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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.
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).
More Wide, High-Grade Intercepts at Kamperman
HIGHLIGHTS
- Assay results received for the final 11 holes (1,254 metres) of a 31-hole (3,834 metre) reverse circulation (RC) drill program at the Kamperman Deposit, part of Astral’s 100%-owned Feysville Gold Project near Kalgoorlie. Best results include:
- 33 metres at 3.75g/t Au from 58 metres including 3 metres at 14.8g/t Au from 75 metres in hole FRC387;
- 10 metres at 1.63g/t Au from 131 metres and 22 metres at 5.21g/t Au from 149 metres including 2 metres at 30.9g/t Au from 164 metres and 2 metres at 12.2g/t Au from 168 metres in hole FRC389;
- 22 metres at 4.44g/t Au from 105 metres including 2 metres at 25.9g/t Au from 121 metres in hole FRC388;
- 6 metres at 12.8g/t Au from 76 metres including 1 metre at 63.4g/t Au from 77 metres in hole FRC385;
- 12 metres at 1.19g/t Au from 18 metres and 24 metres at 1.29g/t Au from 80 metres in hole FRC381;
- 13 metres at 1.14g/t Au from 24 metres in hole FRC384; and
- 20 metres at 0.79g/t Au from 30 metres in hole FRC382.
- RC holes FRC387, FRC388 and FRC389 represent a very successful in-fill test of the deposit, with the three holes averaging 112 gram-metres1.
- RC hole FRC385 targeted high-grade gold mineralisation associated with a zone of silicification intersected in three previous holes. FRC385 targeted a potential high-grade zone oriented in a north-west – south-west orientation and successfully intersected 6 metres at 12.8g/t Au including a 1 metre interval of 63.4g/t Au, confirming geological interpretations.
- Results of the 31-hole RC program were not included in the maiden Kamperman Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) announced on 1 November 2024 of 2Mt at 1.3g/t Au for 83.8koz of contained gold6. The results demonstrate the opportunity for continued MRE growth at Kamperman.
- The RC rig relocated to the Mandilla Gold Project to complete the in-fill program at the Iris Deposit. The RC drill rig is currently completing the final hole of this program and then will commence a 16-hole drill program at Eos testing the extent of fresh rock gold mineralisation adjacent to the Eos palaeochannel deposit.
- Also at Mandilla, a diamond drill (DD) rig has commenced a four-hole/1,600 metre drill program ahead of an update to the Theia MRE, which is expected to be reported in the March Quarter, 2025.
- The first hole of this DD program has already been completed with a significant number of visible gold occurrences observed during the logging process. (Refer to Cautionary Note below).
Figure 1 – Map illustrating the location of the Mandilla and Feysville Gold Projects.
Astral Resources’ Managing Director Marc Ducler said: “Following the recent release of the maiden Kamperman MRE, it is highly encouraging to now be reporting further high-grade in-fill results and a successful drill test of a previously identified high-grade zone. These results highlight the potential for MRE upside at Kamperman.
“The in-fill drill line (FRC387, FRC388 and FRC389) testing the high-grade southern zone at Kamperman returned excellent results including 33 metres at 3.75g/t Au, 22 metres at 4.44g/t Au and 22 metres at 5.21g/t Au. These three in-fill holes averaged a gold accumulation of 112 gram-metres through this high-grade southern zone. This is clearly a very successful in-fill test and bodes well for the potential to upgrade the MRE in this area.
“A potential high-grade gold zone was also tested with hole FRC385, returning a spectacular intercept of 6 metres at 12.8g/t Au from 76 metres including 1 metre at 63.4g/t Au from 77 metres.
“Previous drilling in the vicinity has seen this characteristically silicified zone intersected in three holes with assay results of 3.7 metres at 12.2g/t Au, 5 metres at 3.11g/t Au and 10 metres at 5.04g/t Au including 1 metre at 28.5g/t Au inFRC350.
“This further successful test of an interpreted high-grade shoot adds confidence as to the continuity of this zone and our ability to interpret controls and presents as further upside to the current Kamperman MRE.
“The RC rig is now progressing with the in-fill and extensional programs at Iris and Eos respectively and, once complete, will be returned to Kamperman to complete a 15-hole (2,110 metre) in-fill program.
“Diamond drilling of four in-fill holes at Theia is progressing well. The first hole of this program has already been completed with, pleasingly, a significant number of occurrences of visible gold observed during the logging process.
Plans are underway to secure a second diamond drill rig. This has the potential to increase the rate of progress of both the current four-hole in-fill program at Theia and the geotechnical program required to inform the open pit parameters for the Hestia and Eos open pits in the Mandilla PFS.”
Click here for the full ASX Release
This article includes content from Astral 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.
Drilling Commenced at Ferke Gold Project, Cote d’Ivoire
HIGHLIGHTS
- Over 10,000m of drilling planned for December quarter to follow-up previous drilling successes at the Odienné and Ferké gold projects, Côte d’Ivoire
- Ferké project auger drilling has commenced, with a 5,000m campaign covering +9km segment of gold anomalism, targeting extensions to high-grade gold mineralisation confirmed in previous drilling
- Odienné project air core drilling planned to commence over coming weeks to assess priority targets generated in previous quarter’s auger results
- Both projects fully funded for follow-up diamond and RC drilling as part of staged exploration campaigns planned to continue through the 2024/25 field season
Auger drilling has already commenced at the Ferké gold project, with three drill rigs mobilised to cover 9km of reconnaissance drilling along the highly prospective structural corridor hosting the Ouarigue South prospect. This program is designed to delineate extensional targets to open gold mineralisation confirmed in previous drilling that returned:
- 47m @ 3.72g/t gold from surface
- 77.6m @ 2.33 g/t gold from 45.9m
- 91.1m @ 2.02 g/t gold from surface
- 45.3m @ 3.16g/t gold from 45.9m
Concurrently, field work has commenced at the Odienné project, ahead of a planned 5,000m air core campaign that will assess priority targets delineated from the previous quarter’s auger drill results (refer to ASX release dated 20 August 2024). The drilling will be focussed on target delineation within more than 16km of anomalous gold trends located in the same high-strain corridor that hosts Predictive Discovery’s 5.4Moz Au Bankan deposit, as well as the recent discovery by Awalé Resources/Newmont joint venture, which is located on a contiguous land holding.
Many Peaks’ Executive Chairman, Travis Schwertfeger commented:
“Following the end of the West African wet season, we are pleased to have commenced Many Peaks’ 2024/2025 exploration program at our high-grade Cote d’Ivoire projects. Plans for the coming months include our maiden drilling at Ferké, where three auger rigs will drill 5,000m to identify extensional targets of historic holes that include 45.3m @ 3.16g/t and 39.7m @ 3.54g/t gold. We will also drill 5,000m of air core holes at Odienné, following up on extensive gold anomalism identified from drilling we conducted here in the previous season. We look forward to updating investors on our findings as we systematically assess the potential of these highly prospective projects.”
Ferké Gold Project
The Ferké Gold Project (Ferké) comprises 300km2 in a single granted exploration permit in northern Côte d’Ivoire currently undergoing a renewal process and remaining permitted for exploration activity. Ferké is situated on the eastern margin of the Daloa greenstone belt at the intersection of major regional scale shear zones (Figures 1 & 3). The project area has seen substantial previous exploration activity confirming gold mineralisation but with limited follow-up work. Previous work includes high resolution geophysics, soil sampling, trenching, and RC and Diamond drilling (refer to ASX release dated 26 March 2024).
Planned Work
Many Peaks’ initial field programme at Ferké is a 5,000m auger drilling campaign focused on extending the auger coverage at Ferké along an additional 9km of strike extent in the >16km long corridor of soil anomalism referred to as the Leraba trend. The auger campaign is estimated to be completed in 3 to 4 weeks’ time with 400m to 600m spaced lines of sampling and planned 25m spacing between samples. Results are anticipated to refine targeting for follow-up drilling within the extensive gold anomalism which measures over 2km in width in most places (Figure 1).
Figure 1 | Ferké Project proposed auger drilling locations with locations of previously drilling auger, RC and diamond core drilling on regional scale geology.
The planned auger drilling at Ferké is focused on expanding the footprint of gold mineralisation confirmed in previous drilling success. An initial 18 diamond holes drilled into a limited segment of the extensive gold corridor confirmed gold mineralisation at Ferké that remains open in all directions. Results from previous drilling include 45.3m @ 3.16g/t gold from 45.9m drill depth in hole FNDC001 and 39.7m @ 3.54g/t gold from 51.4m in drill hole FNCD008 (refer to ASX announcement dated 26 March 2024).
The current programme is designed to define extensional targets within in the predominantly undrilled north-south trending segment of gold in soil anomalism of the Leraba trend. This may justify expansion of planned follow-up RC and diamond drilling work over the coming field season, and complement drill ready targets already defined on open mineralisation at the Ouarigue South prospect.
Click here for the full ASX Release
This article includes content from Many Peaks Minerals, 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.
Brightstar Resources Investor Kit
- Corporate info
- Insights
- Growth strategies
- Upcoming projects