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WIN Metals Ltd (ASX: WIN) (“WIN” or “the Company”) is pleased to announce it has been awarded government EIS co-funding for proposed drilling of its Ganymede gold target located directly to the south-east of the Butchers Creek gold deposit.
Highlights
- The Company has been awarded a co-funded drilling grant for Round 31 of the Western Australian Government’s EIS program for the Ganymede Gold prospect
- Government EIS co-funding will facilitate drill testing of an Induced Polarisation (IP) anomaly of Ganymede located to the east of the Butchers Creek deposit
- The application highlighted the similarities between the IP signature of the Ganymede Prospect and that of the Butchers Creek gold deposit
- Drilling is planned in the 2025 field season with PoW and Heritage Surveys complete
Ganymede is thought to represent a folded repeat and extension to the Butchers Creek gold deposit (Figure 1) and forms part of the wider Butchers Creek Gold Project located in the East Kimberley region of Western Australia.
The grant will cover 50% of the direct drilling costs up to a maximum refund of $57,500. An initial two (2) diamond drillholes are planned to test the Ganymede IP geophysical anomaly previously identified but left undrilled by Meteoric Resources in 20221. Notably Ganymede has an IP signature equivalent to the Butchers Creek gold deposit. Drilling is planned to commence this 2025 field season with assay results scheduled approximately 6 weeks thereafter.
WIN Metals Managing Director and CEO, Mr Steve Norregaard, commented:
“We welcome the financial support of the Western Australian government via the 31st round of EIS grant funding.
This target represents a compelling opportunity to enhance the already significant Butchers Creek gold project. Without government support this target may well have remained untested.
Success with this would potentially be a step change for underpinning the economics of the project.
This support will fast track testing and we look forward to seeing what may be at Ganymede.”
Background
The Ganymede gold target is located to the south-east of the Butchers Creek open pit and Mt Bradley gold mines illustrated in Figure 1. Meteoric’s 2022 IP geophysical survey identified Ganymede to have a similar geophysical signature to the known Butchers Creek gold deposit. It is believed the Ganymede target is a potential fold repeat of the Butchers Creek gold deposit that has yet to be drill tested as is illustrated in Figure 2 below.
Figure 1: Ganymede location with reference to Butchers Creek and Mt Bradley gold mines
Figure 2: Schematic geology cross section and associated IP anomaly of the Butchers Creek gold deposit and Ganymede gold target
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OPINION — Goldenomics 103: Gold Protects and Performs
By Darren Brady Nelson
US President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs certainly caused quite the stir in the markets on April 2.
Gold dropped about 6 percent, and silver 12 percent. A week later, a pause was announced, which ended on August 1. Gold and silver have since risen approximately 11 percent and 24 percent, respectively.
Six month gold and silver price performance.
Source: Trading Economics (gold) and (silver).
Unless you are a professional, or even amateur, trader, it is best to look at gold and silver investment with a perspective of years or decades, rather than just days, weeks or even months. Since the start of the COVID-19 panic in March 2020, gold and silver have exploded 123 percent and 192 percent.
10 year gold and silver price performance.
Source: Trading Economics (gold) and (silver).
In the shorter term, the gold price is driven by what economist John Maynard Keynes called “animal spirits.” In the longer term, it is driven by “monetary spirits.” And not just as protection, but also for performance. The Presidential Gold Guide highlights both in chapters four and five.
Source: Fisher Liberty Gold.
Gold unsurprisingly protects
Economist and investor Mark Skousen has wisely noted that: “Since we left the gold standard in 1971, both gold and silver have become superior inflation hedges.” Gold has more than countered the results of inflation, as measured by CPI, and the drivers of inflation, as measured by M3.
And the numbers back that up. The Gold Protects chart below compares the gold price, CPI and M3 in terms of cumulative growth of each from 1971 to 2025. That is throughout the whole era of gold as an investment, which officially started in 1974 once private ownership was restored.
During this era, gold grew by 541 percent, CPI by 214 percent and M3 by 384 percent. Annual average growth for gold was 10 percent, CPI at 4 percent and M3 at 7 percent. Maximums were 92 percent, 14 percent and 29 percent, respectively. CPI only failed to grow twice, ie. 0 percent in 2009 and 2015. M3 decreased twice, by -4 percent in 2023 and -6 percent in 2024.
Gold surprisingly performs
The highly respected In Gold We Trust (IGWT) report states: “When dealing with the specific level of gold allocation, it is advisable to differentiate between safe-haven gold and performance gold. The Big Long strategy emphasizes the potential of performance gold in the coming years.”
IGWT thus recommends an investment portfolio "rule of thumb" that includes 15 percent in “safe-haven gold” and 10 percent in “performance gold.” The Gold Performs chart below compares gold price, S&P 500 and nominal GDP in terms of cumulative growth of each from 1971 to 2025.
Gold grew by 541 percent, the S&P 500 by 484 percent and GDP by 339 percent. Annual average growth for gold was 10 percent, with the S&P 500 at 9 percent and GDP at 6 percent. Maximums were 92 percent, 45 percent and 14 percent, respectively. Gold did have a higher standard deviation of 27 percent, compared to 17 percent for the S&P 500 and 3 percent for GDP.
Animal and monetary spirits
Gold protects as a hedge or safe haven, not just from inflation, but from the flip side of that same coin of the boom-bust cycle. Both are driven, in the longer term, not by “animal spirits,” but by “monetary spirits.”
Inflation is when money inflation has a widespread impact as price inflation. A bubble is when money increases have a more concentrated impact such as in certain asset values. The bubble eventually bursts when “monetary spirits” are finally reined in by monetary realities.
I say “monetary spirits” because of the role of fiat money, as indicated by, say, M3. When money supply outstrips money demand in a localized way, then that is a bubble, and when in a general way, that is inflation.
The former shows up in certain asset, wholesale and/or producer prices, whilst the latter shows up in CPI. Asset prices include the S&P 500. But nominal GDP is also "ginned up" as it is ultimately a price times quantity measure as well. Price is expressed in money terms.
Conclusion
Gold can have ups and downs, as standard deviation indicates, due to the “animal spirits” of fear and uncertainty, that tend to be daily, weekly or monthly. Yet gold both protects and performs due to the “monetary spirits” of inflation and boom-bust, which tend to be decennially.
In particular, gold performs when the S&P 500 does not, like in the aftermaths of the 2001/2002 dot-com collapse, the 2008/2009 global financial crisis and 2020/2021 COVID-19 lockdowns.
Therefore, when it comes to gold, “follow the money” of central bank “money printing” and fractional reserve bank “fountain pen money,” for both superior inflation protection and boom-bust performance.
And besides, Skousen rightly "begged the question" as follows: “Gold and Silver have always had value, never gone to zero. Can you say the same for stocks and bonds?”
About Darren Brady Nelson
Darren Brady Nelson is chief economist with Fisher Liberty Gold and policy advisor to The Heartland Institute. He previously was economic advisor to Australian Senator Malcolm Roberts. He authored the Ten Principles of Regulation and Reform, and the CPI-X approach to budget cuts.
Click here to read Goldenomics 101: Follow the Money, and here to read Goldenomics 102: The Shadow Price of Gold.
