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Brightstar Resources Limited (ASX: BTR) (Brightstar) is pleased to announce the completion of the acquisition of the gold rights at the Montague East Gold project (MEGP) from Gateway Mining Limited (ASX: GML) (Gateway).
HIGHLIGHTS
- Brightstar has completed the acquisition of the Montague East Gold Project (MEGP) from Gateway Mining Limited
- The completion of the acquisition of the mineral resources at the MEGP signifies the strategic addition of shallow, advanced ounces to Brightstar which is aligned with the Company’s strategy of advancing multi assets towards near term commercialisation
- The MEGP is located 70km from the Sandstone Gold Project, which is owned by Alto Metals Ltd, which is currently undertaking a merger with Brightstar by way of a Scheme of Arrangement
- $5 million cash consideration paid and 466.67 million Brightstar shares issued to Gateway
- Deferred contingent consideration of $2 million in Brightstar shares subject to further project milestones, including:
- upon the commencement of commercial mining operations in respect of the gold mineral rights at MEGP, or
- the delineation of a JORC Mineral Resource Estimate on the tenements exceeding 1.0 Moz Au.
- Following completion, the sale by Gateway of the consideration shares will be subject to orderly sales restrictions in consultation with Brightstar
- Brightstar is planning a drilling program to commence at the MEGP in late October, targeting infill and extensional targets within and proximal to the Mineral Resources located at the advanced Whistler and Montague-Boulder deposits
- Completion of the MEGP acquisition adds a further 9.6Mt @ 1.6g/t Au for 0.5Moz Au to Brightstar’s JORC Mineral Resource Estimate
- Total mineral endowment owned by Brightstar now 38.3Mt @ 1.6g/t Au for 2.0Moz Au
For further details regarding the Transaction please refer to the Company’s ASX announcement released on 1 August 20241.
Brightstar’s Managing Director, Alex Rovira, commented“The completion of the acquisition of the Montague East Gold Project from Gateway achieves the first step in Brightstar’s previously announced consolidation plan of the Sandstone district, adding shallow ounces and a meaningful Mineral Resource inventory to our portfolio of advanced exploration, development and producing gold assets in Western Australia.
We are working towards mobilising an RC drill rig to the Montague-Boulder and Whistler deposits in late October, which contain ~280koz Au of shallow, largely oxide material. It is our intent to move the Montague East Gold Project swiftly through resource drill-out and feasibility study workstreams to advance this asset towards development.
With 2Moz of gold Mineral Resources situated on granted mining leases in the Company, combined with our low capex growth plans and near-term development and production expansion, Brightstar is well placed to maximise value of the portfolio in an all-time high gold price environment.
Recent drilling success across the Lord Byron, Fish and Second Fortune deposits has illustrated the immense upside in the Company’s projects, as we seek to grow the Mineral Resource and de-risk future development through the DFS underway.”
MONTAGUE ACQUISITION
Brightstar, via its wholly-owned subsidiary Montague Gold Project Pty Ltd (MGP), has acquired the interests held by Gateway and its wholly owned subsidiary Gateway Projects Pty Ltd (GPWA) in certain mining tenements in respect of Gateway’s Montague Gold Project, with Brightstar obtaining 100% of the gold mineral rights and Gateway retaining all other mineral rights.
The total consideration paid by Brightstar in respect of the Montague acquisition is $14.0m, comprising:
- an upfront cash payment of $5.0m;
- 466,666,667 Brightstar shares issued at an implied issue price of $0.015 per share for $7 million worth of fully paid Brightstar shares (Gateway Consideration Shares); and
- $2.0m payable in cash or Brightstar shares, upon the commencement of commercial mining operations in respect of the gold mineral rights, or the delineation of a JORC Mineral Resource on the tenements exceeding 1.0 Moz Au.
Following Completion, the sale by Gateway of the Gateway Consideration Shares will be subject to orderly sales restrictions in consultation with Brightstar.
Click here for the full ASX Release
This article includes content from Brightstar 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.
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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.
Matthew Bowles – Non-executive Director
Matthew Bowles is a senior corporate finance executive with extensive public corporate advisory, private equity and capital markets experience in the resources sector. Bowles has successfully negotiated domestic and cross border corporate funding, joint venture and M&A transactions for a number of ASX listed companies in Africa, the Americas and Australia. He was previously chief development officer for a West African focused ASX listed company. He commenced his career with Rio Tinto, working in corporate and commercial roles for nine years, before moving to London to work in banking and finance. Since his return to Australia, Bowles has held senior roles with global advisory firms, focusing on the resources sector. Bowles holds a Bachelor of Business, is a member of CPA Australia and a Fellow of the Financial Services Institute of Australia.
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).
1911 Gold: Near-term Gold Production, Development Potential in Manitoba, Canada
1911 Gold (TSXV:AUMB,OTCQX:AUMBF) focuses on the exploration and development of gold resources in Manitoba, Canada. The company owns a dominant, 62,000 hectare land position in the Rice Lake greenstone belt in Manitoba.
1911 Gold’s strategy is on track in de-risking the existing underground mine geology, expanding its mineral resource base through exploration, and advancing towards production on an accelerated time line by leveraging the existing infrastructure in place.
Key Projects1911 Gold's flagship asset is its True North project located in the Rice Lake greenstone belt of southeastern Manitoba, approximately 150 km northeast of Winnipeg. This historically significant mine has produced over 2 million ounces (Moz) of gold and continues to offer substantial exploration upside.
Company Highlights
- 1911 Gold Corporation is a junior gold exploration company and near-term producer with more than 1.1 million ounces of gold resource in an established mining district.
- The company’s assets include a permitted 1,300-ton-per-day mill and tailings facility, and underground mine, reducing time and costs to production
- With a large land package in the Rice Lake belt, 1911 Gold boasts multiple high-potential targets, providing significant resource expansion potential.
- The company is led by a seasoned management team and board with a strong track record of advancing mining projects.
- The company operates in a mining-friendly jurisdiction with hydroelectric power and excellent infrastructure.
This 1911 Gold Corporation profile is part of a paid investor education campaign.*
Click here to connect with 1911 Gold (TSXV:AUMB) to receive an Investor Presentation
Significant Gold and Antimony Grades Confirmed at Hurricane Project
Inca’s technical team recently conducted a site visit as part of the due diligence process to confirm and replicate historical geochemical data, culminating with the collection and dispatch for assaying of 84 rock chip samples. Assays have now been received for those samples with exceptional results recorded for gold (Au) and antimony (Sb) at multiple prospects including Holmes, Cyclone, Tornado, Hurricane and Bouncer confirming the high-grade prospectivity of the Hurricane Project.
Assay Highlights (Refer to table 1, Appendix 1 for full results)
Assays with gold greater than 5g/t:
- Hurricane South - Sample MC0374: 81.5g/t Au
- Hurricane North - Sample MC0368: 12.95g/t Au
- Hurricane South - Sample MC0379: 11.9g/t Au
- Bouncer - Sample HRX10042: 8.29g/t Au and 12.7% Sb.
- Typhoon - Sample HRX10055: 7.84g/t Au
- Holmes - Sample HRX10083: 6.4g/t Au
- Holmes - Sample MC0392: 6g/t Au
- 2 other samples returned gold greater than 4g/t, three with grades over 3g/t and 12 with grades over 1g/t.
Highly anomalous levels of Antimony (Sb) were also recorded, which included:
- Bouncer - Sample HRX10029 with 35.1% Sb
- Bouncer - Sample HRX10036: 20.8% Sb
- Bouncer - Sample HRX10042: 12.75% Sb
- Bouncer - Sample HRX10037: 9.54% Sb
- Bouncer - Sample HRX10033: 7.78% Sb
- Holmes - Sample MC0393: 5.28% Sb, and
- Holmes - Sample MC0398: 4.89% Sb
29 samples returned highly anomalous arsenic values > 0.1% (>1000ppm As, up to 9840ppm in 1 sample).
“The identification of high-grade gold and antimony in rock chips across different locations which have never been drilled, highlights the significant exploration potential of the Hurricane Project for the discovery of gold and antimony. Inca Minerals is looking forward to progressing follow-up exploration programs to build on this significant rock chip data,” said Inca Exploration Manager, Dr Emmanuel Wembenyui.
In addition to gold, the Hurricane Project results include high levels (up to 35%) of antimony, a critical and new economy metal. Antimony is listed as a critical mineral by the United States, the European Union, Japan, India, the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth of Austalia. New economy metals are pivotal for modern technologies, economies and national security, providing direct support for technologies that are paving the way to the transition from fossil fuels to net zero emmisions , advanced manufacturing and defence technologies/capabilities amongst other applications.
HURRICANE PROJECT
Inca is pleased to report highly encouraging results from a geological reconnaissance field trip to the gold and antimony Hurricane Project. The Hurricane Project is located about 110km west-northwest of Cairns and 75km southwest of Port Douglas in North Queensland, Figure 1.
The Hurricane Project comprises three tenements – EPM 19437, which hosts the Holmes, Porphyry, Monsoon and Cyclone prospects, EPM 25855 in which are located the Hurricane and Tornado Prospects, and EPM 27518, which hosts the Bouncer prospect, Figure 1.
Figure 1: Hurricane Project location map showing all three tenements, prospects and sample locations. The samples have been thematically mapped by gold, demonstrating the widespread occurrence of high-grade gold across the project. The project is sandwiched by 2 major northwest-southeast trending faults being the Hurricane and the Retina Faults. Locally, the project area is dominated by the Hodgkinson Formation and 2 late-stage felsic intrusions located within EPM 19437. Shown in the inset is the location of the Hurricane Project in North Queensland relative to the major towns of Cairns, Townsville and Brisbane.
Geology of the Hurricane Project Regional Geology
The Hurricane Project area falls within the Mossman 1:250,000 and the Mount Mulligan 1:100,000 Queensland Geological map sheets. The regional geology traverses a wide Geological Timescale from the Devonian in the Hodgkinson Formation through granodiorite and rhyolitic Carboniferous and Permian intrusions to Triassic and Quaternary Sandstones. The Hodgkinson Formation comprises dark grey to greenish, fine to medium quartz greywackes interbedded with siltstones, mudstones and conglomerates. The Carboniferous to Permian granitic/granodiorite and rhyolite intrusions comprise a suite of felsic porphyritic intrusions. The main porphyritic bodies comprise medium to coarse-grained mineral crystals including euhedral hornblende- biotite, k-feldspar and quartz, which locally grade into fine-grained silicified granites.
Local Geology
The three tenements which make up the Hurricane Project are structurally set within two major NW-SE trending faults, being the Hurricane Fault and the Retina Fault. The Hodgkinson Formation dominates these tenements and comprises of tightly folded greywackes, siltstones, shales, cherts, conglomerates and limestones. Locally within the Hurricane Project are 2 felsic intrusions, which occur in EPM 19437 and are predominantly porphyritic granites. These intrusions are the major source of heat, which mobilised hydrothermal fluids to interact with surrounding country rock, leading to widespread alteration in the form of silicification, sericite and carbonates, and account for the deposition of epithermal gold, silver, and antimony mineralised veins. Epithermal gold deposits are strongly associated with hydrothermal fluids that are related to calc-alkaline volcanism and magmatism. Plots of La-Y-Nb on the ternary diagram of Cabanis and Lecolle, 1989; shows that the Hurricane Project falls within the Arc Calc-Alkaline geo-tectonic setting, supporting an epithermal exploration model for the project (Figure 2). Epithermal gold could be low or high sulfidation, depending on mineralogy and can occur as veins, stockworks, replacements or disseminations. Mineralisation within the project area is associated with variably altered, silicified and brecciated quartz veins ranging in widths from 2 to >50m and lengths over 700m. The mineralogy of the Hurricane Project which includes gold, antimony, silver, very limited sulphur, +/- lead and zinc, leans towards the low sulfidation model.
Click here for the full ASX Release
This article includes content from Inca 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.
High Grade Gold Intercepts Confirm Kpali Discovery
- Extremely strong gold intercepts from eight-hole RC drilling programme at Kpali Gold Prospect in Ghana’s Upper West Region.
- All eight holes intersected shallow mineralisation with better intercepts including:
- 12m at 8.29g/t Au from 25m (24KPRC010) incl.
- 6m at 11.60g/t Au from 31m and
- a peak 1m intercept of 20.43g/t Au at 36m and
- 4m at 4.16g/t Au from 95m.
- 7m at 2.23g/t Au from 35m (24KPRC011) incl.
- 4m at 3.23g/t Au from 35m and
- 11m at 2.24g/t Au from 50m incl.
- 1m at 8.29g/t Au from 57m.
- 5m at 3.66 g/t Au from 78m (24KPRC012) incl.
- 2m at 7.09g/t Au 79m.
- 13m at 1.58g/t Au from 73m (24KPRC014) incl.
- 1m at 5.62g/t Au from 79m.
- 1m at 8.35g/t Au from 5m (24KPRC015) and
- 9m at 4.81g/t Au from 107m incl.
- 2m at 8.75g/t Au from 109m.
- 1m at 6.64g/t Au from 70m (24KPRC016).
- 7m at 1.67g/t Au from 39m (24KPRC017) and
- 3m at 3.08g/t Au from 78m.
- 12m at 8.29g/t Au from 25m (24KPRC010) incl.
- Status of Kpali Gold Prospect considerably upgraded.
- Broader district containing several other high conviction prospects confirmed as an emerging new exploration frontier.
- Next drilling programme to comprise step-out drilling at Kpali Gold Prospect and testing of other prospects including equally prospective Bundi discovery.
- Results hot on heels of recent Kandia “4000 Zone” RC programme that confirmed good gold continuity and returned strong intercepts including:
- 7m at 3.36g/t Au from 149m within 24m at 1.78g/t Au from 139m (24KARC002) and
- 5m at 3.49g/t Au from 82m within 11m at 2.26g/t Au from 79m (24KARC004).
- Immediate high-level objective is to confirm robust new West African mining camps at Kpali and Kandia and an initial 1.0Moz Au multi-prospect based mineral resource.
Castle Executive Chairman, Stephen Stone, commented “The Kpali Gold Prospect is developing into a robust discovery and is a strong indicator that we may be dealing with a new West African gold mining camp in Ghana’s emerging northern region.
The latest intercepts include some very decent widths and grades at shallow depths with good continuity which can have considerable positive impacts should mining be considered.
Fig 1: Kpali Gold Prospect: Plan showing latest drill results and outline of interpreted multiple mineralised sub-parallel lodes on simplified sub-surface geology.
We have intersected a very impressive 12m at 8.29g/t Au from 25m, including 6m at 11.60g/t Au from 31m and a peak 1m intercept of 20.43g/t Au at 36m in a ‘hangingwall’ lode, and also 4m at 4.16g/t Au from 95m in a lower ‘footwall’ lode.
Apart from these standout results, very strong mineralisation has been encountered within most holes drilled, implying that with additional drilling we may be able to delineate a decent high value deposit.
We are very keen to get back drilling and to extend the Kpali Gold Prospect discovery as well as to follow-up historical drilling at the nearby Bundi discovery, 4km north.
There are also several other enticing prospects in the broader Kpali Gold Project area.
These drilling results follow excellent recent results from four holes at the Kandia Prospect, a second and separate gold discovery associated with a relatively under- explored 16km prospective contact between Birimian metasediments and a granite intrusion. Recent intercepts at Kandia included 7m at 3.36g/t Au from 149m within 24m at 1.78g/t Au from 139m and 5m at 3.49g/t Au from 82m within 11m at 2.26g/t Au from 79m.
These deposits lie in a classic setting for major gold deposits in West Africa and in particular northern Ghana which hosts the Cardinal Resources 5.1Moz gold Namdini deposit and the Azumah Resources 2.8Moz gold Black Volta Gold Project. The latter’s high-grade Julie deposit is immediately along strike from Kandia.
West Africa is where big gold discoveries can be and are still being made. With the gold price now at a level I could only dream of when starting my career, it’s the perfect time to be exploring Castle’s two new discoveries in the very stable, safe and mining friendly jurisdiction of Ghana.”
Fig 2: North-south long-section through mineralised hangingwall and footwall lodes at Kpali highlighting zones of shallow plunging, high-grade gold mineralisation.
Additional intercepts included 7m at 2.23g/t Au from 35m(24KPRC011) including 11m at 2.24g/t Au from 50m, 5m at 3.6g/t Au from 78m (24KPRC012), 9m at 4.81g/t Au from 107m (24KPRC015) and 3m at 3.08g/t Au from 78m (KPRC017).
These results confirm the Kpali Gold Prospect, just one of several prospects within the broader Kpali Gold Project, as a robust discovery in a completely new district within Ghana’s emerging Northern Region exploration frontier.
With several other high conviction prospects yet to be evaluated in the area, including the nearby Bundi, Kpali East, Wa South East and Wa South West prospects, there appears to be present all the hallmarks of a new West African mining camp and the possibility of a considerable gold endowment.
The Kpali Gold Prospect lies within a mineralised corridor associated with a 30m to 50m wide zone of structural deformation immediately west of a granite intrusion. Three drilling programmes have identified near-surface, shallow plunging high-grade lode-style mineralisation to a depth of at least 100m. Multiple, closely-spaced mineralised lodes have been identified over at least 650m strike.
Overall, the geological setting at the broader Kpali Gold Project is of typically structurally-controlled, orogenic style mineralisation within Birimian terrane. This is a similar setting as that hosting several world- class gold mining operations in Ghana and West Africa generally. Orebodies with these characteristics can often extend to considerable depth.
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This article includes content from Castle 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.
Top 10 Central Bank Gold Reserves
Central banks added 1,044.6 MT of gold to their vaults in 2024, the third year in a row that gold purchases in this segment surpassed the 1,000 MT mark. In the fourth quarter of 2024 alone, central banks picked up another record 332.9 MT of gold, reported the WGC.
Chart via the WGC.
Twenty-nine percent of the WGC's survey respondents indicated plans to grow their gold reserves, up 5 percent from the previous year. Three percent reported their institution is planning to decrease its gold holdings, which was unchanged from the previous year.
The WGC believes that central bank gold purchases will continue to be a major driver of gold demand in 2025.
Which central banks hold the most gold?
Read on to find out the 10 top countries by central bank gold holdings, as per data from the WGC, including recent Q4 2024 and full-year 2024 reports.
1. United States
Gold reserves: 8,133.46 metric tons
When it comes to the largest gold depository in the world, the American central bank is number one with 8,133.46 metric tons.
A large percentage of US gold is held in “deep storage” in Denver, Fort Knox and West Point. As the US Treasury explains, deep storage is “that portion of the US Government-owned gold bullion reserve which the Mint secures in sealed vaults that are examined annually by the Treasury Department’s Office of the Inspector General and consists primarily of gold bars.”
The rest of US-owned reserves are held as working stock, which the country's mint uses as raw material to mint congressionally authorized coins.
2. Germany
Gold Reserves: 3,351.53 metric tons
The Bundesbank, Germany’s central bank, currently owns 3,351.53 metric tons of gold. Like many of the central banks on this list, the German national bank stores over half of its stock in foreign locations in New York, London and France.
The Bundesbank’s foreign gold reserves came into question in 2012, when the German Federal Court of Auditors, the Bundesrechnungshof, was openly critical of the Bundesbank’s gold auditing.
In response, the German bank issued a public statement defending the security of foreign banks. Privately, the Bundesbank then began the arduous process of repatriating its gold stock back to German soil. By 2016, more than 583 MT of gold had been transferred back to Germany.
Nearly half of Germany’s gold holdings are stored in Frankfurt, while more than a third are in New York, an eighth of its holdings are in London, and a miniscule amount are held in in Paris.
3. Italy
Gold Reserves: 2,451.84 metric tons
Banca d’Italia, the national bank of Italy, began amassing its gold in 1893, when three separate financial institutions merged into one. From there, its 78 MT slowly grew into the 2,451.84 MT the country now owns.
Like Germany, Italy stores parts of its reserves offshore. In total, 141.2 MT are located in the UK, 149.3 are in Switzerland and 1,061 are kept in the US Federal Reserve. Italy houses 1,100 MT of gold domestically.
4. France
Gold Reserves: 2,437 metric tons
The Banque de France has 2,437 MT of gold reserves, all of which it keeps on hand. The precious metal is stored in the bank’s secure underground vault, dubbed La Souterraine, which is located 27 meters below street level.
La Souterraine’s gold vaults are one of the four designated gold depositories of the International Monetary Fund.
According to Investopedia, the collapse of the Bretton Woods gold standard system was in part due to former French President Charles de Gaulle, who “called the U.S. bluff and began actually trading dollars in for gold from the Fort Knox reserves.” At the time, US President Richard Nixon “was forced to take the U.S. off the gold standard, ending the dollar's automatic convertibility into gold.”
5. Russia
Gold Reserves: 2,332.74 metric tons*
The Bank of Russia is the official central bank of the Russian Federation and owns 2,332.74 MT of gold. Like France, Russia’s central bank has opted to store all its physical gold domestically. The Bank of Russia stores two-thirds of its gold reserves in a bank building in Moscow, and the remaining one-third in Saint Petersburg.
The majority of the yellow metal is in the form of large, variable-weight standard gold bars weighing between 10 and 14 kilograms. There are also smaller bars on site weighing as much as 1 kilogram each.
Russia, which is the second largest gold producer by country, has been a steady purchaser of the precious metal since roughly 2007, with sales ramping up significantly between 2015 and 2020. However, Russia’s refineries were banned from selling gold bullion into the London market following the country’s invasion of Ukraine. Sanctions by the west also include a freeze on about half of Russia’s gold reserves.
In early 2022, Russia tied its currency, the ruble, to the yellow metal. "The plan was to shift the currency away from a pegged value and into the gold standard itself so the ruble would become a credible gold substitute at a fixed rate," according to Robert Huish, an Associate Professor in International Development Studies at Dalhousie University.
*This figure does not reflect year-end 2024, including the at least 3.1 MT purchased in 2024, per the WGC, which is awaiting further data to update the 2024 total.
6. China
Gold Reserves: 2,279.56 metric tons
The central bank for Mainland China is the People’s Bank of China (PBoC), located in Beijing. According to the WGC, the national financial institute stores 2,279.56 MT of gold, most which has been purchased since 2000. In 2001, the PBoC had 400 MT of gold in reserve, but in just a little more than two decades that total has climbed by 459 percent.
The PBoC issues the Panda gold coin, which was first created in 1982. The Panda coin is now one of the top five bullion coins issued by a central bank. It is among the ranks of the American Eagle, Canadian Maple Leaf, South African Krugerrand and Australian Gold Nugget.
The PBoC was one of the top gold buyers out the world's central banks for 2024, purchasing another 44 MT of gold during the year. April 2024 marked the 18th consecutive month of gold buying for China's central bank, which paused its purchases afterward until picking them up again in November.
7. Switzerland
Gold Reserves: 1,039.94 metric tons
Holding the seventh largest central bank gold reserves is the Swiss National Bank. Its 1,039.94 MT of gold are owned by the state of Switzerland, but the central bank manages and maintains the reserve.
After years of opaqueness regarding the country’s golden treasure trove, the Swiss Gold Initiative, or Save our Swiss Gold campaign, was launched in 2011.
The publicity culminated in a national referendum in 2014, asking citizens to vote on three proposals. The first was a mandate for all reserve gold to be held physically in Switzerland. The other two dealt with the central bank’s ability to sell its gold reserves, along with a decree that 20 percent of the Swiss bank’s assets be held in gold.
The referendum was unsuccessful, but did prompt the bank to be more transparent. In a 2013 release, the central bank reported that 70 percent of its gold reserve was held domestically, 20 percent was located at the Bank of England and 10 percent was stored with the Bank of Canada.
8. India
Gold Reserves: 876.18 metric tons
The Reserve Bank of India is another central bank that has fervently acted to increase its holdings in recent years. It began adding to its gold assets in 2017; however, the majority of its purchases have taken place in the past four years.
Strikingly, after India's central bank purchased 16 MT of gold in 2023, the institution scooped up another 72 MT of the precious metal in 2024.
While more than half of its gold is held overseas in safe custody with the Bank of England and the Bank of International Settlements, about a third of its gold is held domestically. In June 2024, India repatriated 100 MT of gold from the United Kingdom. This was the first time since 1991 that the Reserve Bank of India moved its overseas gold holdings back home.
9. Japan
Gold Reserves: 845.97 metric tons
Public information about the Bank of Japan’s gold reserves is hard to come by. In 2000, the island nation was holding approximately 753 MT of the yellow metal. By 2004, the Bank of Japan’s gold store had grown to 765.2 MT, and remained at that level until March 2021, when the country purchased 80.76 MT of gold.
10. Netherlands
Gold Reserves: 612.45 metric tons
Rounding out this list of the top central bank gold reserves is the Dutch National Bank (DNB), the central bank of the Netherlands. Like Switzerland, the Dutch central bank stores as much as 38 percent of its gold in Canada’s national reserve. Another 31 percent, in the form of 15,000 gold bars, is held in a domestic vault, while the remaining 31 percent is located in New York’s Federal Reserve bank.
In a report, the DNB describes gold as the supreme safe-haven asset. “Central banks such as DNB have therefore traditionally had a lot of gold in stock. After all, gold is the ultimate nest egg: the trust anchor for the financial system,” it reads. “If the entire system collapses, the gold supply provides collateral to start over. Gold gives confidence in the strength of the central bank’s balance sheet. That gives a safe feeling.”
*11. International Monetary Fund
Gold Reserves: 2,814.1 metric tons
The gold reserve held by the International Monetary Fund is the third largest in terms of size. The large gold reserve was amassed primarily during the founding of the international organization in 1944.
In that inaugural year, it was decided that “25 percent of initial quota subscriptions and subsequent quota increases were to be paid in gold.”
Since 1944, the International Monetary Fund has added gold through the repayment of debts owed by member countries. Nations can also exchange gold for another member country’s currency.
This is an updated version of an article first published by the Investing News Network in 2020.
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Securities Disclosure: I, Melissa Pistilli, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
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