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Athena Completes Transformative Transaction with Libra, Acquires Ontario Gold Assets, and Plans to Strengthen Management Team and Board
Athena Gold Corporation (CSE:ATHA)(OTCQB:AHNR) ("Athena Gold" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that, further to its press release of September 11, 2024, the Company has executed a definitive agreement (the "Definitive Agreement") dated September 30, 2024 with Libra Lithium Corp. ("Libra"), a privately-held company, to acquire up to a 100% right, title and interest in the Laird Lake and Oneman Lake gold projects in Ontario (collectively called the "Properties") (the "Acquisition").
Upon final regulatory approvals, members of Libra's board and management teams are expected to join Athena Gold. David Goodman, LLB, CFA, will join the Board of Directors as Chairman and Koby Kushner, P.Eng., CFA, will take on the role of President, CEO, and Director. John Power, current President of Athena Gold, is expected to remain as Secretary and Director. Ty Minnick will remain as Chief Financial Officer. The Board of Directors will consist of Athena's current Board of Directors which includes John Power, Brian Power and John Hiner and be expanded to five members with David Goodman and Koby Kushner. Members from Libra's technical team, Benjamin Kuzmich, MSc, P.Geo, and Andrew Jedemann, MSc, P.Geo, are expected to join Athena Gold as Vice President, Exploration, and Exploration Manager, respectively.
"Our team has spent the last few months compiling all historical data across Athena's portfolio in Nevada. As we dig deeper into the data at Excelsior Springs, we can't help but become more excited," said incoming CEO, Koby Kushner. "I believe Athena has some of the best drill intercepts from a junior mining company in Nevada, and that our team is well equipped to re-envision what was historically a high-grade, underground brownfields site, into a large-scale, high-margin, open pit gold target. Meanwhile, our team continues to put boots on the ground in Ontario, where we have samples pending from our recent reconnaissance program at Laird Lake."
"Building upon our recent advancements at Excelsior Springs, I look forward to collaborating with Koby and his dedicated technical team with our collective goal to continue building shareholder value. While Excelsior Springs remains our flagship project, I am keen to diversify our portfolio with the addition of Laird Lake and Oneman Lake projects in Ontario," said John Power, President & CEO. "I am particularly excited about Laird, which covers an underexplored portion of the Red Lake Mining Camp and is proximal to Great Bear and Madsen mines under development. I would also like to extend a warm welcome to Libra as a shareholder in Athena."
Highlights:
- Athena is to acquire Libra's Laird Lake and Oneman Lake projects in Ontario through the issuance of common shares to Libra, such that Libra will own 43,865,217 shares in Athena upon completion of the planned amalgamation.
- Laird Lake (4,158 ha) is located in Ontario's Red Lake Gold Camp, which has produced over 29 million ounces of goldi from some of the highest-grade gold mines globally and is easily accessible via road.
- Laird Lake is hosted in a similar structural setting as Kinross Gold's multimillion-ounce Great Bear project, and West Red Lake Gold's nearby Madsen mine, only 11 kilometres away. Kinross recently announced results of a preliminary economic assessment for the Great Bear project, that outlined a large-scale, high-margin, gold producer, capable of producing over 500,000 oz at an all-in sustaining cost of approximately US$800/oz over the first 8 years, with a US$1.9 billion NPV5% and 24.3% IRR after-tax, based on gold prices of US$1,900/ozi. Meanwhile, West Red Lake Gold recently reaffirmed its target of restarting production at Madsen in 2025ii.
- The project covers approximately a 10-kilometre strike extent of the Balmer-Confederation Assemblage contact, the same contact that hosts the majority of gold deposits in the Red Lake Gold Camp. According to a recent Master of Science thesis, "the Laird Lake property likely represents the continuation of the same mineralized structure found at both the Madsen and Starrat-Olsen mines and was later displaced as far as 10 km west by the dextral Laird Lake fault post-2704 Ma.iii"
- Despite being directly along trend of the nearby Madsen Mine and having visible gold showings on surface, Laird Lake remains largely untested, with only limited historical exploration work completed to date.
- There can be no assurance that actual results on adjacent properties is any indication of future exploration success at Laird Lake.
- Oneman Lake (578 ha) is located in the Kenora Mining District, within the Separation Rapids Greenstone Belt, and contains a breccia zone up to 100m wide with key indicator sulfide minerals.
Planned Board and Management Additions:
- David Goodman, Libra's co-founder and largest individual shareholder, is expected to join Athena's Board of Directors as Chairman.
- Koby Kushner, Libra's co-founder and CEO, is expected to join Athena's Board of Directors and take on the role of President and CEO of the Company.
- Members from Libra's technical team, Benjamin Kuzmich and Andrew Jedemann, are expected to join Athena as Vice President, Exploration, and Exploration Manager, respectively.
Koby Kushner, P.Eng., CFA, is the Chief Executive Officer and a director of Libra. He has spent most of his career as a mining engineer and more recently, an equity research analyst. Prior to entering finance, Mr. Kushner worked at several mines in Ontario and Manitoba, including Hemlo (Barrick Gold), Detour, Rice Lake, and others. During this time, Mr. Kushner has seen projects advance through all stages of development, including exploration, production, and closure. He then moved into equity research at Red Cloud Securities, a mining-only investment bank, where he wrote on over 100 companies across various stages of development and a wide range of commodities, with a particular focus on precious and energy metals. He holds a BSc in Mining Engineering from Queen's University, is a licensed Professional Engineer in the province of Ontario and is a CFA charterholder.
David Goodman, LLB, CFA, is the Chairman of Libra. Mr. Goodman left an early career as a litigator in 1994 to become a Partner, Vice President and Portfolio Manager at the investment management firm behind Dynamic Funds. He became President and Chief Executive Officer of Dynamic Funds in 2001 and of DundeeWealth, Dynamic's public company parent, in 2007. Under Mr. Goodman's leadership, the firm became one of Canada's best performing and fastest growing investment managers, was recognized as Fund Company of the Year seven times at the Canadian Investment Awards while growing assets under management from $5 billion to approximately $50 billion, until its ultimate sale in 2011 to a Canadian bank. In the past Mr. Goodman was a member of the boards of DundeeWealth, Repadre Capital Corporation, Dundee Corporation, SickKids Foundation and a trustee of the Dundee REIT. Mr. Goodman was previously the head of Global Asset Management for a major Canadian bank and CEO of Dundee Corporation. In addition to his business interests, Mr. Goodman is the founder and CEO of Humour Me, an annual event whereby high-profile executives compete in stand-up comedy and has raised over $20 million to date for worthy causes.
Benjamin Kuzmich, MSc., P.Geo, is the Vice President, Exploration of Libra. He is a professional geologist with a proven track record of exploration success in Canada throughout Ontario, Manitoba, and the Yukon. His accomplishments include the delineation of the E-Zone at Barrick's Hemlo gold mine, where he managed a $20M drill program, and where his reinterpretation of geologic models resulted in a 23% improvement in underground head grade for 2019. Outside of Hemlo, he led the discovery of the Little Wing gold occurrence at Alamos's Lynn Lake project as well as numerous REE/LCT pegmatite, precious, and base metal occurrences throughout the Superior Province. He completed his MSc thesis at Lakehead University on the highly endowed, critical mineral-rich Ring of Fire in northern Ontario, and his undergraduate thesis on S-type granitic intrusions.
Andrew Jedemann, MSc., P.Geo, is the Exploration Manager of Libra. He is an experienced professional geologist with a strong technical background who has been exploring for various commodities in northwestern Ontario over the past 8 years. Andrew has spent most of his career working on several early- to advanced-stage Au, Li, and Ni-Cu-PGE projects around Northwestern Ontario, most notably of which included designing, implementing, and managing >20,000m of drilling at the Barrick - Hemlo gold mine. Additionally, Andrew has worked in the prolific Ring of Fire where he assisted in generating new base and precious metal targets as well as directly overseeing field exploration work. Andrew completed his MSc Geology degree from Lakehead University in partnership with the University of Tasmania (CODES) on characterizing an early-stage porphyry and epithermal prospect on Vancouver Island.
Terms of the Definitive Agreement:
Pursuant to the Definitive Agreement, Athena Gold will acquire up to a 100% interest in the Properties, consisting of 218 mining claims covering approximately 4,736 hectares. The Properties are comprised of two projects: one known as the Oneman Lake Project located near Kenora, Ontario and the other known as the Laird Lake Project in Red Lake, Ontario. Pursuant to an option agreement dated August 19, 2024, with Bounty Gold Corp. ("Bounty Gold"), Libra has earned 100% ownership of the Oneman Lake Project and has the exclusive option to acquire the Laird Lake Project (the "Option") subject to certain terms and conditions. Bounty Gold has consented to the transfer of the Properties to Athena Gold.
All parties to this transaction are arm's length.
As consideration of the Properties, Athena Gold has agreed to issue 43,865,217 common shares in the capital of Athena Gold's wholly owned subsidiary, Nova Athena Gold Corp. to Libra, at a deemed value of CDN $0.05 per share.
Athena Gold will assume all obligations of the Option to Bounty Gold to acquire the Laird Lake Project by incurring the following cash payments and share issuances over the course of five years (which may be accelerated at Athena Gold's option):
- payment of CDN $50,000 in cash on or before August 19, 2025, of which up to 50% of such payment may be made in the form of common shares in the capital of Athena Gold;
- payment of CDN $50,000 in cash on or before August 19. 2026, of which up to 50% of such payment may be made in the form of common shares in the capital of Athena Gold;
- payment of CDN $50,000 in cash on or before August 19, 2027, of which up to 50% of such payment may be made in the form of common shares in the capital of Athena Gold;
- payment of CDN $50,000 in cash on or before August 19, 2028, of which up to 50% of such payment may be made in the form of common shares in the capital of Athena Gold; and
- payment of CDN $1,000,000 in cash on or before August 19, 2029, or alternatively
- payment of 75% in cash and the issuance of common shares in the capital of Athena Gold equal to 25% of the payment, for a total payment of CDN $1,250,000;
- payment of 50% in cash and the issuance of common shares in the capital of Athena Gold equal to 50% of the payment, for a total payment of CDN $1,500,000; or
- payment of 25% in cash and the issuance of common shares in the capital of Athena Gold equal to 75% of the payment, for a total payment of CDN $1,750,000.
In the event that Athena Gold pays any of the payments to Bounty Gold in the form of both cash and common shares, the price per share will be determined with the number of shares being based on a per share deemed issue price equal to the 30-day VWAP of the shares for the period of any twenty (20) consecutive trading days on the Canadian Securities Exchange ending on the date that is three business days prior to the date of issuance of the additional common shares.
Upon completion of the above obligations by Athena Gold, Bounty Gold will retain a 2% NSR on the Properties, of which 1% may be purchased by Athena Gold for CDN $1,000,000 at any time.
Athena Gold has agreed to pay a finder's fee to Castlewood Capital Corp. in connection with the Acquisition, through the issuance of 1,737,236 common shares in the capital of Nova Athena Gold Corp. The finder's fee will be payable upon completion of the proposed Amalgamation of Athena Gold.
All common shares issued pursuant to the Acquisition will be subject to a hold period expiring four months and one day from the date of issuance in Canada. Any shares issued by Athena Gold prior to the proposed Amalgamation will be subject to applicable United States hold periods.
None of the foregoing shares have been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "1933 Act") or any applicable state securities laws and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, U.S. persons (as defined in Regulation S under the 1933 Act) or persons in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from such registration requirements. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor will there be any sale of the foregoing securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.
As a result of the Acquisition, Libra will beneficially own approximately 19.9% of the issued and outstanding shares of Nova Athena.
The Acquisition is subject to receipt of all necessary regulatory and corporate approvals, including the approval of the Canadian Securities Exchange.
Proposed Amalgamation and Redomicile to Canada
Within thirty days following the execution and delivery of the Definitive Agreement, Athena Gold and Nova Athena will enter into and execute a Plan of Merger and Amalgamation (the "Merger Agreement") pursuant to which, subject to obtaining the necessary consents and regulatory approvals and compliance with all applicable legal requirements, Athena Gold will complete the merger and amalgamation with and into Nova Athena and redomicile to British Columbia, Canada (the "Amalgamation" or "Merger"). As a result of the Amalgamation, Nova Athena shall be the surviving entity. In the Amalgamation, each stockholder of Athena Gold will receive one common share in the capital of Nova Athena for each common share of Athena Gold. The existing shares of Nova Athena held by Athena Gold prior to the Amalgamation will be gifted back and cancelled. Following completion of the Merger, Libra will not own more than 19.9% of the issued share capital as a result of the cancellation. The Company will continue to maintain its stock listing on the OTCQB and anticipates a seamless continuation of its stock trading in both US and Canadian marketplaces. The Company expects that the Amalgamation will become effective in the early part of 2025.
Athena Gold will hold a shareholder meeting to approve the proposed Amalgamation to be called as soon as possible. In addition to the proposed Amalgamation, shareholders will be asked to approve an increase in Athena Gold's authorized capital to an unlimited number of common shares, a change of name (if required) and the delisting of Athena Gold's common shares from the Securities and Exchange Commission. Full details of the proposed merger and redomicile, including the associated benefits and risks, will be provided in the registration statement on Form S-4 to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission by Athena Gold.
About Athena Gold Corporation
Athena Gold is engaged in the business of mineral exploration and the acquisition of mineral property assets. Its objective is to locate and develop economic precious and base metal properties of merit and to conduct additional exploration drilling and studies on the Project.
About Our Flagship Excelsior Springs Project
The Excelsior Springs Project (the "Project") lies within the prolific Walker Lane tectonic trend, a large region of northwest-trending, strike-slip fault zones that host a significant number of precious metal deposits having very strong structural control for mineralization. The Walker Lane trend is experiencing a major resurgence of intense and successful exploration and development.
The Project contains numerous prospect pits, trenches, roads, surface sampling sites and 113 drill holes to date within a 300m X 3,000m wide (1,000 foot-wide and 10,000-foot-long east-west trending zone of shearing and alteration. Underground workings on the two patented claims within the Project had unverified, historical production of 19,200 oz at 41.1 g/t Au.
Gold mineralization discovered at the Project to date occurs in quartz veins, stock-works, and silicified zones in hornfels and calc-silicate altered country rock and is generally close to porphyry dykes. The best grades and thicknesses discovered recently were found in oxidized and altered sedimentary rock immediately above porphyry dykes intruded along preexisting east- and east-northeast trending faults. The mineralized stock-work vein zones are shallow and have a relatively flat plunge, making them potentially amenable to open pit mining methods.
Based on the results of previous drilling programs, the Project has the potential to host one or more shallow gold deposits amenable to open pit mining, along with deeper, higher grade feeder zones that may be found and could be mined by underground methods. In the opinion of management and its consultants, the Project is very promising and further exploration has the potential to expand the known mineralization and establish additional mineralized zones.
For further information about Athena Gold Corporation and our Excelsior Springs Gold project, please visit www.athenagoldcorp.com.
On Behalf of the Board of Directors
John C. Power, President
Athena Gold Corporation
For further information, please contact:
Phone: John C. Power, (707) 291-6198
Email: johnpower@athenagoldcorp.com
Jason Libenson
President and CCO
Castlewood Capital Corporation
(647)-534-9884
Email: jason@castlewoodcapital.ca
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian and U.S. securities laws. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein including, without limitation, statements regarding future exploration plans, future results from exploration, and the anticipated business plans and timing of future activities of the Company, are forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as: "believes", "will", "expects", "anticipates", "intends", "estimates", "plans", "may", "should", "potential", "scheduled", or variations of such words and phrases and similar expressions, which, by their nature, refer to future events or results that may, could, would, might or will occur or be taken or achieved. In making the forward-looking statements in this press release, the Company has applied several material assumptions, including without limitation, that there will be investor interest in future financings, market fundamentals will result in sustained precious metals demand and prices, the receipt of any necessary permits, licenses and regulatory approvals in connection with the future exploration and development of the Company's projects in a timely manner.
The Company cautions investors that any forward-looking statements by the Company are not guarantees of future results or performance, and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements as a result of various risk factors as disclosed in the final long form prospectus of the Company dated August 31, 2021.
Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any of the forward-looking statements in this press release or incorporated by reference herein, except as otherwise.
iGreat Bear Technical Report: Voluntary National Instrument 43-101 Technical Report
iiWest Red Lake recent announcement about restart activities in 2025: West Red Lake Gold Provides Madsen Mine Restart Activities
iiiRecent Master of Science thesis on Laird Lake: Geology and geochemistry of the Laird Lake property and associated gold mineralization, Red Lake greenstone belt, northwestern Ontario
Augustus Acquires 1,345km2 Gold Exploration Project Near Leonora
Augustus Minerals Limited (ASX: AUG) has executed a binding share purchase agreement (“SPA”) with MCA Nominees Pty Ltd (“MCA”) to acquire 100% of the issued capital in Music Well Gold Mines Pty Ltd (“MWGM”), an entity which holds the exploration licences comprising the Music Well Gold Project (“Project”). The Project is in the Eastern Goldfields region of Western Australia located 35km north of Leonora.
- Augustus Minerals Limited( ASX: AUG) (“Augustus” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that is has executed a binding share purchase agreement to acquire 100% of the issued capital in Music Well Gold Mines Pty Ltd, which holds the exploration licenses and applications comprising the Music Well Gold Project located 35km north of Leonora in the Leonora / Laverton Greenstone Belt of Western Australia.
- The large contiguous tenement package covers an area of 1,345 sq km in a region that hosts gold endowment of >12Moz1 gold and >450kozpa gold production2 within 50km of the project.
Neighbouring operating mines include:
Northern Star3 (ASX:NST)
- Thunderbox Mine3 (4.2M oz Au Resources) 20km to the west
- Wonder Underground (0.9Moz Au Resources3) <1km west
Genesis Minerals4 (ASX:GMD)
- Hub Project (0.7 Moz Au Resources) adjoining Music Well Project
Vault Minerals5 (ASX:VAU)
- Darlot Gold Mine (1.9 Moz Au Resources) is located 12km north
- King of the Hills mine (4.1 Moz Au Resources) 20km to the south west
- Extensive geophysics, gravity, soil sampling and rock chipping have already been completed with data validation and target prioritization underway
- Potential for gold discoveries from the dedicated and focused Augustus exploration team over the next 2 years.
“The acquisition of such a large prospective gold exploration package in close proximity to operating mines owned by Northern Star, Genesis and Vault Minerals with +12M oz of resources and over 450kozpa gold production2 is a significant coup for Augustus (Figure 1).
“With the gold price now exceeding A$4,000/oz it provides Augustus Shareholders with significant exposure to future discovery in one of the greatest gold provinces in the world”.
Background
Comprising ten granted exploration licences covering an area of approximately 1,052km2 and two exploration licences in application covering an area of 293km2. The total tenement package is 1,345 sq km making the Project one of the largest exploration packages in the region.
Augustus believes that adding a gold focussed exploration project of this size provides optionality and complements its copper/base-metals/uranium focus at the Ti Tree Shear project in the Gascoyne.
Music Well Project
The Project is located within the Murrin Murrin domain, Kurnalpi Terrane of the Yilgarn Craton in the Leonora / Laverton Greenstone Belt of Western Australia.
The Yilgarn is a globally significant mineralised province for gold, nickel and aluminium, and also hosts major deposits of other minerals such as copper, zinc and iron along with other resources such as tantalum, lithium, vanadium, uranium and rare earth elements (“REEs”).
Figure 1: Project location, regional gold Mineral Resources and working processing plants. See Table 1 for source data for Mineral Resources of Gold Deposits in the Leonora-Laverton District).
MWGM initiated the consolidation of tenements and commenced field work, on ground exploration and targeting studies from November 2019. In the resulting 5-year period from November 2019 to November 2024 the Company has consolidated a tenement package of 1,345 sq kms and has identified priority targets for follow up exploration work for Air Core, RC and Diamond Drilling.
These high priority targets have been identified by using MWGMs “Three – Schema Gold Prospectivity Model” which incorporates and utilises classical structural mapping techniques, geochemistry such as Ultra Fine + (UFF) soil sampling, rock chip sampling and advanced geophysics. This multi-disciplinary approach to exploration utilising high-resolution airborne magnetics, gravity and radiometric data, including (UFF) soil sampling over + 1,052sq kms also includes the reinterpretation of the solid geology, structure and deformation history of the region to inform local interpretation of the geological framework and identification of the targets completed over a 5-year period within the Project area.
The geological studies, completed with the assistance of a group of technical specialists, including Southern Geoscience, Fathom Geophysics, Tower Geoscience, Geobase Australia, Daishat Geodictic Gravity Surveyors, Walter Witt Experience and GeoSpy Australia utilising high-resolution airborne magnetics, gravity and radiometric data.
The principal target types include gold in shear zones within granitoids and greenstones (analogous to the nearby Wonder Deeps Gold Mine (Northern Star) and intrusion-related gold systems potentially analogous to King of the Hills and Darlot Centenary mines located southwest and north of the Music Well Gold Project respectively. The Music Well Gold Project is considered to be prospective for gold, base metals and also for lithium, tantalum and REE, which will also be investigated.
The tenement area is characterised by a strongly deformed stratigraphy and intrusions and contains numerous predominantly west-northwest anastomosing subparallel shear zones providing links potentially to Wonder Deeps and Thunderbox gold mines (Northern Star) located to the west of the project area; and the Hub (Redcliffe) gold deposit located to the east (Genesis).
In addition, a series of north-northwest and north-northeast structures trend through the project area and structures of a similar orientation host many of the gold deposits in the Leonora / Laverton area.
There are numerous operating gold mines in the district including the Darlot Gold Mine (~12 km to the north), the King of the Hills Mine (~20 km to the west), the Leonora Gold Camp (~30km to the southwest), and the Thunderbox Gold Mine (~20 km to the west) (Figure 2).
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This article includes content from Augustus Minerals, 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.
Sarama Resources - Key Milestone in Cosmo Gold Project Acquisition
Cosmo Gold Shareholders Vote in Favour of Transaction
Sarama Resources Ltd. (“Sarama” or the “Company”) (ASX:SRR, TSX- V:SWA) is pleased to advise that the shareholders of Cosmo Gold Ltd (“Cosmo”) have voted in favour of Sarama’s acquisition of a majority interest(1) in the Cosmo Gold Project (the “Project”) in Western Australia. This shareholder approval was a key outstanding condition to be satisfied for the Transaction (defined below) to be completed.
The acquisition now has approval from the shareholders of both Sarama and Cosmo and Sarama has received requisite approval and conditional approval from securities exchanges in Australia and Canada respectively. It is anticipated the Transaction will be completed in mid-November 2024.
The 580km² Cosmo Gold Project(2) covers the entirety of the Cosmo-Newbery Greenstone Belt and is located approximately 85km north-east of Laverton in a region known for its prolific gold endowment (refer Figure 1). As one of the last effectively unexplored greenstone belts in Western Australia, the Project presents a unique and compelling opportunity for the Company.
Highlights
- Sarama acquiring a majority interest in, and control of, Cosmo Gold Project in Western Australia
- Sarama acquiring an initial 80% interest(1) with ability to increase to 100% in the majority of the Project(1)
- 580km² landholding capturing +50km strike length in highly prospective gold producing region; 95km from both the world-class Gruyere Mine and Laverton gold district
- Project captures one of the last effectively unexplored greenstone belts in Western Australia; virtually no effective exploration undertaken for several decades
- Project is very well located being only a 4 hour drive from Kalgoorlie on predominantly paved roads
- All shareholders approvals for the Transaction secured
- Key conditions precedent satisfied and completion of transaction anticipated in mid-November 2024
- Meetings with Traditional Owners confirm support for Sarama’s involvement and its planned endeavours
- Soil geochemistry program underway to generate regional targets in unexplored areas
Sarama’s Executive Chairman, Andrew Dinning commented:
“We are pleased to have passed this major milestone and look forward to finalizing the acquisition of a majority interest in the Cosmo Gold Project in the coming weeks. Together with Cosmo, we have commenced our first soil geochemistry program which will continue over the next 6-8 weeks and feed into larger targeting efforts and work up of drill targets for the 2025 exploration season.”
Cosmo Newbery Project
The Project is comprised of 7 contiguous exploration tenements covering approximately 580km² in the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia, approximately 85km north-east of Laverton and 95km west of the world-class Gruyere Gold Mine. The Project is readily accessible via the Great Central Road which services the Cosmo Newbery Community.
The Project captures one of the last unexplored greenstone belts in Western Australia and with a strike length of +50km, the Cosmo Newbery Belt represents a large and prospective system with gold first being discovered in the area in the 1890’s. Multiple historical gold workings are documented within the Project area and work undertaken to date, has identified multiple exploration targets for follow up.
Despite this significant prospectivity, the Project has seen virtually no modern exploration or drilling of merit due to a lack of land access persisting over a significant period. As a result, the Project has not benefited from the evolution of geochemical and geophysical techniques which now facilitate effective exploration in deeply weathered and complex regolith settings which is particularly pertinent given approximately 75% of the Project area is under cover.
Following the relatively recent securing of land access, the Project is now available for systematic and modern-day exploration programs to be conducted on a broad-scale. It is anticipated that future exploration programs will initially follow-up preliminary targets generated from regional soil sampling and limited reconnaissance drilling programs, a majority of which extended to approximately 5m below surface with a small percentage extending up to 30m below surface.
Figure 1 – Cosmo Gold Project Location, Eastern Goldfields, Western Australia
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This article includes content from Sarama 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.
Takeover Bid for Mako Gold Limited – Updated Closing Date
Aurum Resources Limited (ABN 17 650 477 286) (ASX: AUE) (Aurum) refers its off-market takeover bid to acquire all of the shares and certain options in Mako Gold Limited (ABN 84 606 241 829) (ASX: MKG), pursuant to a bidder’s statement dated 30 October 2024 (Bidder’s Statement).
Aurum notes that there was an incorrect date reference in Aurum’s announcements and the Bidder’s Statement lodged earlier today with ASX.
The updated dates for the offers under the Bidder’s Statements are as follows:
All other dates remain unchanged.
Click here for the full ASX Release
This article includes content from Aurum 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.
Joe Cavatoni: Gold Demand Hits Q3 Record, Western ETF Buyers Back in Action
Joe Cavatoni, senior market strategist, Americas, at the World Gold Council, spoke to the Investing News Network about Q3 gold demand trends and outlined what could drive the metal heading into the end of 2024.
Referring to the World Gold Council's latest report, he highlighted the return of western exchange-traded fund investors. With interest rates on the decline and geopolitical turmoil still strong, they've been more eager to buy.
"Overall holdings of gold in investment portfolios has been stable, but actually adding to gold allocations has required that opportunity cost, or that carrying cost, to come down for the investor in the western market, and that's what we're starting to see," Cavatoni explained during the interview.
Cavatoni also spoke about how the upcoming US election may impact gold, as well as other segments of demand for the yellow metal, including bar and coin demand, jewelry demand and technology demand.
"Where the election will have impact (for gold) is on how policies will develop," he said.
"That tends to show up six months or so post an election outcome when policies can be discussed, clarified and potentially start to be implemented. That's why we think that six months into the election outcome is when you're going to start to see more of an effect on the gold price," Cavatoni said, adding that there may still be short-term volatility.
Watch the interview above for more of his thoughts on gold market trends to watch right now.
Don’t forget to follow us @INN_Resource for real-time updates!
Securities Disclosure: I, Charlotte McLeod, 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.
Brightstar Resources
Investor Insight
A gold-focused emerging gold producer with a clear pathway to production growth, Brightstar Resources presents a compelling investment case driven by its mining and development hubs strategy and a district-scale resource opportunity.
Overview
The price of gold stays strong. In April 2024, the yellow metal’s price passed US$2,400 per ounce for the first time. The reason is multifaceted. The world teeters on the brink of a severe recession while some markets attribute the increase to safe haven rush. Amidst ballooning interest rates, bank failures and falling bond yields, demand for gold continues to rise. At this precise moment, gold is simultaneously an excellent portfolio diversifier and a compelling hedge against ongoing inflation — particularly if one invests in the right company.
Brightstar Resources (ASX:BTR) aims to be that company. An emerging mining and development company, Brightstar occupies a strategic land position of roughly 1,200 square kilometers in the Sandstone Greenstone Belt, 300 square kilometers in the Laverton Tectonic Belt and 80 square kilometers of the Menzies Shear Zone.
The company also owns an existing processing facility that can potentially provide tremendous shareholder value in a low-capital cost restart scenario.
That plant, once fully refurbished and operational, could prove a key differentiator for the company, enabling fast gold production at a low capital cost. This is especially noteworthy given that many other gold companies trading on the ASX are largely focused on greenfield exploration and development. Even once those companies discover a promising resource, mining and processing facilities would still need to be built, undertakings which can incur significant upfront capital costs and take several years.
Brightstar's Laverton gold assets are all centered on a 100 percent-owned 300-square-kilometer tenure in the Laverton Tectonic Zone and all within 70 kilometers of the Laverton Processing Plant. Additionally, all resources within this zone are open along strike and at depth. Only minor drilling programs have been conducted in recent years, paving the way for significant exploration upside with the potential for further regional and greenfields discoveries.
Brightstar also owns 100 percent of the Menzies Gold Project, a contiguous land package of granted mining leases over a strike length of roughly 20 kilometers along the Menzies Shear Zone and adjacent to the Goldfields Highway.
In 2023 and 2024, the company announced a mineral resource upgrade to the Cork Tree Well deposit (Laverton gold project) and also delivered two maiden mineral resource estimates at the Link Zone and Aspacia deposits (Menzies gold project). This has grown the total group MRE by approximately 150 koz gold through organic exploration.
The company has also acquired 100 percent of the shares and options of Linden Gold Alliance, a gold producer, developer and explorer with existing mineral resources of 350 koz @ 2.1 g/t gold near Brightstar in the Laverton district. Brightstar’s MRE has reached 1.1 Moz gold across the Menzies and Laverton projects, with an additional 0.35 Moz gold in resources added after the successful acquisition of Linden Gold Alliance.
In August 2024, Brightstar entered into a scheme implementation deed to acquire 100 percent of Alto Metals (ASX:AME), which owns the Sandstone gold project located in East Murchison. The project has a current mineral resource of 1.05 Moz of gold at 1.5 g/t.
Brightstar also completed the acquisition of the gold rights at the Montague East gold project (MEGP) from Gateway Mining Limited (ASX:GML). The project is located 70 km from the Sandstone gold project. The acquisition adds a further 9.6 Mt @ 1.6 g/t gold for 0.5 Moz gold to Brightstar’s JORC Mineral Resource Estimate, giving the company a total mineral endowment of 38.3 Mt @ 1.6 g/t gold for 2.0 Moz gold.
The acquisition of the MGEP from Gateway Mining and 100 percent of Alto’s shares creates a third district-scale resource base for the company called the Sandstone Hub. Upon consolidation of the Laverton, Menzies and Sandstone hubs, Brightstar’s mineral resources would reach 3 Moz at 1.5g/t gold.
Subsequent to the deal with Alto Metals, Brightstar entered into a $4 million drill-for-equity agreement with Topdrill to aggressively advance the consolidated Sandstone gold project. The deal strengthens Brightstar's financial capacity to fulfill its multi-hub exploration and development strategy, which includes the Menzies, Laverton and Sandstone hubs.
Company Highlights
- Brightstar Resources is an ASX-listed mining and development company with more than 3 million ounces of gold resources and an on-site processing infrastructure across its project locations in Laverton, Menzies and Sandstone in Western Australia.
- Brightstar's mineral assets are situated across roughly 300 square kilometers of 100-percent-owned land in the Laverton Tectonic Zone and ~80 square kilometers in the high-grade Menzies Shear Zone.
- The Laverton Gold project has a mineral resource of 9.7 Mt @ 1.6 g/t gold for 511 koz gold and the Menzies gold project has 13.8 Mt @ 1.3g/t gold for 595 koz gold.
- In 2023, the company completed a scoping study into the development of its Menzies and Laverton gold projects and the refurbishment and restart of its processing plant in Laverton.
- In 2023 and 2024, Brightstar completed a small-scale mining joint venture with BML Ventures which involved a 50/50 profit-sharing agreement to exploit the Selkirk deposit at Menzies. In April 2024, Brightstar announced that this joint venture delivered a net profit to Brightstar of $6.5 million.
- In June 2024, the company successfully acquired all of the issued ordinary shares and options in Linden Gold Alliance, a gold producer, developer and explorer with existing mineral resources of 350 koz @ 2.1 g/t gold near Brightstar in the Laverton district.
- As part of the merger with Linden Gold, Brightstar released a scoping study into Linden’s development-ready Jasper Hills gold project, which delivered key metrics including:
- 140 koz mined over 3.75 years (35 koz pa)
- Net present value of AU$99 million
- Internal rate of return of 736 percent
- Pre-production capital requirements of $12 million
- All-in sustaining costs of AU$1,972/oz
- Jasper Hills is located just 50 km SE of Brightstar’s processing plant in the Laverton gold project
- Brightstar has recently completed the acquisition of the gold rights at the Montague East gold project (MEGP) from Gateway Mining Limited (ASX:GML), and has entered into an agreement to acquire Alto Metals (ASX:AME) further creating the company’s third district-scale resource base known as the Sandstone Hub.
- Brightstar plans to continue generating shareholder value through a combination of development and strategic acquisitions along with some exploration.
Key Projects
Laverton Hub
Brightstar’s Laverton hub is comprised of the Cork Tree Well, Beta and Alpha project areas with the addition of the Second Fortune gold mine and the Jasper Hills projects.
Highlights:
- Cork Tree Well, Alpha and Beta have current total JORC mineral resource estimate of 9.7 Mt @ 1.6 g/t gold for 511 koz (52 percent measured and indicated category). All mineral resources are on granted mining leases
- Cork Tree Well (6.4 Mt at 1.4 g/t gold for 303 koz gold)
- Alpha (1.4 Mt at 2.3 g/t gold for 106 koz gold)
- Beta (1.9 Mt at 1.7 g/t gold for 102 koz gold)
- Main project area Cork Tree Well is open at depth and along strike with recent drilling results of 34.4 meters at 7.94 g/t gold from 43.5 meters (CTWMET004) and 27.6 meters at 17.8 g/t gold from 51 m (CTWMET003)
- Second Fortune has a mineral resource estimate head grade of ~11g/t gold with an average ore body width of ~0.6 meters.
- Jasper Hills is located 50 km from Brightstar’s existing processing facility along a wholly-owned private haul road, allowing unimpeded, direct access to both projects
- Permitted, previously mined and production-ready
- Last mined by current owners in 2020 with 23,000 oz gold mined
- Scoping Study outcomes include:
- Pre-production capex of $12 million required (maximum capital drawdown)
- Open pit mine at Lord Byron and underground mine at Fish
- Production of 141 koz over four years (35 koz per annum)
- LOM EBITDA of $135 million (@ AU$3,000/oz)
Menzies Hub
The Menzies Hub comprises a tenement holding of a contiguous land package of granted mining leases over a strike length of more than 20 km. The majority of deposits hosted along the Menzies Shear Zone are located adjacent to Goldfields Highway in Menzies (130km north of Kalgoorlie).
Highlights:
- Total Current Resource: 13.7 Mt at 1.3 g/t gold for 595 koz gold (36 percent measured and indicated)
- September 2023 scoping study showed the simultaneous development of open pit mining at Lady Shenton system and underground mining at Yunndaga:
- 1.9 Mt @ 1.63 g/t Au (100 koz) in open pit mining at Lady Shenton
- 650 kt @ 2.91 g/t (60 koz) in underground mining at Yunndaga
- Low capex of $22 million
- Significant opportunities to find virgin discoveries and brownfields mineral resource growth:
Sandstone Hub
The consolidated Sandstone project is over 100 km from existing third-party milling operations in the Murchison. This third processing hub boasts Alto’s Sandstone project with a mineral resource of 1.05 Moz at 1.4 g/t gold and Gateway’s Montague gold project with a mineral resource of 0.5 Moz @ 1.6 g/t gold.
Brightstar aims to fast-track the development timetable through:
- A focused, multi-rig infill drill out to take the inferred mineralisation into measured and indicated status to underpin mining studies and project advancement
- The application of Brightstar’s dedicated in-house geological and mining engineering team to retain crucial project IP and fast-tracked mining studies;
Brightstar Processing Facility
Situated close to Brightstar's existing mineral assets at Laverton, the Brightstar Processing Plant provides the company with a considerable operational head start over its peers.
Highlights:
- Extensive Infrastructure: Current facilities at the plant include two ball mills, a power station and gravity and elution circuits. Other infrastructure includes:
- A tailings storage dam
- An on-site process water pond
- A 60-person accommodation camp
- An airstrip at the Cork Tree Well Project
- Vehicles and equipment include a forklift, bobcat, two loaders, multiple light vehicles and a 30-tonne crane.
- A Leg Up Over Competitors: The presence of pre-existing processing infrastructure represents significant time savings compared to greenfields development. Brightstar had an independent valuation completed which valued the processing plant at AU$60 million in replacement value.
- Low Upfront Capital Cost: As part of the scoping study released in September 2023, GR Engineering estimated a capital cost requirement to refurbish and expand the milling capacity would cost just AU$18.5 million.
- Close to Existing Assets: Brightstar's major development projects — Cork Tree Well, Jasper Hills, Beta and Alpha — are all close to the plant.
Gold doré bars (BTR005 – BTR016) poured on 9 March 2024
Management Team
Alex Rovira - Managing Director
Alex Rovira is a qualified geologist and an experienced investment banker having focused on the metals and mining sector since 2013. Rovira has experience in ASX equity capital markets activities, including capital raisings, IPOs and merger and acquisitions.
Richard Crookes - Non-executive Chairman
Richard Crookes has over 35 years’ experience in the resources and investments industries. He is a geologist by training having previously worked as the chief geologist and mining manager of Ernest Henry Mining in Australia.
Crookes is managing partner of Lionhead Resources, a critical minerals investment fund and formerly an investment director at EMR Capital. Prior to that he was an executive director in Macquarie Bank’s Metals Energy Capital (MEC) division where he managed all aspects of the bank’s principal investments in mining and metals companies.
Andrew Rich - Executive Director
Andrew Rich is a degree qualified mining engineer from the WA School of Mines and has obtained a WA First Class Mine Managers Certificate. Rich has a strong background in underground gold mining with experience predominantly in the development of underground mines at Ramelius Resources (ASX:RMS) and Westgold Resources (ASX:WGX).
Ashley Fraser - Non-executive Director
Ashley Fraser is an accomplished mining professional with over 30 years experience across gold and bulk commodities. Fraser was a founder of Orionstone (which merged with Emeco in a $660-million consolidation) and is a founder/owner of Blue Cap Mining and Blue Cap Equities.
Jonathan Downes - Non-executive Director
Jonathan Downes has over 30 years’ experience in the minerals industry and has worked in various geological and corporate capacities. Experienced with gold and base metals, he has been intimately involved with the exploration process through to production. Downes is currently the managing director of Kaiser Reef, a high grade gold producer, and non-executive director of Cazaly Resources.
Dean Vallve – Chief Operating Officer
Dean Vallve holds technical qualifications in geology & mining engineering from the WA School of Mines, an MBA, and a WA First Class Mine Managers Certificate. Vallve was previously in senior mining and study roles at ASX listed mid-cap resources companies Hot Chili (ASX:HCH) and Calidus Resources (ASX:CAI).
Shallow, High-Grade Gold Mineralisation Intersected at Barimaia Gold Project
Results from Phase 2 drilling confirm McNabs East as a high-priority target for follow-up exploration, with diamond drilling to commence in November
Ordell Minerals Limited (ASX Code: “ORD”) (“Ordell” or “the Company”) is pleased to announce significant drill results from recent, shallow, wide-spaced Reverse Circulation (RC) drilling at its Barimaia Gold Project (“Barimaia”), located near Mount Magnet in the Murchison region of Western Australia.
Key Points:
- Significant results received from the second phase of shallow Reverse Circulation (RC) drilling at the McNabs East Prospect at the Barimaia Gold Project in Western Australia, including:
- 2Gm @ 2.52g/t Au from 81m 24BARC083
- Including 1m @ 47.5g/t Au from 107m (visible gold present)
- 4m @ G.62g/t Au from 5Gm 24BARC102
- Including 1m @ 32.7g/t Au from 60m
- 25m @ 1.50g/t Au from 56m 24BARC087
- 5m @ 4.61g/t Au from 61m 24BARC104
- Including 1m @ 1G.6g/t Au from 64m
- 16m @ 1.23g/t Au from 5m 24BARC103
- 15m @ 1.24g/t Au from 30m 24BARC07G
- 2m @ 6.62g/t Au from 42m 24BARC0G7
- 7m @ 1.6Gg/t Au from 73m 24BARC07G
- 2Gm @ 2.52g/t Au from 81m 24BARC083
- Extensive zone of gold mineralisation now defined at McNabs East at shallow depths (typically <80m vertical) over a strike length of +1,000m and remains open along strike and untested at depth.
- The recent shallow drilling at McNabs East was completed on ~100m-spaced sections to continue the first-pass test of the Barimaia felsic intrusion.
- Primary mineralisation in the McNabs East area is associated with an interpreted granodiorite intrusion, strongly supporting the potential for Eridanus-style deposits at Barimaia.
- Diamond drilling planned for November to obtain structural and lithological data at McNabs East, which will be followed by extensional and in-fill RC drilling in the March 2025 Ǫuarter.
The RC drilling program was completed in September and October 2024 as the second phase of a larger, ongoing program to systematically test at shallow depths (typically < 80m vertical) the currently defined 2.5km strike extent of gold mineralisation at Barimaia.
Results from the program continue to confirm shallow, open pit potential, with coherent zones of gold mineralisation starting to be defined within an extensive gold system that remains untested at depth and remains open along strike.
Drilling completed on section 585,640E (see Figures 1 and 2) returned significant high-grade gold mineralisation in 24BARC083 (2Gm @ 2.52g/t Au from 81m) to the end of the hole (EOH) at 110m.
Visible gold was panned in the interval from 107m to 108m, which returned an intercept of 1m @ 47.5g/t Au.
Strong gold mineralisation was also returned from 24BARC087 (25m @ 1.50g/t Au from 56m) on section 585,550E (see Figures 1 and 3), adjacent to where a robust zone of gold mineralisation was intersected in drilling completed in August 2024 in 24BARC056 (21m @ 1.60g/t Au from 62m) and 24BARC057 (36m @ 0.85g/t Au from 50m). This interpreted flat-lying zone of gold mineralisation is over 80m wide on section.
Drilling completed on the eastern limit of the Phase 2 program on section 586,300E (see Figures 1 and 5) returned high-grade gold mineralisation in two separate zones, including 4m @ G.62g/t Au from 5Gm in 24BARC102 including 1m @ 32.7g/t Au from 60m; and 5m @ 4.61g/t Au from 61m in 24BARC104 including 1m @ 1G.6g/t Au from 64m. Importantly, no RC drilling has been completed east of this line along the interpreted strike of the mineralisation.
Management Comment
Commenting on the results, Ordell’s Managing Director, Michael Fowler, said:
“Our second drill program at Barimaia has delivered some great results, with wide zones of shallow gold mineralisation intersected within the targeted felsic intrusion host rock. Importantly, a number of high- grade gold results were returned from the program which are open at depth and along strike.
“This shows the potential of the mineralised system, which is beginning to take shape, pointing to significant future growth opportunities as our drilling programs advance.
“We have now completed over 5,000m since we listed on the ASX in July, with the results from this drilling showing clear potential for shallow open pits at Barimaia.
“Our next step is to complete a diamond drilling program in November to help confirm the orientation, lithologies and geometry of the significant mineralisation centred on section 585,550E. This drilling will be followed up by further extensional and in-fill drilling in the coming months.”
Figure 1. Results from RC drilling at the McNabs East Prospect at Barimaia. September to October 2024 intercepts are highlighted in dark yellow boxes. The location of section lines for Figures 2 to 5 are shown in blue.
Ordell’s exploration at Barimaia is targeting new discoveries of a similar style to the Eridanus deposit, which forms part of Ramelius Resources’ (ASX: RMS) Mount Magnet gold mining operations (Figure 6).
Eridanus lies approximately 6km north-west of Barimaia and hosts a current Mineral Resource Estimate of 21Mt @ 1.7g/t Au for 1,200,000oz of contained gold1, with an additional +300,000 ounces of gold already mined from the open pit.
Click here for the full ASX Release
This article includes content from Ordell 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.
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