The Conversation (0)
Results of Updated Scoping Study for Nueva Sabana Mine, Cuba
Antilles Gold Limited (“Antilles Gold” or the “Company”) (ASX: AAU, OTCQB: ANTMF) is pleased to advise the results of the Updated Scoping Study for the first stage of the proposed Nueva Sabana gold-copper mine in Cuba. The Study has been prepared by the 50% owned Cuban joint venture company, Minera La Victoria SA (“MLV”), which is undertaking the project.
- The Updated Scoping Study is based on a pit limited to 100m depth which, at a mining rate of 500,000tpa of ore, will result in an initial mine life of 4.8 years.
- With additional exploration, and a greater mining depth, the project life and NPV could be increased.
- Metallurgical testwork set out in ATTACHMENT C indicates the mine will initially produce a gold concentrate grading ~57.5g/t Au for around 18 months, followed by a blended copper-gold concentrate with an average grade of ~28.3% Cu, and ~29.8g/t Au.
- Payables for these concentrates have been received from a major international commodity trader that the joint venture is negotiating with to establish an offtake agreement.
- The off-take agreement is expected to include a provision for advanced payments for concentrates to assist in the funding of construction costs.
- The 752ha concession covering the Nueva Sabana oxide deposit also hosts the El Pilar, Gaspar, and Camilo porphyry copper intrusives, and numerous shallow gold targets identified by artisanal mining.
- The Nueva Sabana deposit has a small gold cap, an underlying copper-gold zone, and a deeper sulphide copper zone with mineralisation open at depth at 150m which could potentially transition into the El Pilar porphyry copper deposit offset to the south.
HIGHLIGHTS OF FINANCIAL ANALYSIS FOR STAGE ONE OF THE NUEVA SABANA MINE: 
- Estimated Operating Profit of ~US$60M from the first 22 months of concentrate production will comfortably permit repayment of the ~US$28.5M project debt before the end of this period.
- MLV intends to drill the copper mineralisation that continues below the stage one mining depth of 100m with the aim of deepening the Nueva Sabana mine and extending its life.
- The Revised MRE for Nueva Sabana which is incorporated as ATTACHMENT A in the Study, established approximately 25M lb of 0.75% copper in Inferred Resources within the 50m below the initial mine depth, which is a positive indication of the potential to extend its life.
- MLV also intends to drill identified oxide gold-copper targets overlying the nearby Gaspar and Camilo porphyry copper deposits to potentially increase resources.
- Subject to the results of additional drilling, consideration will be given to doubling the mining rate in the copper domain to 1.0Mtpa of ore to increase annual profitability and cash flow.
- It is possible that the Nueva Sabana mine could be significantly expanded and extended in the future to mine the three porphyry copper deposits located within the mining concession.
Antilles Gold Chairman, Mr Brian Johnson, commented: “The first stage of Nueva Sabana, while relatively small, has an excellent IRR and will deliver significant free cash within a short timeframe.
MLV’s priority at this time is to finalise current negotiations on a concentrate off-take agreement for the project, and to arrange financing for the mine construction.
Antilles Gold’s share of the estimated NPV8 for the first stage of Nueva Sabana is ~A$70M at current metal prices of US$2,600 per oz Au, and US$9,300/t Cu, and an exchange rate of A$1.00 = US$0.66, which is significantly higher than the Company’s current market capitalisation of A$7.5M.
The opportunity to unlock further value for Antilles Gold will occur with the proposed development of the joint venture’s flagship project, the La Demajagua gold-silver-antimony mine, where the Company’s share of NPV8 reported to ASX on 30 March 2023 was ~A$150M, prior to the joint venture’s decision to expand the project to produce gold doré from the mine’s gold arsenopyrite concentrate, and to increase antimony production.
Before the end of 2024, Antilles Gold will contribute the final US$0.4M of the US$15.0M earn-in for its 50% shareholding in the joint venture company, Minera La Victoria (“MLV”), after which the Company’s cash burn will be substantially reduced.”
Click here for the full ASX Release
This article includes content from Antilles Gold (ASX:AAU), 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.
Second LiDAR interpretation identifies additional compelling targets at GDM’s Devils Mountain Gold Project
Highlights:
- GDM purchased the Gympie 2023 LiDAR dataset from the QLD Government, totalling 80 km2, covering EPM 26135, which lies directly SE of the historical gold mining town of Kilkivan.
- A comprehensive LiDAR interpretation was undertaken by specialists GeoCloud Analytics. The interpretation indicated a total of 486 potential historical mine workings, including 40 adits, 16 shafts and 430 other prospecting pits. Many of the old workings were not previously known to GDM.
- The new LiDAR results, combined with previous exploration data has significantly enhanced GDM's dataset, used to identify and prioritise gold bearing targets for further follow-up exploration work.
Chief Executive Officer, Justin Haines, commented:
“This second LiDAR dataset for Devils Mountain has allowed GDM to get a more accurate picture of all of the historical gold mining at Kilkivan prospects area. Shafts and adits are good indicators of the presence of significant gold and base metal mineralisation, because of the effort invested in producing those old excavations. The LiDAR results confirm GDM’s strategy of targeting areas of abundant historical workings and applying modern exploration technologies to those targets”.
Devils Mountain Project
GDM’s Devils Mountain Project comprises 5 x EPMs (17685, 26062, 26135, 26709, 28438) located ~30 km northwest of Gympie (see Figure 1). The Project lies in the Palaeozoic Gympie and Wandilla Provinces of the New England Orogen in southeast Queensland.
Devils Mountain is highly prospective for gold and is host to an abundance of mineral occurrences. In addition to gold, the area contains occurrences of copper, silver, lead, zinc, tungsten and mercury, as well as a number of manganese deposits (see Figure 2). It’s geological setting has many similarities to the nearby Gympie goldfield.
Figure 1: Devils Mountain Gold Project Location Map
Figure 2: Devils Mountain Project Geology and known historical mining prospects
LiDAR Survey Data
LiDAR specialists GeoCloud Analytics purchased part of the Gympie 2023 LiDAR dataset from the QLD Government on behalf of GDM, over an 80 km2 area in the western part of the Devils Mountain Project, covering EPM 26135. The resolution of the raw data is 1 m. GeoCloud Analytics reprocessed the point cloud data to yield a 50cm resolution bare earth Digital Terrain Model (DTM).
The LiDAR survey was flown in 2023 with a minimum average density of 10.5 points per square metre with an average flying height of 1933m above ground level. Details of the survey are provided in the JORC Table 1, see Appendix 1.
A number of new LiDAR images were generated by GeoCloud Analytics in order to extract more information about the project. The enhanced 3D datasets and 2D images produced have facilitated detailed interpretations, allowing the identification of historical mine workings, prospecting pits, geological structures, access tracks and other surface features such as drill pads.
Click here for the full ASX Release
This article includes content from Great Divide Mining, 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.
Gidji Drilling Delivers More Gold Results
Miramar’s 80%-owned Gidji JV Project (“Gidji” or “the Project) is located approximately 15 kilometres north of Kalgoorlie and surrounded by multiple gold mining and processing operations, including Northern Star Resources Limited’s Kalgoorlie gold operations (Figure 1).
Miramar’s Executive Chairman, Mr Allan Kelly, said the first results from the current programme confirmed and extended the extensive supergene gold footprint discovered in previous drilling.
“The new results increase the footprint of the high-priority Blackfriars target, which shares several similarities to the multi-million-ounce Paddington gold deposit along strike to the north, including its location at the contact between the Boorara Shear Zone and the Black Flag Beds,” he added.
“This is the first systematic drilling at Gidji after a break of almost 3 years whilst, at the same time, the Australian dollar gold price has risen from $2,500/oz to well over $5,000/oz,” Mr Kelly said.
Current and previous drilling has outlined an extensive area of flat-lying supergene gold across multiple targets at Gidji, despite the stripped weathering profile under the Gidji Paleochannel.
The current drilling programme consists of approximately 180 aircore holes and aims to further refine bedrock drill targets under the younger transported paleochannel sediments.
Drilling commenced before Easter, was suspended due to heavy rainfall and recommenced on 6 May.
Figure 1. Gidji JV Project (yellow outline) and Boorara Shear Zone(white) in relation to Kalgoorlie.
Figure 2. New aircore drilling results (squares) in relation to previous drilling (circles).
Table 1. Significant drill results from the first 34 aircore holes at Gidji JV.Note: results reported above 0.25g/t Au lower cutoff
Click here for the full ASX Release
This article includes content from Miramar Resources Limited, 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.
Asra to Secure 100% Ownership of Mt Cutmore at Leonora North Gold Project
Highlights
- Binding Term Sheet executed to acquire the remaining 49% of the Mt Cutmore prospects located at the Mt Stirling Leonora North Project subject to conditions, delivering 100% ownership upon completion.
- Consolidation of ownership aligns with Asra’s strategic focus to unlock further value within the Leonora Gold Project.
- Acquisition will strengthen Asra’s position in the renowned Leonora gold district, proximal to major operating mines and infrastructure.
The Project is situated in the Eastern Goldfields Super terrane of the Yilgarn Craton, where the area is known for orogenic gold deposits. The Project has a JORC (2012) Mineral Resource Estimate totalling 152,000 oz at 1.7g/t Au and is located within close proximity to significant gold mines, including Vault Minerals' 6Mtpa Au King of the Hills mine and Genesis Minerals' 2Moz Leonora and Kookynie operations.1
Asra Minerals Chief Executive Officer, Paul Stephen:
“Securing 100% of the Mt Cutmore prospects within the Project will be a pivotal step for Asra. This consolidation will enhance our strategic footprint in a highly prospective and active gold region.
Following the recently announced raise and with drilling permits in hand, we will be well placed to commence drilling the compelling, high-priority targets. This transaction will streamline our portfolio and provide a clear pathway to unlock value for our shareholders through focused exploration in one of WA’s premier gold districts.”
The Transaction consideration comprises of $200,000 cash and the issue of 75,000,000 fully paid ordinary shares in Asra at a deemed issue price of $0.002 per share (“Shares”) upon satisfaction of the conditions precedent of the Agreement (refer to the summary of the Agreement below for further details). The issue of the Shares is subject to shareholder approval under ASX Listing Rule 7.1, which Asra intends to seek at its upcoming annual general meeting, scheduled to be held in late May 2025.
Figure 1. Mt Stirling Leonora North
Mt Stirling Leonora North Project
The Mt Stirling Leonora North Project is strategically located approximately 40km northeast of Leonora within Western Australia’s Eastern Goldfields. This region is renowned for hosting numerous multi-million-ounce orogenic gold deposits and significant mining operations.
The Project is situated just 5km from Vault Minerals’ (ASX:VAU) major 6Moz King of the Hills mine and its recently expanded processing hub, which is the largest in the Leonora district. It is also proximal to Genesis Minerals’ (ASX:GMD) extensive 2Moz Leonora operations. The Project currently hosts a JORC (2012) Mineral Resource Estimate totalling 152,000 oz at 1.7g/t Au. This Mineral Resource Estimate provides a valuable foundation for the Project and future exploration efforts aimed at expansion.
Click here for the full ASX Release
This article includes content from Asra Minerals Limited, 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.