-friendly jurisdiction that has excellent exploration and mining expertise. These projects provide us with three great opportunities to find something of significance that could possibly become a company maker. “The Company is also actively looking to add a more advanced exploration asset to its current project portfolio. “The Board’s experience includes the expertise of the rapid development of exploration assets into operating mines – something we are keen to achieve at Cassini.”
Early rewards for Cazaly at Mount Angelo North It’s been all good news for Cazaly Resources (ASX:CAZ) since the company finalised an agreement to acquire 75 per cent of the Mount Angelo North copper prospect late last year. Cazaly hit the ground at speed after inking the Mount Angelo North agreement, starting its maiden reverse-cycle drill programme the same week. Within weeks, the company had confirmed to market excellent contiguous copper-zinc-silver mineralisation over some 250m of strike. The results included 64m at 2.72 per cent copper; 62m at 2.41 per cent copper; 38m at 2.65 per cent copper plus 13m at 6.74 per cent zinc and 15m at 6 per cent zinc. Joint managing director Nathan McMahon said the drilling was the first to be conducted at the project since 2008. “These results are extremely encouraging and the best news is that mineralisation continues south and remains open along strike and down plunge and in addition to the high-grade copper includes significant zinc and silver credits,” he said. The 298sq km project, near Halls Creek in WA’s Kimberley region, is subject to an agreement with 3D Resources Ltd whereby Cazaly can earn up to a 75 per cent interest. Drilling was aimed at confirming results from historic drilling, infill drilling and testing the immediate southern extensions of the deposit. Mineralisation comprises massive and stringer copper sulphides, principally chalcocite and chalcopyrite, characteristic of volcanic massive sulphide mineralisation. McMahon said the latest results highlighted and confirmed the potential of further geophysical targets. These targets will be a high priority for phase 2 drilling in 2013.
Directors
REGISTERED OFFICE
Nathan McMahon Joint Managing Director
Level 2 38 Richardson Street West Perth Western Australia 6005
Clive Jones Joint Managing Director Kent Hunter Non Executive Director Julie Hill Company Secretary
T: +61 8 9322 6283 F: +61 8 9322 6398 WEB www.cazalyresources.com.au AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE (ASX) CODE: CAZ
Cazaly also moved quickly to buy back a 1.5 per cent net smelter royalty covering the deposit. McMahon said the purchase of the smelter royalty would “significantly enhance the economics” of the deposit. In December, Cazaly collected samples from Mt Angelo North for metallurgical testing which the company says represent several ore types recognised during the drilling, including high-grade copper and copper-zinc rich ore zones. Other prospects on the project include the significant Mt Angelo porphyry, 2.5km south-west of Mt Angelo North, which was last drilled in 2008 and returned intercepts of up to 117m at 0.3 per cent copper and 150m at 0.30 per cent copper. Cazaly is also looking at near-term production from its Parker Range project in the emerging Yilgarn Iron Province in Western Australia. The Parker Range project is the most advanced direct shipping ore resource in the Yilgarn with a published definitive feasibility study, environmental approvals in place and infrastructure solutions well progressed. Based on the current measured and indicated resources at the Mount Caudan deposit at Parker Range, Cazaly has mine optimisation, pit design and planning to provide a mine ore reserve estimate of 31.4Mt at 55.3 per cent iron for an initial 8.3 years mine life, with considerable exploration upside. Even at conservative iron ore prices Cazaly predicts the mine will achieve payback in under two years. The signing of a capacity reservation deed for 5Mt a year with the Esperance Port Authority adds momentum to the project by providing a secure route to market once capacity at Esperance Port is increased.
Taking Stock 2013
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Wednesday 13 February 2013
CONFERENCE CONFERENCE PROGRAMME - WEDNESDAY 13 FEBRUARY 2013 PROGRAMME - WEDNESDAY 13 FEBRUARY 2013
rOREdata TECHNICAL AUDITORIUM
MAIN AUDITORIUM Session sponsored by Westpac Institutional Bank 8.40am
Conference Opening Simon Hadfield - Chief Executive officer Resource Information Unit (RIU)
8.45am
Market Update Alex Passmore - director, Corporate Finance Patersons Securities Ltd
9.05am
Peel Mining Ltd Rob Tyson - Managing director
PEX
9.25am
Azure Minerals Ltd Anthony Rovira - Managing director
AZS
9.45am
From Explorer to Producer - Project Financing Considerations for Junior Mining Companies Todd Ross - director of Natural Resources Westpac Institutional Bank
10.00am
What is in Store for 2013 From a Fundamental Economic Point of View? Justin Smirk – Senior Economist Westpac Institutional Bank
rOREviewer - The Ability to View your Data on the Go Chloe leray - Client Relations Manager rOREdata Pty Ltd
11.05am
Exploration Incentive Scheme Delivers on its Promises Rick Rogerson - Executive director Geological Survey of Western Australia
11.25am
New Regime in China - What This Means to Australian Junior Resources Companies Jehann Mendis - Partner Norton Rose Australia
11.45am
Exploration Update: ASX Companies, South America and Africa Greg Kay - Commercial director IntierraRMG Pty Ltd
12.05pm
What’s Down the Track James Buchanan - Managing director Gyro Australia
12.40PM
LUNCH
10.15AM MORNING TEA Session sponsored by BDO (WA) Pty Ltd 10.45am
Alliance Resources Ltd Steve Johnston - Managing director
AGS
11.05am
Mithril Resources Ltd MAIN AUDITORIUM david Hutton - Managing director
MTH
11.25am Emmerson Resources Ltd Session sponsored Westpacdirector Institutional Bank Rob Bills -by Managing & CEo
ERM
11.45pm 8.40am 12.05pm 8.45am 12.25pm
Rox Resources Ltd RXL Conference Opening Ian Mulholland - Managing directorofficer Simon Hadfield - Chief Executive Resource Information Unit (RIU) Western Areas NL WSA Charles MarketWilkinson Update - General Manager Exploration Alex Passmore - director, Corporate Finance Announcement of the Ltd Craig Oliver Award Patersons Securities
12.40PM 9.05am
LUNCH Peel Mining Ltd PEX Rob Tyson - Managing director Session sponsored by Como Engineers Pty Ltd 9.25am Azure Minerals Ltd AZS Anthony Rovira -Ltd Managing director 1.40pm Cazaly Resources CAZ McMahon Managing director 9.45am Nathan From Explorer to -Producer - Project Financing Considerations for Junior 2.00pm Encounter Resources Ltd Mining CompaniesENR Todd Ross - director of Natural Resources Will Robinson - Managing director Westpac Institutional Bank 2.20pm Gunson Resources Ltd GUN 10.00am david WhatHarley is in Store for 2013director From a Fundamental - Managing Economic Point of View? 2.40pm Dacian Ltd DCN JustinGold Smirk – Senior Economist Paul PayneInstitutional - Managing Bank director Westpac
Effective Drilling - The Importance of Planning and Compliance John libby - General Manager - Geology Digirock Exploration Geologists rOREdata TECHNICAL AUDITORIUM
1.40pm
2.00pm Ground Gravity Surveys – Revealing The Geology 10.45am Under rOREviewer Cover - The Ability to View your Data on the Haines Go Richard - Managing director WA Chloe Surveys leray - Client Relations Manager Haines rOREdata Pty Ltd 2.20pm RigeXible – Rigid Flexibility 11.05am Philip Exploration IncentiveConsultant Scheme Delivers little - Principal on its Promises Expedio Rick Rogerson - Executive director Geological of Western Australia 2.40pm Portable XRFSurvey Data: Value Adding dr Nigel Brand - Consulting Geochemist 11.25am Portable New Regime in China - What This Means XRF Services to Australian Junior Resources Companies Jehann Mendis - Partner 3.00pm Close of rOREdata Technical Auditorium Norton Rose Australia 11.45am
Exploration Update: ASX Companies, South America and Africa Greg Kay - Commercial director IntierraRMG Pty Ltd
12.05pm
What’s Down the Track James Buchanan - Managing director Gyro Australia
12.40PM
LUNCH
1.40pm
Effective Drilling - The Importance of Planning and Compliance John libby - General Manager - Geology Digirock Exploration Geologists
2.00pm
Ground Gravity Surveys – Revealing The Geology Under Cover Richard Haines - Managing director WA Haines Surveys
2.20pm
12.25pm Thoughts Announcement of the CraigIndustry Oliver Award 5.10pm on the Resources Hon. Norman Moore MlC - Minister for 12.40PM Mines LUNCH and Petroleum Government of Western Australia Session sponsored by Como Engineers Pty Ltd
RigeXible – Rigid Flexibility Philip little - Principal Consultant Expedio
2.40pm
Portable XRF Data: Value Adding dr Nigel Brand - Consulting Geochemist Portable XRF Services
5.30PM 1.40pm
DAY ONEResources CLOSE Ltd Cazaly CAZ CONFERENCE DRINKS IN THE EXHIBITION AREA Nathan McMahon - Managing director
3.00pm
Close of rOREdata Technical Auditorium
6.45PM 2.00pm
CONFERENCE COCKTAIL Encounter Resources LtdFUNCTION AT SANDRINOS, FREMANTLE Will Robinson - Managing director
3.00PM TEA 10.15AM AFTERNOON MORNING TEA Session Securities Sessionsponsored sponsoredby byPatersons BDO (WA) Pty Ltd Ltd 10.45am Independence Alliance Resources 3.30pm GroupLtd NL Steve Johnston - Managing director Chris Bonwick - Managing director 11.05am Mithril Resources Ltd 3.50pm Altona Mining Ltd david Cowden Hutton - Managing Alistair - Managingdirector director 11.25am Emmerson Resources Ltd 4.10pm Octagonal Resources Ltd Rob BillsGray - Managing director & CEo Anthony - Managing director 11.45pm Pioneer Rox Resources LtdLtd 4.30pm Resources Ian Mulholland - Managing director david Crook - Managing director
AGS IGO IGO AMTH OH AOH
ORS OERM RS PIO PRXL IO
12.05pm Sheffield WesternResources Areas NL Ltd WSA SFX 4.50pm S FX Charles Wilkinson - Generaldirector Manager Exploration Bruce McQuitty - Managing
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10.45am
ENR
2.20pm
Gunson Resources Ltd david Harley - Managing director
GUN
2.40pm
Dacian Gold Ltd
DCN
Taking Stock 2013 Paul Payne - Managing director
The Craig oliver family presenting the award to 2012 recipient Silver lake Resources, accepted by Managing director, les davis.
Thursday 14 February 2013
Session sponsored by Engenium 8.40am
Breaker Resources NL Tom Sanders - Chairman
BRB
9.00am
A1 Consolidated Gold Ltd dennis Clark - Managing director
AYC
9.20am
Mincor Resources NL david Moore - Managing director
MCR
9.40am
MacPhersons Resources Ltd Morrie Goodz - Managing director
MRP
10.00am
Silver Lake Resources Ltd les davis - Managing director
10.20am
MORNING TEA
SLR
Session sponsored by Bureau Veritas Australia 10.50am
Convergent Minerals Ltd david Price - Chief Executive officer
CVG
11.10am
Orinoco Gold Ltd Mark Papendieck - Managing director
OGX
11.30am
Trafford Resources Ltd Ian Finch - Managing director
TRF
11.50am
Caravel Minerals Ltd Warren Potma - Exploration Manager
CVV
12.10pm
Transol Corporation Ltd Neil Biddle - Senior Geologist
TNC
12.30pm
LUNCH
Session sponsored by Minepower 1.20pm
Ventnor Resources Ltd Bruce Maluish - Managing director
1.40pm
Gippsland Ltd Ian Gandel – Chairman
2.00pm
Horseshoe Metals Ltd Neil Marston - Managing director
HOR
2.20pm
Blackham Resources Ltd Bryan dixon - Managing director
BLK
2.40pm
Sirius Resources NL dr Mark Bennett - Managing director
SIR
3.00pm
AFTERNOON TEA
10.50am
The Value of Data - Treasuring Your Most Valuable Asset Fabian do Santos and Sam Watt - database Administrators rOREdata Pty Ltd
11.10am
Effective Exploration Supervision - The Importance of Skills Training and Competence Peta libby - Managing director Digirock Exploration Geologists
11.30am
WA’s Mining Rehabilitation Fund Phil Gorey - Executive director Environment Department of Mines and Petroleum
11.50am
Moving Towards Production in Fiji david Sourbutts - Executive director Engenium
12.10pm
Lost the Plot - Using Google Maps to Load Tenements into your GPS Justin von Perger – Senior Consultant LandTrack Systems
12.30pm
LUNCH
1.20pm
Managing Mental Health in the Resource Sector Joshua Hawes - Principal Psychologist Critical Components
1.40pm
The Impact of the Likely Changes to OH&S Legislation on the Mineral Exploration Sector Simon Ridge - Executive director Resources Safety division, State Mining Engineer Department of Mines and Petroleum
2.00pm
Managing Aviation Risk in the Resources Sector Greg Marshall – Managing director, BARS Program Flight Safety Foundation
2.20pm
Using Implicit Modelling for Rapid Model Generation Mark Gabbitus - Regional Business development Manager Minesight Applications
2.40pm
Data Collection – The Simple Truth Philip little - Principal Consultant Expedio
3.00pm
Close of rOREdata Technical Auditorium
VRX GIP
CONFERENCE PROGRAMME - THURSDAY 14 FEBRUARY 2013
rOREdata TECHNICAL AUDITORIUM
MAIN AUDITORIUM
Session sponsored by Patersons Securities Ltd 3.30pm
Investigator Resources Ltd John Anderson - Managing director
IVR
3.50pm
Talga Resources Ltd Mark Thompson - Managing director
TLG
4.10pm
Diatreme Resources Ltd Tony Fawdon - Chief Executive officer
DRX
4.30pm
Doray Minerals Ltd Allan Kelly - Managing director
DRM
4.50pm
Northern Star Resources Ltd Bill Beament - Managing director
NST
5.10pm
Conference Close
Taking Stock 2013
9
Production opportunities dawning for Horseshoe Metals With extensions to mineralisation at both of its West Australian copper-gold projects, Horseshoe Metals Ltd (ASX:HOR) is looking to begin the transformation from explorer to producer.
After successful drilling campaigns throughout 2012, Horseshoe Metals is set to issue an upgrade to the established JORC-compliant resource of 91kt copper and 37koz gold at its Horseshoe Lights project and is awaiting a maiden resource announcement at the nearby Kumarina project. At the completion of these mineral resource estimates the company is expecting that it will hold the second largest copper inventory in the region, second only to the nearby high-grade DeGrussa mine. The highly prospective Horseshoe Lights and Kumarina projects, both of which host historic copper or copper-gold mines, cover about 300sq km of the Gascoyne region, north of Meekatharra in Western Australia. Significantly, the Horseshoe Lights mineralisation is hosted within the Narracoota Volcanics which also hosts Sandfire Resources’ DeGrussa copper-gold operation located just 75km east of the historic Horseshoe Lights mine. Extensive drilling was conducted at both projects during 2012. Drilling at Horseshoe Lights produced some exciting shallow copper mineralisation intervals such as 23m at 4.2 per cent copper, including 8m at 8.6 per cent copper and 24m at 3.1 per cent copper, including 7m at 6.7 per cent copper, about 100m north of the existing open pit. The latest phase of reverse circulation drilling on the Rinaldi prospect at Kumarina was completed in early December 2012 with best results including 7m at 3.3 per cent copper, including 1m at 11.6 per cent copper and 6m at 3.5 per cent copper, including 2m at 9.1 per cent copper.
DIRECTORS
REGISTERED OFFICE
Jeremy Shervington Non-Executive Chairman
Unit 6 11 Colin Grove West Perth WA 6005 Australia
Neil Marston Managing Director Michael Fotios Non-Executive Director Stuart Hall Non-Executive Director
T: +61 (0) 8 9481 5866 F: +61 (0) 8 9481 5966 WEB www.horseshoemetals.com.au australian securities exchange (ASX) CODE: HOR
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Taking Stock 2013
These results extend the shallow copper mineralisation within the fault zone at the Rinaldi prospect to a strike length of more than 700m. The copper mineralisation remains open along strike to the north and south within the fault zone. Managing director Neil Marston said the company was delighted with the progress achieved in exploration at both Kumarina and Horseshoe Lights in 2012 and was looking forward to a very active 2013, with a scoping study into mining options at Horseshoe Lights and possibly Kumarina high on the agenda. A full analysis of a gravity survey conducted at Horseshoe Lights in December, together with other geophysical and geological surveys will identify new targets within the Narracoota Volcanics for drill testing in 2013. Mapping, geochemical and geophysical surveys at Kumarina have identified several high priority target areas which will also be drill tested this year. “Apart from having a significant copper mineral resource base, likely to be second only to DeGrussa in the coming weeks, we have excellent potential for new copper discoveries within our two projects,” Marston said. The company has strong funding support, as illustrated by the completion in 2012 of a $4.125 million placement to Horseshoe Metal’s cornerstone investor, Investmet Ltd, which currently has a 19.8 per cent stake in the company.
Cash-backed ambitions set Independence apart Independence Group NL (ASX:IGO) is one of only a few companies in the sector that can rightly lay claim to the golden trifecta - cash flow from operating mines; significant projects in development and a portfolio of highly prospective exploration options.
It is the opportunities the company presents across the entire mine cycle that set Independence Group apart from its peers, according to managing director Chris Bonwick. In terms of operating assets, Independence has 100 per cent ownership of both the Long nickel operation and the Jaguar/ Bentley copper-zinc-silver operations, all in Western Australia In the pipeline, the company has a 30 per cent interest in the giant Anglo Ashanti-operated Tropicana Gold Joint Venture, in WA, and, in Victoria, the 100 per cent Independence-owned Stockman copper-zinc-silver-gold project has reached feasibility study stage. A strong commitment to exploration and discovery is a cornerstone of the company’s growth strategy and the key to the company’s exploration objective is to continuously identify, secure and explore the most prospective targets, according to Bonwick. “We remain very much focused on creating shareholder wealth through the discovery of large, high-grade gold, nickel and base metal deposits,” he said. “Given exploration is high risk, Independence has developed a set of principles to manage that risk and improve its chances of success. “We target ore deposit types amenable to rapid evaluation and project turnover and that have the potential to be brought into production within a short time-frame. The commodity focus is based on the wealth of experience and technical expertise within the company and the country focus is also based on careful consideration of endowment, political risk and
operational logistics based primarily on in-house experience.” Each year since listing in 2002, Independence has funded aggressive exploration programmes resulting in significant discoveries, including nickel at Moran and McLeay at Long, gold at Tropicana, nickel, copper and platinum group elements at Duketon and gold at Karlawinda. The company’s exploration pipeline was significantly bolstered in 2011 by the acquisition of Jabiru Metals Ltd which added two large packages of ground highly prospective for base metals and gold at Stockman and Jaguar. Independence also acquired in 2009 the non-diamond specific exploration database and sample archive of De Beers Australia Exploration, representing the culmination of more than 30 years of exploration by De Beers. Because De Beers was solely focused on diamond exploration, less than half of the samples were appraised for commodities other than diamonds.
DIRECTORS
REGISTERED OFFICE
Peter Bilbe Non-Executive Chairman
Suite 4, Level 5, South Shore Centre, 85 South Perth Esplanade South Perth WA 6151 Australia
Analysis of untested samples continues to generate a significant number of anomalies in gold, base metals and other commodities. Systematic prioritisation and field appraisal and ground acquisition of these anomalies is progressing.
Kelly Ross Non-Executive Director
T: +61 (0) 8 9238 8300
Geoffrey Clifford Non-executive Director
WEB
With construction at the giant Tropicana Gold project in the sand hills east of Kalgoorlie now more than 55 per cent complete and first gold expected to be poured in the December quarter this year, Independence has some impressive cash flow on the horizon with which to fund its exploration ambitions.
Christopher Bonwick Managing Director
Rod Marston Non-executive Director
F: +61 (0) 8 9238 8399
www.igo.com.au AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE (ASX) CODE: IGO
Taking Stock 2013
11
INVESTIGATOR TARGETS MORE SILVER IN THE GAWLER CRATON With its Paris silver discovery on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula advancing towards a resource estimation, Investigator Resources (ASX:IVR) is turning time and money to other highly prospective targets within its tenements. Managing director John Anderson says Investigator is however in no way losing momentum on Paris as it pursues the opportunity to become a multi-discovery company in the very near term. “Investigator is well funded and we have a spectrum of opportunities,” Anderson said. “Our next priority is the satellite silver and copper targets immediately around Paris in the Peterlumbo field but we also have porphyry copper-moly potential that is newly recognised for the area and is attracting the attention of larger companies.” Anderson said the more the company drilled at Paris the greater the similarities to large epithermal silver deposits in Latin America, such as the Fresnillo Silver Mine in Mexico, had become. The Fresnillo Mine has a reserve of 325 million silver ounces and is the world’s largest primary silver producer. Drilling at Paris late last year recorded intercepts of 10.03m at 2,591g/t, including 1m at 19,800g/t – equivalent to 1.98 per cent silver – and confirmed extensions of the Western Sheet target and Northeast Zone. “The company had very little down time at Paris over Christmas as we’ve recommenced drilling and we’ve just undertaken a heritage survey to prepare the satellite targets for drilling,” Anderson said in January. “We’re also currently waiting on the results of a gravity survey which is being analysed for structural extensions to the Paris silver system.” The Paris silver prospect and Peterlumbo satellite targets are subject to a joint venture in which Investigator Resources holds 75 per cent fixed interest.
Directors
REGISTERED OFFICE
Roger Marshall Non-Executive Chairman John Anderson Managing Director
Suite 48, Benson House 2 Benson Street Toowong QLD 4066 Australia
Bruce Foy Non-Executive Director
T: +61 (0) 7 3870 0357 F: +61 (0) 7 3876 0351
David Jones Non-Executive Director
WEB www.investres.com.au AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE (ASX) CODE: IVR
12
Taking Stock 2013
Investigator has already confirmed a large silver anomalous area as a potential new field 80km south-east of Paris. Scout traverses across a 3km long soil target at Botenella Gate and has intersected widespread elevated silver, with anomalous silver intersected at the bottom of seven holes near the centres of the anomalies. The best intersection was 16m at 6.9g/t silver from 27m, including the last 4m at 24g/t silver and 0.28g/t gold from 39m. Anderson says these results are similar to the initial results at the same stage of exploration at Paris in early 2011. “We have been straight back in there doing detailed soil sampling and are now waiting for the analysis of that. We are employing exactly the same process we applied to Paris,” he said. “Investigator has developed new ideas and approaches for exploring the southern Gawler Craton and the Paris discovery demonstrates we’re onto something with those new techniques. We’ve developed a step change on where and how to look for Olympic Dam-aged deposits and we’re now becoming exploration leaders in this region where we hold some 6,000sq km of ground. “That same exploration model has also led us to explore the northern extension of the Hillside trend on the Yorke Peninsula where we’ve added the very exciting Roundabout copper target.” Roundabout is 42km south of the port and smelter at Port Pirie and, according to Anderson, has a geophysical signature similar to that of the Prominent Hill iron oxide-copper-gold deposit in the central Gawler Craton.
Silver Superpit on MacPhersons’ Horizon A recent 46 per cent increase to the silver resource, to 18.3Moz, at MacPhersons Resources’ (ASX:MRP) Nimbus Silver-Gold-Zinc Project has the company looking towards recommencing production at the historic mine in the first half of next year. Located just 10km from the famous Kalgoorlie Super Pit gold mine, the Nimbus silver-gold-zinc project is proving there is more than meets the eye to the golden town of Kalgoorlie. The high-grade, polymetallic deposit has so far yielded a JORC mineral resource of 4.4Mt at 129g/t silver equivalent for 18.3 Moz silver equivalent for MacPhersons Resources since the company acquired it in 2011. Nimbus was mined from 2003 to 2007 during which time it produced 3.6Moz silver at 352g/t, the equivalent of 7g/t gold. In addition to more than doubling the silver resource at Nimbus, MacPhersons has also increased the zinc resource by 29 per cent and the gold resource by 220 per cent. Significantly, 100 per cent of MacPhersons’ July 2012 resource has now been converted to the highest classification of measured and indicated categories. Nimbus still has four yetto-be-classified VHMS lenses and nine additional silver-zinc prospects to explore. When mining begins next year, the two existing pits at Nimbus, the East Pit and the Discovery Pit, will be transformed into a single Silver Superpit. Spanning 1km in length and 500m wide, the current pit design shell will recover the deep silver and zinc mineralisation in addition to exposing the western domain and the new gold zone discovered in 2012. The base of the pit has been modeled to 200m depth, but there is substantial mineralisation open and along strike which with further drilling will extend the Silver Superpit.
Directors
REGISTERED OFFICE
Ashok Parekh Executive Chairman
109 Maritana Street Kalgoorlie WA 6430
Morrie Goodz Managing Director
PO Box 10977 Kalgoorlie WA 6433
Jeff Williams Non-Executive Director
T: +61 (0) 8 9091 7515 F: +61 (0) 8 9091 7610 E: info@mrpresources.com.au WEB mrpresources.com.au AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE (ASX) CODE: MRP
“Silver grades of 8,000g/t have been found at Nimbus, and it is common for drill intercepts to be between 20m to 100m thick and exceed 100g/t silver,” managing director Morrie Goodz said. “Nimbus also has a number of gold zones which are extremely continuous and occur adjacent to and in-between the silver zones. We have numerous intersections exceeding 10g/t gold and the zones have shown to be continuous down to 300m depth.” In the past year, MacPhersons has drilled 600 drill holes, for a total of 73,000m, which intersected seven new massive sulphide lenses. “Our drill programs have been so successful that feasibility studies have shown the optimum mill size needs to be expanded three fold,” Goodz said. The mill will take the form of a new crushing circuit, leach and floatation circuits and Merrill Crowe plant. The Merrill Crowe plant has been ordered for delivery in quarter four 2013, while the balance of the plant will be completed in early 2014 and production scheduled to commence in the first half of 2014. Planning ahead is key and MacPhersons has signed international commodities trader Red Kite, which also took 8.5 per cent equity in the company. MacPhersons also holds the open-pitable 96,400oz Boorara Gold Project only 2Km away from the Nimbus processing plant, as well as the historic Coolgardie Gold Project, which includes the MacPhersons Reward open pit, from which the company takes its name.
Taking Stock 2013
13
Development and exploration options for Octagonal With revenue coming from gold production at its Porcupine Flat Gold Processing Plant at Maldon in Victoria and a drilling grant from the West Australian government under its belt Octagonal Resources Ltd (ASX:ORS) is funded for growth and exploration in 2013. During the December 2012 quarter, Octagonal generated more than $2.1 million in revenue from the sale of gold and from ore processing fees associated with its agreement with Unity Mining Ltd to reprocess all of the tailings from its Kangaroo Flat Gold Mine in Victoria. Octagonal managing director Anthony Gray said gold recoveries from the processing had been greater than initial estimates, which had been between 3g/t and 6g/t gold. During the December quarter, 6,430 tonnes of tailings were processed with average recovery of 6.5 g/t gold. Under the terms of the agreement, Octagonal pays 50 per cent of the costs to excavate, transport and reprocess the tailings from Kangaroo Flat, near Bendigo, at its 150,000tpa CIL gold processing plant at Maldon and to refine and sell the gold produced and to pay Unity 50 per cent of the sale price of the gold. “Based on current tailings grades and ore processing rates it is estimated the remaining tailings from Kangaroo Flat will provide for a further six months of ore processing and associated income,” Gray said. “Now that we have resolved some issues we had with tailings removal and handling we expect regular and ongoing gold production. “What this means for our business is that we will have ongoing revenue from a third party for at least six months while we work to bring our own underground and open pit mines into production.
Directors
REGISTERED OFFICE
Ian Gandel Non-Executive Chairman
Suite 3 51-55 City Road Southbank VIC 3006 Australia
Anthony Gray Managing Director Bob Tolliday Non-Executive Director
T: +61 (0) 3 9697 9088 F: +61 (0) 3 9697 9089 WEB octagonalresources.com.au AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE (ASX) CODE: ORS
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Taking Stock 2013
“Our corporate strategy is to develop a long-term sustainable mining operation in Central Victoria to fund the company’s growth through the discovery and development of major gold deposits.” Octagonal’s Maldon gold operation has inferred gold resources of 245,000oz and a 1,900m long decline that extends into the four main reef systems of the mine and to additional identified but undeveloped resources. In Western Australia, Octagonal it is exploring for gold deposits on its 100 per cent owned Hogan’s Project in a highly prospective but under-explored area only 70km from Kalgoorlie. In December, Octagonal was awarded a WA government Exploration Incentive Scheme Co-funded Drilling Program grant of $150,000 to help fund the first phase of diamond drilling at the Burns gold-copper-silver Prospect at Hogan’s Project. The grant is the maximum available under the scheme to pay for up to 50 per cent of direct drilling costs for a multi-hole project. “Octagonal will use this grant to help fund the drilling of four diamond holes, for 2,000m at the Burns Prospect this year to provide lithological, structural, geophysical, and mineralogical data to help us understand and better explore this unique style of deposit,” Gray said. “The potential of this emerging gold-producing district has been demonstrated by the recent exploration and mining success achieved by Silver Lake Resources at the Daisy Milano Mine and Integra Mining at the Salt Creek Mine and Lucky Bay Prospect.”
Rox ignites the market with exploration success With a significant new nickel-sulphide discovery at its flagship Mt Fisher gold-nickel project, diversified explorer Rox Resources Ltd (ASX:RXL) has ignited investor interest and positioned itself for exciting results in 2013. Rox has four projects at various levels of development with exposure to gold, nickel, zinc, lead, copper and phosphate, including its flagship Mt Fisher gold-nickel project in the highly prospective North Eastern Goldfields region of Western Australia. Rox has a tenement footprint of 655sq km at Mt Fisher where it has defined a highly prospective nickel sulphide mineralised system over a strike length of 300m and up to 200m in vertical depth which remains open in all directions. In addition, the project currently has a JORC compliant measured, indicated and inferred mineral resource of 973,000t, grading 2.75g/t gold defined for 86,000oz of gold. In December, Rox reported the discovery of a significant new mineralised system at the Camelwood Prospect at Mt Fisher. Reverse circulation drilling at Camelwood intersected semimassive and disseminated nickel sulphide mineralisation in all five holes. Rox managing director Ian Mulholland said the assay results from the drilling confirmed Camelwood as a significant new nickel-sulphide discovery. The thickest intersection recorded was 20m graded at 1.1 per cent nickel, with other results including 2m at 1.6 per cent nickel, 4m at 2 per cent nickel, 2m at 2.2 per cent nickel, 6m at 1.4 per cent nickel and 1m at 3 per cent nickel. “Camelwood is just one of several VTEM anomalies at Fisher East, so it goes without saying that we are highly encouraged by the results and believe Fisher East has the potential to host a very large mineralised system. We are following up these initial results with an aggressive drilling campaign in 2013,” Mulholland said.
“Further exploration at Myrtle/Reward will include a major diamond drilling programme which is planned for the commencement of the 2013 field season to establish Teena as a significant zinc-lead prospect for the company.” Rox is also actively exploring the Bonya copper project, in the Northern Territory, under a farm-in agreement with Arafura Resources. Since signing the farm-in agreement in October 2012 to explore on the 279sq km tenement, laboratory assays have confirmed high-grade rock chip mineralisation of up to 32.9 per cent copper, 54.8g/t silver and 0.64g/t gold. The next stage of exploration will involve geochemical and geophysical surveys over areas of demonstrated copper outcrop or anomalism. Drilling of targets is planned for the first half of this year. With active exploration happening across three highly prospective projects, covering a spread of commodities, Mulholland said Rox was well positioned to build on its exploration success and create wealth for its shareholders in the coming year.
Rox also recently confirmed the presence of another significant mineralised zone at its Myrtle/Reward zinc-lead project in the Northern Territory. Teck Australia is conducting exploration at the project under a farm-in agreement.
Directors
REGISTERED OFFICE
Jeff Gresham Non-Executive Chairman
Level 1 30 Richardson St West Perth WA 6005 Australia
Re-testing of unreported 30-year-old drill core at the Teena prospect, included 11.3m grading 10.9 per cent combined zinc and lead.
Brett Dickson Finance Director
“These are significant results which amount to a major new discovery, without us drilling a single hole,” Mulholland said.
Ian Mulholland Managing Director
T: +61 (0) 8 9226 0044 F: +61 (0) 8 9322 6254 WEB www.roxresources.com.au AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE (ASX) CODE: RXL
Taking Stock 2013
15
1
2
REVIEW
upbeat sign-off for 2012 As the final event of the conference season Brisbane Mining is always a reasonably good litmus test as to how the industry has fared over the past 12 months and how it is shaping up to face the New Year. Providing a market update on the opening day of Mining 2012, Patersons Securities research analyst Matthew Trivett ( pic 1) was chock full of confidence for what lay ahead. Addressing the day-one audience, Trivett said there were many indicators pointing to positivity and of action on the buy side of the market, especially in the small resource stocks area. “That’s giving us a little bit of optimism,” Trivett said. “As we look into 2013 we hope that optimism is carried over and is reflected in a lot of share prices for a lot of these explorers and developers that are still doing a lot of good work on the ground and developing a lot of great projects.” Trivett gave much of the credit for the recent market resurgence to the discovery of the Nova nickel deposit by Sirius Resources. The Nova discovery, he said, had given real credibility to explorers. “Before Nova was discovered there was a real occurrence of people out there who would have some fantastic drill results but nothing would happen – the market wouldn’t listen,” he said. Trivett then shifted his focus to global market influences. “How these [European and American] governments respond and the fiscal policies they put in place is going to have a major ramification on actual growth,” Trivett said. “The IMF has just reduced its growth outlook across the board and I think there is a real chance it could be trimmed again. “Not just in the major, advanced economies in the US and the European Union but also India and Indonesia and
16
Taking Stock 2013
smaller, more relevant trading partners for Australia. We are dependent on these small trading partners, not just China…in our resources sector in general.” Shortly after the close of Mining 2012 the US population comprehensively decided Barack Obama as the man to provide the guidance and impetus for the world’s leading economy to get its act together. Meanwhile, America’s rival for the number one positioned economy, China held its 18th National Congress which included the five-year turnover of the political guard and 10-year leadership change. Also speaking on opening day was LimeStreet Capital managing director Stephen Bartrop ( pic 2) who pointed to recovery in China and suggested China’s reduced growth trajectory was due, largely due to fiscal turmoil in the EU. “There is no great event on the horizon that is suddenly going to change the world economy,” he said. “It looks like being a long, slow grind out of the problems we are in.” But he did nominate China as the likely candidate to bring some form of economic stability to the global table. “China craves stability,” he said. “If the Chinese economy slumped then the credibility of the Chinese Communist Party would be in question, so there is a huge impetus in China to move the economy along. “Our expectations are there will be some spending stimulus, they are certainly cautious about inflation and property bubbles, it will be slow but with potentially positive recovery reforms as well. Any stimulus will be positive for commodities.”
3
4
Queensland Mining Awards 2012 Explorer of the Year
2012 Miner of the Year
WINNER: Altona Mining ( pic 3)
WINNER: Xstrata Copper ( PIC 4)
Altona’s main project in Australia is the Roseby project in north-west Queensland. Roseby consists of numerous oxide and sulphide deposits along a 20km corridor. In July, an updated resource estimate for several of the deposits resulted in an increase of 15 per cent in the global resource, which now stands at 249Mt of 0.6 per cent copper and 0.05g/t gold
Xstrata Copper’s integrated north Queensland operations include the Enterprise and X41 copper mines, a copper concentrator and smelter at Mt Isa, and the copper refinery and port facilities at Townsville. The company’s Ernest Henry mine near Cloncurry was converted from an opencut mine to an underground operation in 2011, extending the mine life by 12 years.
OTHER FINALISTS:
OTHER FINALISTS:
Aeon Metals
MMG Limited
Aeon Metals has been successfully exploring west of Monto in southern Queensland, an area that is comparatively underexplored. It has outlined a JORC resource of 242Mt grading 604ppm molybdenum equivalent at Greater Whitewash. In May 2012, the company made a new and effectively blind porphyry copper discovery at the John Hill project 10km north of Greater Whitewash.
MMG operates the large opencut Century lead-zinc mine in north-west Queensland and associated concentrate handling and ship loading facilities at Currumbin on the Gulf of Carpentaria. It is the world’s secondlargest zinc mine and employs about 600 people, of whom indigenous employees account for about 23 per cent.
Red Metal Red Metal has 10 exploration projects in Queensland which include gold, base metals, phosphate and uranium. Most are greenfield areas outside the main outcrop of the Mt Isa Inlier. Based on a new geological model, drilling at the Maronan silver-lead project has intersected significant high-grade silverlead mineralisation similar in style to that of the nearby Cannington deposit.
Sibelco Group Sibelco Australia has sand mining operations on Stradbroke Island and a mineral processing plant in Brisbane. The company manages the longest, continuously operating sand dredging operation in Queensland. Sibelco has established the Straddie Sand Mining Community Fund to promote long-term quality of life for community members by re-investing profits from the sand mining back into the island.
MINISTER’S COMMITMENT TO MINING Before presenting the gongs for Queensland Explorer and Miner of the Year 2012, Queensland Minister for Natural Resources and Mines, Andrew Cripps outlined the then recently-elected state government’s dedication to the local resources industry. Cripps told the October 2012 conference that his government was committed to putting the state of Queensland at the forefront of the national and international resources sector. “Our approach is all about providing certainty for investment with a strong emphasis on assessing projects on their merit and doing so in a timely fashion,” he said. “We support the sustainable growth of your industry. We’re not going to get in the way of companies willing to invest in Queensland and create jobs in our state. “We’re in the business of supporting growth and investment in Queensland, not stifling it.”
Taking Stock 2013
17
RIU Explorers Conference Esplanade Hotel Fremantle, Western Australia 13 - 14 February 2013 RIU Sydney Resources Round-up Sofitel Sydney Wentworth, New South Wales 14, 15 & 16 May 2013 Gold Coast Resources Showcase Sheraton Mirage Resort & Spa Gold Coast, Queensland 12 - 13 June 2013 Australian Copper Conference Sofitel Brisbane Central Hotel, Queensland 18 - 19 June 2013 Australian Uranium & Rare Earths Conference Esplanade Hotel Fremantle, Western Australia 16 - 17 July 2013 RIU Good Oil Conference Esplanade Hotel Fremantle, Western Australia 3 - 4 September 2013 RIU Melbourne Resources Round-up Sofitel Melbourne On Collins, Victoria 25 - 26 September 2013 Mining 2013 Resources Convention Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre, Queensland 23, 24 & 25 October 2013
International Events Vancouver Resource Investment Conference Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Center
19 - 20 January 2014
verticalevents.com.au