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.
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.
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.
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).
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:
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.
Gold doré bars (BTR005 – BTR016) poured on 9 March 2024
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 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 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 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 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 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).
HIGHLIGHTS
Figure 1: Known NSW Gold and Antimony mineral occurrences relative to basement orogenic units. The map clearly demonstrates the prospectivity of the New England Orogen for Antimony and Gold. The location of the Hillgrove Deposit, Peel Fault and ELA6810 are also shown.*Argus Media, Sb ingot min 99.65% fob China 21/11/2024 (https://www.argusmedia.com/metals-platform/metal/minor-and-specialty-metals-antimony).
The Hillgrove project (ASX: LRV) is approximately 20km east of Armidale, is Australia’s largest known Antimony deposit. The mine has recorded production of over 730,000 oz of gold and over 50,000 tonnes of Antimony and a remaining resource of 1.7Moz Au equivalent at a grade of 7.4g/t Au equivalent, including 90,000 tonnes of Antimony, with significant exploration upside1.
Project Geology
The project lies approximately 100km west of Hillgrove and extends for 85km immediately west of the Peel Fault. The geology of the tenement is dominated by isoclinally folded Carboniferous metasediments of the Tamworth Belt (Figure 2), which is a forearc basinal package related to west-dipping subduction of oceanic crust beneath the Lachlan Orogen. Ultramafic melanges of the Great Serpentinite Belt, which outcrop along the Peel Fault, are considered to be remnants of this oceanic crust. The Peel Fault System has recognised world-class mineral potential, with over 400 known orogenic gold and base metal mineral occurrences along its over 400km strike extent, but is underexplored with less than 200 mostly shallow drillholes over its length, the majority of which are focused on discrete prospects.
Figure 2: Surface geology and known antimony, gold and tungsten mineral occurrences of EL6810 and the surrounding area. The Peel Fault (PF) and Namoi Fault (NF) are indicated.
Tamworth Belt metasediments within the project are cut by multiple splays off the Peel Fault, including the major Namoi Fault (Figure 2). Gold, Antimony and Tungsten mineralisation are associated with orogenic quartz-vein and stockwork systems hosted within the Peel Fault System. The tenement encompasses nine historical gold workings (a mixture of primary orogenic vein-style and deep alluvial workings); three vein- hosted Antimony occurrences with historical workings; and one vein-hosted tungsten occurrence.
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Barrick Gold Corporation (NYSE:GOLD)(TSX:ABX) has welcomed the Ontario Superior Court's dismissal of claims brought by Tanzanian residents alleging human rights abuses by members of the Tanzanian Police Force in the vicinity of the company's North Mara gold mine.
The Court ruled that Ontario was not the appropriate forum to consider the claims.
Barrick president and chief executive Mark Bristow said the company has repeatedly refuted what it regards as baseless claims by a small number of activist NGOs alleging historical human rights abuses around its North Mara mine.
"We are proud of what we have achieved in Tanzania through our Twiga partnership with the country's government. Our mines' revenue contribution is having a transformative effect on the country's economy while our investment in the socio-economic development of our host communities, coupled with our holistic sustainability strategy, has improved the quality of their lives materially," he said.
Barrick enquiries
Investor and media relations
Kathy du Plessis
+44 20 7557 7738
Email: barrick@dpapr.com
Website: www.barrick.com
News Provided by GlobeNewswire via QuoteMedia
HIGHLIGHTS
Managing Director, Tim Strong commented:
“We are excited to recommence work at Kada following a pause in field activities throughout 2024. Our team is back on the ground, refurbishing camp facilities, re-logging core samples, undertaking geological and structure mapping in the Massan area and establishing important community relationships. In addition, we have deployed a drone to assist in determining the structural orientation of historical work undertaken and identify potential areas of gold mineralisation that may not have been previously recognised.
Looking ahead, we expect drilling to begin in the March quarter of 2025. The drilling program will focus on upgrading portions of the Massan Mineral Resource to the Measured category, as well as testing additional structures that are not currently included in the Mineral Resource Estimate.’’
KADA GOLD PROJECT
Exploration Activities
Activities at Kada recommenced during October with the installation of a new water borehole and a 10,000 litre capacity water tower at the Niandankoro Camp. All camp areas were connected to the new water system providing running water throughout.
The camp has undergone a detailed inventory, and store areas have been prepared in readiness for the commencement of fieldwork and then drilling.
Figure 1: Niandankoro Camp
Figure 2: Geology stores and RC chip storage
Figure 3: New drone imagery of Massan showing structure and geologists inspecting areas of mineralisation
Geological and structural mapping of the workings have commenced. This is a combination of desktop interpretation of recent drone imagery and fieldwork.
Figure 4: Fieldwork at the Massan deposit
Figure 5: Weather station installed at Niandankoro Camp and meetings with local dignitaries and community leaders
Community and Environment
The Company recognises the importance of engaging the local community, strengthening working relationships and to share information and understand local expectations and resolve any issues as and when they arise. To that end, work has commenced to establish social and environmental baselines. Over the last month, meetings were held with Company representatives, local elders, the Mayor of Niandankoro and Sous-Prefet which were beneficial and greatly appreciated by all attendees.
A weather station has been installed at Asara’s Niandankoro Camp giving vital baseline data for the environmental studies that will commence in 2025.
Burkina Faso
As announced on July 14, 2024, the Company entered into a binding Share Purchase Agreement (SPA) with Bic West Africa Limited (BIC) for the sale of its non-core Kouri and Babonga gold projects for total consideration of US$2.2m cash. The Company is continuing to work towards satisfying the Conditions Precedent outlined in the SPA, having recently obtained approval from the Tax Office with approval of the transaction by the Minister of Mines the final step. Following approval from the Tax Office, BIC made an advance payment of US$550,000 (against the final Completion Payment of US$1.1m). It is expected that the final payment of US$550,000 will be made by BIC once the Mininter of Mines has approved the transaction. It is expected that this approval will be obtained by the end of the December 2024 quarter.
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This article includes content from Asara 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.
Highlights:
The Company has undertaken further ground reconnaissance and rock chip sampling across the Carlow tenement, with the goal to map all outcropping mineralised veins and structures and define additional priority targets for drilling.
The current exploration strategy is to use industry best techniques including geochemical and geophysical surveys combined with structural interpretations to identify targets within what Artemis considers is a wide, highly prospective and underexplored structural corridor with potential to host substantial gold deposits.
Executive Director George Ventouras commented:“We are very excited that prospects located on the Carlow tenement continue to deliver further high-grade gold, copper and silver results from extensive veins at surface.
While several of these prospects have had minor drilling programs, the exploration team continues to compile data to identify the source of the widespread gold discovered at surface. Combined with the Titan prospect and other targets in the immediate Carlow area, the future looks very bright for the Karratha Gold Project.”
Figure 1. Artemis West Pilbara tenements with current known prospects named
Thorpe Prospect
The Thorpe Prospect is located in the southeast part of the Carlow tenement, E47/1797. The recent ground reconnaissance program involved collecting additional rock chip samples at Thorpe to define the extent of the gold bearing veins and other structures. A small number of samples were also taken close to the Carlow deposit.
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HIGHLIGHTS
Alex Passmore, NMG’s CEO commented: “Following a busy year of exploration and development work in 2024, the Company is delighted to report an increased Crown Prince Mineral Resource Estimate from the additional drilling undertaken.
With increased drilling density, the understanding of the Crown Prince deposit is at a strong confidence level with 81% of the ounces (i.e., 22C,000 oz) now reporting to the Indicated Mineral Resource classification. Pleasingly, the average ounce per vertical metre endowment sits at 1,538 within key areas of our conceptual open pit development.
This resource underpins the detailed feasibility study work which is well advanced to confirm the mining, metallurgical, geotechnical, economic and environmental parameters to develop the Crown Prince Gold Project.
Initial economic optimisation modelling of the Crown Prince resource confirms that there is sufficient grade and tonnage to sustain an open pit mining operation.”
Table 1: Crown Prince MRE Summary November 2024
This MRE (Table 1, Figure 1) was prepared by Cube Consulting, an independent consultant, using geological and mineralisation interpretations prepared by NMG using all available reverse circulation and diamond drillhole data. The updated Crown Prince MRE incorporates all drilling completed and assayed up to October 2024. Over the course of 2024, NMG’s exploration team completed 21,974 m of reverse circulation and diamond drilling within the Crown Prince area.
Following the discovery of the south eastern zone (SEZ) of mineralisation at Crown Prince in 2022, follow up exploration in 2023 and 2024 successfully added resource inventory via infill and extensional drilling.
Multiple phases of drilling were undertaken in 2024 (Table 2) with resulting assays now incorporated into the resource model supporting the November 2024 estimate for Crown Prince.
Mineralisation envelopes at the Main and Northern Zones were also better defined for this model. Additionally, new high-grade lodes were discovered in the Northern Zone contributing to the uplift seen in this updated MRE.
The Crown Prince deposit is hosted within quartz-carbonate veins within altered and sheared mafic units. In the weathered profile, primary mineralisation (fresh rock) has in places been enriched with a supergene overprint. Notably, primary mineralisation persists at depth and remains open (Figure 2). Further drilling will be undertaken to test for extensions.
Table 2: Drilling Summary for Crown Prince
Figure 1: Crown Prince MRE mineralisation wireframes, isometric view looking north.
Figure 2: Isometric view looking north of Crown Prince block model
Material Information Summary – Mineral Resources
Information required by ASX Listing Rule 5.8.1 (summary of technical information pertaining to the Mineral Resource Estimate) is detailed in the following sections.
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