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Astral Resources
Investor Insight
Astral Resources presents a compelling investment case as an ASX-listed gold explorer with a 1.46 Moz resource base in Western Australia's premier Kalgoorlie region, anchored by its flagship Mandilla project which demonstrates robust economics with an AU$442 million NPV and 11-year mine life.
Overview
Astral Resources (ASX:AAR) is a gold mineral exploration company with three gold projects in tier 1 mining jurisdictions of Western Australia. The three assets are the Mandilla gold project, the Feysville gold project, and the Carnilya Hill gold project. The flagship and 100 percent owned Mandilla gold project has a mineral resource containing 1.27 million ounces (Moz) of contained gold. The other key project, 100 percent owned Feysville, hosts an updated Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) of 5.0 Mt at 1.2g/t gold for 196 koz of contained gold . Feysville could potentially become a satellite source of high-grade ore feed for the flagship Mandilla gold project.
The scoping study completed at Mandilla unveils robust project economics. The cornerstone of the scoping study is the Theia deposit, which alone accounts for 81 percent of the total Mandilla mineral resource estimate. The deposit hosts a mineral resource estimate of 29 Mt at 1.1 g/t gold for 1.02 Moz of contained gold in one large open pit. The scoping study indicates a mine life of 11 years with an annual production of 100,000 oz in the first seven and a half years, dropping to 41,000 oz for the remaining three and a half years. The study outlines compelling financial metrics, including NPV@8 percent of AU$442 million, free cash flow of AU$740 million, and a payback period of nine months.
Astral benefits from a team of professionals boasting extensive expertise in geology and mining.
The company is led by managing director Marc Ducler, who has more than two decades of experience in the mining industry. The management team has a proven track record of executing several successful exploration and development projects, as well as M&A.
Company Highlights
- Astral Resources is an ASX-listed gold exploration company in the Kalgoorlie region of Western Australia, a tier 1 jurisdiction and a mature mining region with a successful development history and granted mining leases.
- The company has three assets - the Mandilla gold project, the Feysville gold project, and the Carnilya Hill gold exploration project.
- The focus is on advancing its flagship Mandilla gold project, with a mineral resource estimate of 37 Mt at 1.1 g/t gold for 1.27 Moz.
- The scoping study at Mandilla highlights the project’s robust economics with a mine life of 11 years, NPV@8 percent of AU$442 million, and free cash flow of AU$740 million.
- Mandilla’s cornerstone Theia deposit comprises 81 percent of the project’s resources, contains 29 Mt at 1.1 g/t gold, with 1.02 Moz of contained gold in one large open pit.
- Updated JORC 2012 mineral resource estimate (MRE) at the Feysville gold project is 5.0Mt at 1.2g/t gold for 196koz of contained gold.
- Including the Mandilla MRE of 37Mt at 1.1g/t gold for 1.27Moz of contained gold, Astral’s total gold MRE is now calculated to be 42Mt at 1.1g/t gold for 1.46Moz of contained gold (Group MRE).
- The company is led by an experienced team with a proven track record of advancing projects to development and M&A.
Key Projects
Mandilla Gold Project
The Mandilla gold project is located within the northern region of the Widgiemooltha greenstone belt, approximately 70 kilometers to the south of the prominent mining hub of Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. Mandilla includes four deposits namely, Theia, Iris, Eos and Hestia. The cornerstone of the project is the Theia deposit, constituting 81 percent of Mandilla's resources, totaling 29 Mt at a grade of 1.1 g/t gold, amounting to 1.02 Moz of contained gold in a single open pit. Mandilla has a total mineral resource estimate of 37 Mt at 1.1 g/t gold for 1.27 Moz.
The scoping study indicates a mine life of 11 years with an annual production of 100,000 oz in the first seven and a half years, dropping to 41,000 oz for the remaining three and a half years. Astral estimates the pre-production capital spend at AU$191 million, and the project is anticipated to generate a free cash flow of AU$740 million (assuming a gold price of A$2,750/oz). The project’s NPV @8 percent is estimated at AU$442 million, and the IRR at 73 percent.
Drill collars at Theia deposit
Astral continues to advance exploration and resource expansion efforts at Mandilla. The company recently completed a four-hole 1,762-metre in-fill diamond drilling program at the Theia deposit late last year. Best results included: 28 metres at 2.63 g/t gold, 15.5 metres at 1.81 g/t gold, 9.6 metres at 27.6 g/t gold, 2.4 metres at 169.1 g/t gold, 24.9 metres at 4.14 g/t gold and 72.2 metres at 1.15 g/t gold.
Astral has commenced work on a pre-feasibility study at Mandilla, which is due in the June quarter 2025.
Feysville Gold Project
The Feysville project is situated in Australia's premier gold belt, merely 14 km south of the Golden Mile deposit, which boasts 70 million ounces, located in Kalgoorlie. The project's updated JORC 2012 MRE indicates 5.0 Mt at 1.2 g/t gold for 196 koz of contained gold. Including the Mandilla MRE of 37 Mt at 1.1 g/t gold for 1.27 Moz of contained gold, Astral’s total gold MRE is now calculated to be 42 Mt at 1.1 g/t gold for 1.46 Moz of contained gold (group MRE).
At Feysville, Astral is focusing on the high-grade Kamperman prospect. A recent 31-hole (3,834 m) reverse circulation (RC) drilling program at Kamperman returned encouraging assay results. The latest drilling program returned best assay results of 33 metres at 3.75 g/t gold, 22 metres at 5.21 g/t gold, and 22 metres at 4.44 g/t gold. This high success rate continues to indicate that Kamperman has the potential to be a substantial source of high-grade satellite ore for the Mandilla processing plant.
Carnilya Gold Project
The Carnilya Hill gold project is situated about 20 kilometers south-southeast of the company's Feysville project and approximately 40 kilometers southeast of Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. The project encompasses various tenements – M26/047-049, M26/453 – spanning approximately 2.65 sq. km. Astral holds rights for gold mining, while Mincor Resources NL (ASX:MCR) holds rights to nickel and other minerals.Management Team
Mark Connelly – Non-executive Chairman
Mark Connelly is a mining industry veteran who has held positions of CEO and managing director with several multinational companies across many jurisdictions, including Australia, North America, South America, Africa and Europe. He has a proven track record in deal making and was principally responsible for the merger of Papillon Resources and B2 Gold Corp in October 2014 (value US$570 million), as well as the key person responsible for the merger of Adamus Resources and Endeavour Mining for US$579 million. He is currently the non-executive chair of Calidus Resources, Omnia Metals Group, Alto Metals, Warriedar Resources and Nickel Search.
Marc Ducler – Managing Director
Marc Ducler has more than 20 years of experience in the mining industry. He has held senior operational management roles with GoldFields, BHP, Fortescue Metals, MRL and Roy Hill. He was also the managing director of Egan Street Resources (a gold exploration and development company) until it was acquired by Silver Lake Resources (ASX:SLR).
Peter Stern – Non-executive Director
Peter Stern has experience in corporate advisory, specializing in M&A and capital raising. He has spent six years with Macquarie Bank and three years with UBS and Deutsche Bank. He is a graduate of Monash University with a Bachelor of Science (geology major). Stern is a fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the chairman of Troy Resources.
David Varcoe – Non-executive Director
David Varcoe is a mining engineer with over three decades of experience. He has extensive operational and managerial experience across various commodities, including gold, iron ore, copper, diamonds, coal, uranium and rare earths. His expertise spans board positions, operations management, project management and consulting. Varcoe is a principal consultant with the leading Australian firm AMC Consulting.
Justin Osborne – Non-executive Director
Justin Osborne is a geologist with over 30 years of experience in exploration. He was previously the executive director at Gold Road Resources (ASX:GOR), where he played a crucial role in developing the world-class Gruyere gold deposit (6.6 Moz gold). Osborne also held senior positions on the exploration executive team at Gold Fields. He was instrumental in developing the Damang Superpit project in Ghana and achieved significant discovery success at the St Ives gold mine.
Brendon Morton – Chief Financial Officer & Company Secretary
Brendon Morton has over 20 years of experience, particularly in the global resources sector across Australia, Africa and Asia. He has held several executive financial and company secretarial roles with ASX-listed and unlisted companies in the resources industry.
Steve Lampron – Technical Services Manager
Steve Lampron is a mining engineer with more than 20 years industry experience. As well as having worked in production roles for companies such as Placer Dome, Barrick and North American Palladium he has also worked as a Consultant for over 10 years.
Julie Reid – Geology Manager
Julie Reid has 36 years of experience working across Australia, Vietnam and Indonesia, covering a variety of commodities in diverse geological terrains. She holds a Bachelor of Applied Science from Curtin University of Technology.
Gold exploration with highly prospective assets in Western Australia
Exploration Target at Golden Crown to Focus on Resource Growth
Highlights
- WIN has defined an Exploration Target for Golden Crown of 400kt to 700kt tonnes between 2.4g/t to 3.2g/t Au for 23,000oz to 73,000oz of gold. This is in addition to the current Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) of 400kt @ 3.1g/t Au for 38,000oz of gold1
- The Exploration Target is supported by the successful 2024 drilling campaign, which tested mineralisation below current Inferred Resource at Golden Crown including2:
- 24BCRC014 - 6m @ 10.85g/t Au (140m below MRE)
- 24BCRC012 - 5m @ 3.63g/t Au (95m below MRE)
- WIN remains focused on growing shareholder value through low-cost, high-impact drilling at the high-grade Golden Crown, complementing the recently announced 2025 Butchers Creek MRE update of 5.23Mt at 1.G1g/t Au for 321,000oz of gold
- Heritage clearance results for the 2025 field program have now been received with no impediments to proposed drilling activities
- Preparation work is underway to support a G,000m drilling program, with drilling scheduled to commence in July 2025
The potential quantity and grade of the Exploration Target is conceptual in nature and, as such, there has been insufficient exploration drilling conducted to estimate a Mineral Resource. At this stage it is uncertain if further exploration drilling will result in the estimation of a Mineral Resource. The Exploration Target has been prepared in accordance with the JORC Code (2012). This exploration target is exclusive of the 2021 Golden Crown Mineral resource estimate of 400kt at 3.10g/t Au for 38,000oz of gold.
Gold Project (“BCGP”) located in the East Kimberley region of Western Australia. The BCGP currently contains a global Mineral Resource of 5.63Mt @ 1.98g/t Au for 359,000oz of gold.
The Golden Crown Exploration Target, which lies below the current Inferred Resource, is estimated at between 400kt to 700kt @ 2.4g/t to 3.2g/t Au, representing an additional 23,000oz to 73,000oz of gold beyond the current MRE.
WIN Metals Managing Director and CEO, Mr Steve Norregaard, commented:
“The establishment of an Exploration Target at the high-grade Golden Crown gold deposit following our highly successful 4-hole drilling program late in 2024 marks another important milestone in WIN’s strategy to unlock value from the project. The potential for additional gold at Golden Crown represents a compelling resource growth opportunity that could see Golden Crown be a meaningful satellite producer complementing the main Butchers Creek body of mineralisation.
With a very targeted, low-cost exploration approach this supports our vision of becoming the next gold producer in Kimberley region of WA. The upcoming S,000m drill campaign is designed to test the potential and deliver further value to shareholders through disciplined, high-impact exploration. We’re suitably enthused by what lies ahead.”
Exploration Target Basis
During WIN’s 2024 drilling campaign, 4 holes for 873m were drilled at Golden Crown demonstrating the resource growth potential. In aggregate, 159 holes for 12,570m have been drilled at Golden Crown along the lightly tested 2km strike.
Highlights from WIN’s drilling included:
- 6m @ 10.85g/t Au from 253m in hole 24BCRC014 (140m below the Mineral Resource)
- 5m @ 3.63g/t Au from 222m in hole 24BCRC012 (95m below Mineral Resource)
- 2m @ 6.00g/t Au from 130m in hole 24BCRC013 (25m below Mineral Resource)
The Golden Crown Exploration Target was generated using the following parameters:
- Mineralised envelopes have been remodelled at Golden Crown using Micromine software, with the new intercepts included at Golden Crown North from all holes drilled at the deposit
- A 0.3g/t Au cut-off was applied to constrain the mineralisation envelopes
- Mineralisation envelopes have been extended up to 250m below surface (130m RL) and extended a maximum of 60m radii along strike from a mineralised intercept
- Volume of the mineralisation envelopes were converted to tonnage using a factor of 2.71t per cubic meter, consistent with the April 2025 MRE update for Butchers Creek
- Upper and lower grade ranges were calculated at ±15% of the current MRE for Golden Crown of 3.10g/t Au. The southern extension mineralisation envelope, which was not modelled nor reported in 2021 MRE, has been assigned the average composite grade
- Upper and lower tonnage ranges were calculated at ±15% of the updated mineralisation envelopes
- The Exploration Target output range was rounded to the nearest 1,000oz to reflect the conceptual nature of this calculation
Figure 1: Golden Crown Exploration Target mineralisation envelopes (red fill) with 2021 MRE block model (grey) and drillhole traces (black) looking north-west. Dashed red line represents 500m of strike between Golden Crown South and North images for illustration purposes only.
Heritage Clearance for 2025 Drilling Programme
All drilling proposed in the 2025 heritage survey has been approved by the Koongie Elvire Traditional Owners Group following the completion of a heritage survey in April. This approval enables WIN to accelerate its 2025 drilling programme, focusing on growing the Golden Crown resource and testing the EIS co-funded exploration target, Ganymede3.
Future Work
The 2025 field season has commenced with reconnaissance work underway, now both heritage survey and the necessary clearances have been received. The drilling program will primarily focus on resource growth at the Golden Crown gold deposit, with 9,000m of drilling planned to commence in June/July 2025. An updated MRE for Golden Crown is expected later in 2025.
Location and Project History
The Golden Crown gold deposit is within exploration licence E80/4976, which is 4.5km north of the Butchers Creek gold mine and 30km southeast of Halls Creek in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. The project is accessible via the Duncan Road that connects the BCGP to the town of Halls Creek and the Great Northern Highway.
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This article includes content from Win Metals, 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.
Astral Resources Investor Kit
- Corporate info
- Insights
- Growth strategies
- Upcoming projects