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Golden Mile Resources
Investor Insight
Golden Mile Resources is a project development and mineral exploration company, with a focus on growing the company with a multi asset and multi commodity strategy through advancing core projects, acquisition of high-quality assets, and tactical alliances with joint venture partners. Golden Mile’s value proposition is driven by a highly experienced leadership team with proven expertise across the resources sector from exploration to development and production.
Overview
Golden Mile Resources (ASX:G88) is a Western Australia-based resource company with critical metals exploration projects in Western Australia and Arizona, USA. The company’s near-term focus is on advancing its newly acquired Pearl copper project in Arizona, located in the world-class Laramide Porphyry Belt. The company’s longer term focus includes the advancement of the Quicksilver nickel-cobalt project, located in Western Australia, which has an indicated and inferred resource of 26.3 Mt @ 0.64 percent nickel and 0.04 percent cobalt.
Golden Mile is also focused on strategic alliances with joint venture partners to maintain exposure without expense on its other assets, such as its Leonora JV (Patronus Resources earning up to 80 percent) project and Gidgee JV (Gateway earning up to 80 percent). Concurrently, the company’s leadership team will consider potential divestment or JVs of its non-core assets, and also aims to build up a new portfolio of high-quality multi-element assets, from discovery to development.
Overall, the company is focused on creating shareholder value, supported by a management team and board with a proven track record of exploration, development and production success. Led by managing director Damon Dormer, a mining engineer with over 26 years of experience, Golden Mile is well positioned to execute its strategy moving forward.
Company Highlights
- Golden Mile Resources has a diversified portfolio of both advanced projects and exploration assets in tier 1 jurisdictions of Australia and the US.
- The recently acquired Pearl copper project in Arizona is located in the renowned Laramide Porphyry Belt.
- The Quicksilver nickel-cobalt project near Perth has an indicated and inferred mineral resource of 26.3 Mt @ 0.64 percent nickel and 0.04 percent cobalt.
- Golden Mile is backed by a highly experienced management team with proven success in project engineering and development from exploration to production across multiple continents.
Key Projects
Pearl Copper Project
Golden Mile secured the Pearl copper project in August 2024. Located in Arizona, the asset hosts more than 50 artisanal copper workings and shares similar geological characteristics to the San Manuel-Kalamazoo and Pinto Valley porphyry copper mines. The project exhibits widespread surface alteration highlighted by rock chip samples of 7.3 percent copper, 0.43 percent molybdenum, 19.9 percent lead, 4.9 percent zinc and 360 g/t silver.
The most significant working within the project area are the Pearl and Ford mines. The Pearl mine is located on the north-western portion of the Pearl project within the Odyssey prospect. It produced up to 60,000 tons of ore containing copper oxide and sulphide, lead, silver and gold from largely artisanal workings from 1915 to 1941 (Force, 1997).
Historical records from the Ford mine, located within the Pearl copper project mine claims, have reported lead assays from 5.7 percent to 31.3 percent, copper assays from 5.8 percent to 10.6 percent and that gold increases in the deeper levels from 0.01 oz to 0.54 oz (16.7g/t) (Baird, 1942).
Significant upside from organic exploration exists given Pearl’s geographic location, situated in the heart of the world-class Laramide Porphyry Copper Belt and 1 km of the San Manuel mine (historic production of 4.7 Mt) that has been operating for 44 years.
A tier 1 mining jurisdiction, Arizona represents approximately 70 percent of domestic US copper production. The Pearl project was historically mined from 1915 to 1941.
Quicksilver Nickel-Cobalt Project
The Quicksilver nickel-cobalt project is located approximately 280 km southeast of Perth in Western Australia. The project comprises an area of about 50 sq km that boasts excellent local infrastructure, including easy access to a grid power, sealed roads and a railway line to key ports.
In 2018, Golden Mile announced an indicated and inferred maiden resource estimate of 26.3 Mt @ 0.64 percent nickel and 0.04 percent cobalt. Metallurgical testwork completed in 2023 significantly improved understanding of the unique saprolitic mineralisation at the project and a potential pathway to production.
The company has also identified a customized multi-products flowsheet to produce nickel-cobalt and iron-nickel-cobalt-chromium concentrates, as well as industrial products. The process would require low energy using the physical attributes of the free digging ore.
Board and Management Team
Damon Dormer – Managing Director
A mining engineer with over 26 years of experience, including 15 years in mine management and executive roles, Dormer has worked in studies, projects, operations and innovation across Australia, USA, Papua New Guinea and Africa. Dormer has had considerable success turning around mining projects and studies resulting in the construction of multiple mines in Africa, as well as significant operational success in Australia. He has also been heavily involved in mining innovation and has personally developed techniques and strategies for the mining industry. Dormer holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Mining from the Western Australian School of Mines and has held numerous statutory appointments across the African and Australasian regions.
Francesco Cannavo – Non-executive Director
Francesco Cannavo is an experienced public company director with significant business and investment experience working with companies operating across various industries, including in particular mining exploration companies. Cannavo has been instrumental in assisting several listed and unlisted companies achieve their growth strategies through the raising of investment capital and the acquisition of assets. He is currently a non-executive director of Western Mines Group (ASX:WMG) and Stemcell United (ASX:SCU).
Grant Button – Non-executive Chairman
Grant Button is a qualified accountant and has significant commercial management and transactional experience. He has over 30 years of experience at a senior management level in the resource industry. He has acted as a managing director, executive director, finance director, CFO and company secretary for a range of publicly listed companies. Most recently, Button has been managing director of Magnum Mining & Exploration (ASX:MGU), and was previously the position executive director of Sylvania Platinum.
Michele Alessandro Bina – Non-executive Director
Michele Alessandro Bina is a former investment banker based in Hong Kong and is an adviser to Beijing Gage, the parent company of Gage Resource Development (Gage). Bina joins the existing board of Alice Queen as a non-executive director as the nominee of Beijing Gage Capital Management (Beijing Gage).
Justyn Stedwell - Company Secretary
Justyn Stedwell has over 17 years of experience as a company secretary of ASX listed companies and has also served as a non-executive director on several ASX listed company Boards. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce from Monash University, a graduate diploma in accounting from Deakin University and a graduate diploma in applied corporate governance from the Governance Institute of Australia.
Martin Dormer – Exploration Manager
Martin Dormer is an exploration geologist with over 27 years’ experience in mineral exploration and resource development, from greenfields through to feasibility. His experience spans multiple commodities including precious, base metal, and industrial metals across a wide range of geological settings and jurisdictions. Dormer has worked in multiple locations around the globe, including Australia, Asia, and Africa in senior management positions in the private and public sectors. He has also operated a private geological consultancy, Unearthed Elements, for the past 14 years. Dormer is a graduate of the WA School of Mines in Mineral Exploration and Mining Geology and is a member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists and the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy.
Golden Mile Confirms Joint Venture-Acquisition Over Highly Prospective Copper Project in Arizona, USA
HIGHLIGHTS
- Golden Mile has entered into a joint venture-acquisition agreement with Outcrop Silver & Gold Corporation (“Outcrop”) for the Pearl Copper Project located in Arizona, United States.
- Initial field reconnaissance has delineated multiple targets within the project area. This highlights the near-term drill, and company making potential, of the Odyssey and Ford Prospects.
- At Odyssey, which hosts the historic artisanal Pearl (Cu-Zn-Ag-Au) Mine, multiple vein targets up to five metres wide extend continuously for approximately 800m and are evident at the surface.
- At Ford, limited historic data indicates a shaft was developed to a depth of around 70 metres. Polymetallic Cu-Pb-Ag-Au-Zn vein type mineralisation, up to five metres wide, was mined before excess water halted operations in circa 1942.
- Due Diligence indicates the Pearl Copper Project not only hosts near-term vein targets but also shows widespread surface alteration, suggesting the presence of intrusive disseminated mineralisation, making it a significant Cu-porphyry target.
- Golden Mile and Outcrop have agreed on terms for Golden Mile to acquire up to a 100% ownership of the Pearl Copper Project through a staged, earn in and dilution, investment of up to $A 12 million over eight years along with up to a 2% net smelter royalty.
Photo 1: Odyssey Prospect rock chip - Photo 2: Ford Prospect Alteration
Overview
A recently completed field trip, undertaken as part of the due diligence, has confirmed the very high prospectivity of the project area for company-making copper resources.
Figure 1: Significant Copper Mines and Projects in Arizona USA
This field examination, undertaken in late July, and while only preliminary in nature, has delineated the Odyssey and the Ford prospects within the Pearl project area as immediate highly prospective, exploration drill targets.
At Odyssey, a sub outcropping multiple vein copper target with surface mineralised widths up to five metres and a strike length of around 800 metres has been mapped. This prospect hosts the historic largely artisanal Pearl working’s where historical records indicate around 60,000 of ore containing copper oxide and sulphide, lead, silver, and gold was produced from 1915 to 1941 (Force, 1997).
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This article includes content from Golden Mile Resources, licensed for the purpose of publishing on Investing News Australia. This article does not constitute financial product advice. It is your responsibility to perform proper due diligence before acting upon any information provided here. Please refer to our full disclaimer here.
Gold Price 2024 Year-End Review
Read on for more on what factors moved the gold price in Q4, followed by a look back at the entire year.
Gold price in Q4
The gold price began Q4 at US$2,660.30, but quickly saw a retraction to US$2,608.40 on October 9. However, the decline didn't last, and gold again rose, setting a new record high of US$2,785.40 on October 30.
The surge upward was fueled by a weaker-than-expected September US consumer price index report, which showed annual inflation of 2.4 percent and monthly inflation of 0.2 percent. These numbers were higher than analysts' forecasts of 2.3 and 0.1 percent, raising expectations that the Fed would cut rates at its November meeting.
Gold was in retreat to start November, dropping to US$2,664 on November 6 after Trump’s victory. The next day, it briefly surged above the US$2,700 mark as the Fed cut interest rates by 25 basis points on November 7.
By November 15, the price of gold had fallen to its quarterly low of US$2,562.50.
The end of the month saw gold leap to US$2,715.80 on November 22. Following this peak, gold entered December below the US$2,700 mark, closing at US$2,660.50 on December 9.
Gold price, Q4 2024.
Chart via Trading Economics.
Geopolitical impacts have been important to gold in Q4.
In addition to Trump's re-election, which has caused turmoil in various forms, on November 17 the US authorized Ukraine to use ATACMS long-range missiles to attack targets deeper into Russian territory. The UK and France mirrored this move, giving Ukraine the green light to use long-range missiles in the ongoing conflict.
Tensions continued to ratchet up in the days following as Russia announced it was lowering the threshold for nuclear retaliation to include conventional attacks from countries backed by nuclear nations. In a demonstration of its capabilities, Russia launched an intermediate-range ballistic missile for the first time on November 21. While the missile appeared only to carry inert warheads, it is capable of delivering both conventional and nuclear armaments.
The threat of a significant escalation has bolstered gold’s appeal as a safe-haven asset and store of value.
How did gold perform for the rest of the year?
Gold price in Q1
Gold set its first record price of the year at US$2,251.37 on March 31.
Central bank buying, notably China's purchase of 22 metric tons of gold in the first two months of the year, supported the price. Turkey, Kazakhstan and India also significantly increased their holdings at the start of the year.
Further momentum came from Chinese wholesale demand, which jumped to 271 metric tons in January, the strongest ever recorded. Investors were turning to the yellow metal as a defense against falling real estate and stock prices. At that time, the country's stocks had lost nearly US$5 trillion in value over the past three years.
Gold price, Q1 2024.
Chart via Trading Economics.
“As central banks continue to be significant buyers and geopolitical risks and global uncertainties drive investors towards the perceived safety of gold, the current environment underscores gold’s importance as a strategic asset for portfolio diversification and risk mitigation. Therefore, while there may have been a perception of western disinterest in gold, recent developments indicate a sustained and broad-based demand for the precious metal,” Joe Cavatoni, market strategist, Americas, told the Investing News Network (INN) in an email at the time.
Gold price in Q2
The gold price saw increasing momentum in Q2, setting a new all-time of US$2,450.05 on May 20.
Gains through the quarter were influenced by strong central bank demand. Investor sentiment toward the yellow metal also shifted, with outflows from western exchange-traded funds starting to slow.
Although European funds still saw significant declines, it wasn’t all bad news — the US-based SPDR Gold Shares (NYSE:GLD), the Sprott Physical Gold Trust (NYSE:PHYS), Ireland’s Royal Mint Responsibly Sourced Physical Gold ETC (LSE:RMAU) and Switzerland’s UBS ETF Gold (SWX:AUUSI) all saw increases.
Gold price, Q2 2024.
Chart via Trading Economics.
In a May interview with INN, Jeff Clark, editor of Paydirt Prospector, noted several other market dynamics that caused the price of gold to rise dramatically. He said the real starting point for the precious metal's gains was the end of February, when the Fed indicated it was expecting three or four rate cuts in 2024.
“All of a sudden, gold was off to the races. It jumped so high that suddenly, you had some short covering that needed to happen then as well. So you had short covering, which means they’re buying. And then you had momentum chasers and traders jumping all in. That was a pretty good spike ... that's what kind of started all of this,” he said.
Gold price in Q3
Gold set another record price during the third quarter, reaching US$2,672.51 on September 26.
The high came just a week after the conclusion of the Fed's September meeting, when it announced a jumbo 50 basis point cut to the federal funds rate. While the People’s Bank of China maintained its pause on gold purchases in the third quarter, it granted several regional banks new import quotas in August.
Gold price, Q3 2024.
Chart via Trading Economics.
David Barrett, CEO of the UK division of global brokerage firm EBC Financial Group, suggested at the time that Fed rate cuts were less of a factor for gold than central bank buying. “I still see the global central bank buying as the main driver — as it has been over the last 15 years. This demand removes supply from the market. They are the ultimate buy-and-hold participants and have been buying massive amounts,” he told INN via email.
The quarter also saw significant merger and acquisition activity, with South Africa-based Gold Fields (NYSE:GFI,JSE:GFI) announcing plans to acquire Canada’s Osisko Mining (TSX:OSK) for C$2.16 billion, and South African gold miner AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) agreeing to purchase UK-based Centamin (TSX:CEE,LSE:CEY) for US$2.5 billion.
Investor takeaway
Overall, uncertainty has been a key driver for gold in 2024.
Central banks have continued to increase their physical holdings against an increasingly polarized political landscape. The most recent data from the World Gold Council shows that they added 186 metric tons of gold to their coffers during the third quarter, with the National Bank of Poland leading the way with 42 metric tons.
The World Gold Council notes that on a rolling four-quarter basis, central bank buying has slowed to 909 metric tons — that's compared to 1,215 metric tons one year ago.
Investors also began returning to the precious metal throughout 2024 as geopolitical tensions and fragile economies pushed them toward gold as a safe haven to help shield their portfolios from volatility.
With the world’s largest economy set to welcome Trump back to the White House in 2025, there are many unknowns. His economic policies could cause inflation to begin creeping up. In contrast, his foreign policies could create new ripples through global trade and financial markets given that he campaigned on more protectionist policies.
Don't forget to follow us @INN_Resource for real-time updates!
Securities Disclosure: I, Dean Belder, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Editorial Disclosure: The Investing News Network does not guarantee the accuracy or thoroughness of the information reported in the interviews it conducts. The opinions expressed in these interviews do not reflect the opinions of the Investing News Network and do not constitute investment advice. All readers are encouraged to perform their own due diligence.
Golden Mile Resources Investor Kit
- Corporate info
- Insights
- Growth strategies
- Upcoming projects