Exploring the Gold Rush Opportunity in Victoria, Australia

Victoria is home to beautiful coastlines, stunning national parks and enchanting towns that many flock to year round. However, the sunny Australian state is more than just a tourist’s paradise. As host to one of the greatest gold rushes in world history, Victoria stands as a world-renowned gold province with a rich history of mining and widespread mineralization across a variety of deposit styles.

Australia currently stands as the second largest gold producer, following closely behind China. However, political stability, high-grade and low-cost mining conditions have made Victoria an attractive (and unique) hotspot for gold mining over the years. With such high yield gold potential in the continent’s geology, surfing the gold coasts of Australia has taken on a whole new meaning.

The gold rush begins

One of the biggest gold rushes in history took place in New South Wales, Australia in 1851, later extending to the province of Victoria. Within a year, over half a million “diggers” rushed to the goldfields of Australia, some travelling from as far as the United States, Germany, China and Poland. The discovery of this immense gold resource became one of the most foundational events in the state of Victoria, impacting the Australian state’s demographic, economic and political evolution.

A notable region for gold mining was Mount Alexander in Bendigo, Victoria. As one of the world’s richest shallow alluvial goldfields, the region would yield approximately four million ounces of gold. In today’s conversion that would be worth upwards of AUD$9 billion.

The gold boom did not end in the 19th century. Today, Victoria and its successful gold mines stand as some of the highest-yielding and high-grade resources many gold exploration and development companies seek out in the modern gold and precious metal mining space.

Modern gold mining in Victoria

The Geological Survey of Victoria estimates that there are over 75 million ounces of gold still to be unearthed in regional Victoria. Current production and exploration remain active, with yield hovering approximately 650,000 ounces of gold per annum.

Victoria’s gold deposits are often high grade and offer the potential for clustered, small-footprint operations, which make for optimal large-scale project positioning. The gold district features access to high-quality transport and existing infrastructure, skilled local workforce, established global markets and export pathways. Victoria’s surrounding metropolitan cities like Melbourne hold positioning as global mining hubs and headquarters to many large mining and mining services sectors.

The Australian gold district offers unique mining and exploration opportunities as it hosts several types of gold deposits concentrated in a relatively tight area. In different geological settings across Victoria, prospectors can find orogenic gold, volcanic-hosted massive sulfide deposits, intrusion-related gold and alluvial gold.

Victoria’s 13 goldfields have each produced over one million ounces of gold, most of which coming mainly from the world-class Fosterville deposit, Ballarat, Costerfield and Stawell in Victoria. With advancements in modern geoscience knowledge and precious metal exploration techniques, these high mineralized gold deposits offer exceptional opportunities for new discoveries and heightened confidence in Victoria’s geological architecture.

Major gold exploration companies in Victoria

With such viable gold mineralization and mining-friendly conditions, it comes as no surprise that some of the world’s most established and emerging gold exploration companies have strategically situated themselves in Victoria. With new discoveries and exciting projects being revealed every day, this gold hotspot presents an unparalleled mining upside.

Outback Goldfields (TSXV:OZ) is an exploration mining company focusing on developing highly prospective gold assets in close proximity to Kirkland Lake Gold’s Fosterville Mine in Victoria, which has current mineral reserves of 2.7 million ounces of gold at 31.0g/t grades. The company’s experienced exploration team has positioned it in one of the world’s most prolific gold districts. This expertise has also enabled the acquisition of potentially high-value assets and utilizing past-producing paths of success.

The company currently operates four key gold assets, including the Yuengroon, Glenfine, Silver Spoon and Ballarat West projects. These projects host limited modern exploration but are in the position to leverage Fosterville’s past production history. In June 2021, Outback announced a proposal to ramp up exploration programming at Yeungroon and Ballarat West based on positive geophysical data and high-grade gold discoveries.

E79 Resources (CSE:ESNR,OTCQB:ESVNF) is a gold exploration company focused on exploring Fosterville-type mineralization at its properties across the prolific Victorian goldfields in Australia. Its Myrtleford property hosts a historic gold camp comprising over 70 past-producing gold mines. E79 Resources’ recent drilling highlights confirmed a section of visible gold assaying at more than 2,430g/t gold grades, which shot the company’s share price up by 240 percent in June 2021.

Mandalay Resources (TSX:MND) is a Canada-based natural resource company focused on growing its production and reducing costs to generate significant positive cash flow across its robust project portfolio in Australia, Sweden, Chile and Canada. The company’s Costerfield gold-antimony mine recently revealed high-grade gold mineralization at 0.77 meters with highlights of 426g/t gold grades. Such an impressive discovery helped double Mandalay’s stock price.

Takeaway

Victoria’s exceptional gold mining potential stems from a long and formative history with its 1851 gold rush and years of production, high-grade discovery and widespread exploration opportunities. With estimates of over 80 million ounces of gold still to be found in many high-mineralized zones like Bendigo, Stawell and world-class Fosterville deposit, mining companies and investors could see prime economic and production upside operating in this prolific Australian province.