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Magnetic Resources NL (ASX:MAU) (Magnetic or the Company) has announced Increased Lady Julie Gold Project Resource and Project Update.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Magnetic Resources is pleased to provide an update to its flagship Lady Julie Gold Project (LJGP), an exciting new gold development currently in an advanced Feasibility stage. The project is located near Laverton in WA and will comprise three open pits, a CIL processing plant and all associated infrastructure.
- Recent deeper infill drilling at Lady Julie North 4 (LJN4) has significantly increased resource confidence and continuity of mineralisation, whilst also expanding gold inventory (relative to the July 2024 ASX update). This will assist in building a substantial future mining reserve.
- The updated Combined Mineral Resources Estimate (Table 1) for LJGP:
- 28.11 Mt at 1.93g/t Au containing 1.75Moz of gold at 0.5/1.5g/t cutoffs1.
- 75% of the combined resource is now in Indicated category (previously 68%).
- The updated Combined Laverton Region Mineral Resource Estimate (Table 1):
- 33.14 Mt at 1.81g/t Au containing 1.93Moz of gold at 0.5/1.5g/t cutoffs1.
Table 1 Project Mineral Inventory
- On the basis of the strong resource development below the planned open pit, a scoping exercise has been completed to study the potential for operating an underground mine concurrently with the open pit. The study found that a concurrent underground operation producing 550,000tpa of higher-grade ore would add significantly to project value, with total output of 150,000oz pa over an 8-year project life. Commencement of underground access development would be scheduled for year two to minimize the potential for disruption of the main part of the project. More detailed design of access, stoping and fill systems will commence in late January 2025.
- As a result of this scoping exercise, the processing plant design capacity is being boosted to 2.75Mtpa to treat a combined open pit/underground feed. A key change with the scale increase will be in comminution where a ball/SAG mill circuit is now proposed in place of multistage crushing/ball mill. The plant design and costing will be completed in early February.
- Metallurgical testwork is continuing to optimize the treatment process with differing lithology units.
- A Mining Proposal has been submitted to DEMIRS for approval. The proposal is in support of the application for two new Mining leases and a new Miscellaneous lease covering the remainder of the project footprint (see Figure 1). The combined project area of 1,424Ha is now under application.
- With some late changes to the Feasibility Study, the aim remains to complete the Study by the end Q1 2025.
Note 1:
The cutoff grade is considered appropriate for a large-scale open pit operation and in the case of LJN4, is applied to a depth of 400m below surface. It should be noted that the pit resource does not consider any restraining factors which may influence the final pit design in the feasibility study.
The mineralisation deeper than 400m below surface shows strong continuity and therefore is amenable to underground mining. On the basis of a gold price of A$3600/oz and economic modelling of an underground operation, a cutoff grade of 1.5g/t Au is considered appropriate and has been applied to this portion of the model. As above, constraints applied to a pit design at Feasibility may lead to an increase in the resource available for underground extraction.
The verification and reporting of Mineral Resources on behalf of the Company was completed by its JORC Competent Person, Mr. M Edwards of Blue Cap Mining. The Mineral Resources Estimate has been prepared and reported in accordance with the 2012 Edition of the JORC Code.
Managing Director George Sakalidis commented:
“The LJN4 resource has been the Company’s primary drilling focus over recent months with the completion of infill drilling and some extension drilling at depth in the northern part of LJN4, which consists of thick strongly altered zones mainly associated with intensely fuchsite altered ultramafic rock types.
Two deeper holes are being planned testing for deeper extensions of the main ultramafic-hosted lodes, which are still open at depth and one deeper hole beneath the southern breccia- silica-pyrite lode. The LJN4 deposit sits within a regional structure called the Chatterbox Shear Zone that extends over 12km in length within the Magnetic tenements and remains as a prospective target zone where RC drilling has been recently completed.
The Lady Julie Gold Project Pre-Feasibility Study was released to the ASX on 7 March 2024. The project now envisaged and advanced planning is at a scale to provide more credibility to the wider industry and offer more substantial value to shareholders.
Most of the background work has now been completed to take this to feasibility study level of accuracy. The submission of a Mining Proposal and application for Mining Leases are key steps in the regulatory approval process.”
Click here for the full ASX Release
This article includes content from Magnetic Resources NL, 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.
MAU:AU
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.
