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Manuka Resources
Investor Insight
Manuka Resources’ unique value proposition is focused on its three fully licenced projects, which include two precious metals assets in one of Australia’s most prolific regions for base and precious metals, and a company-making iron sands (vanadium and titanium co-products) project in New Zealand’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) off the Taranaki bight. Manuka Resources is well-placed to deliver significant shareholder value, driven by a phased strategy that includes a clear pathway to near-term precious metals production.
Strategy Overview
Manuka Resources (ASX:MKR) is focused on bringing its precious metals assets in the Cobar Basin into production, as well as progressing its New Zealand domiciled Taranaki VTM iron sands project.
The company previously revealed a phased strategy focused on delivering maximum value to its shareholders. The first phase focused on bringing back the Mt Boppy gold mine into production and it released an optimised production plan for the mine restart. At the time, the company believed silver production would follow gold but noted it was flexible in this regard. In any event and simultaneous to this, will be the ongoing development of the Taranaki vanadium titano-magnetite (VTM) project.
The Cobar Basin located in the central-west of New South Wales, is one of the richest mining provinces in Australia, home to some of Australia’s largest mining companies and explorers.
The Mt Boppy gold mine was historically one of the richest in NSW, Australia and produced ~500,000 oz gold at an average grade of 15 grams per ton (g/t) gold. Accordingly, the company is very excited about its exploration potential.
Drone image looking South showing the main components of the Rock Dump and tailing resources in relation to the Mt. Boppy open pit.
The initial five-year mine plan is largely focused on the screening and processing of gold-bearing waste material above ground on the Mt Boppy mine site. The company had been processing these wastes from June 2023 to December 2023 at its Wonawinta plant and now will look to optimize the process.
The Wonawinta silver project will be the largest primary silver producer in Australia and expected to be back in silver production within 12 months. Manuka has released a maiden ore reserve (under its ownership) of 4.8Mt1 at 53.8g/t silver containing 8.4Moz of silver comprising proven ore reserves of 0.8Mt at 50.8g/t silver; and probable ore reserves of 4.1Mt at 54.3g/t silver. Ore Reserve is based solely on shallow (<40m deep) oxide material.
The Wonawinta 100tph Ball Mill
The gold and silver market appears to be in an upward trend, with prices for both precious metals hitting their all-time highs recently, in Australian dollar terms for silver, which bodes very positively for MKR.
Company Highlights
- Manuka Resources is an ASX-listed mining company focused on producing gold and silver from its two 100 percent owned fully permitted projects (one gold and one silver) in the Cobar Basin in New South Wales, Australia.
- In addition, MKR’s wholly owned subsidiary Trans-Tasman Resources Limited (“TTR”) is the owner of the Taranaki VTM (vanadiferous titanomagnetite) iron sands project, located in the New Zealand EEZ, off the south-west coast of the north island.
- Manuka released the details of the Taranaki VTM project’s pre-feasibility study (PFS) on 26 March 2025, which highlights the extremely robust economics of the project with an NPV10 of US$1.2B and IRR 39 percent
- TTR will also be lodging its application under New Zealand’s Fast Track Approvals Act for the Taranaki VTM project imminently. (The project was included in Schedule 2 of the Act). Successful conclusion of review under the Fast Track pathway will result in final regulatory approvals (marine discharge consent) being granted, completing the full suite of consents to operate the project for 20 years.
- The Company’s primary focus for its precious metals assets is on bringing both the fully permitted Wonawinta silver project and the Mt Boppy gold mine back into production during 2025. The Wonawinta processing plant (primarily constructed for silver production in 2012 with production capacity of 850,000-1 million tpa) has been recently used for both gold and silver processing and is on active care and maintenance for rapid restart..
- The Wonawinta silver project was previously the largest primary producer of silver in Australia, and Manuka expects this to again be the case once production restarts.
- While the substantially higher gold prices have been securing headlines over the past six months, it is worth noting that the silver price is also trading at an all time high which makes restarting the project very attractive (the all time high for silver is against the Australian dollar, currently silver is around AU$54/oz silver).
- Manuka released its maiden silver reserve in October 2024 making it the only production ready silver reserve on a project based in Australia.
- Elevated gold and silver prices should materially benefit Manuka Resources, resulting in strong profitability and cash flows once its projects move into production.
Key Projects
Mt Boppy Gold Project
The Mt Boppy gold project comprises three mining leases, four gold leases and one exploration license, spanning an area of more than 210 sq km in the prolific Cobar Basin in New South Wales, Australia. The project was acquired by Manuka in 2019 and has a current mineral resource of 4.3 Mt at 1.19 g/t gold. This includes a combination of oxidized and transitional/fresh mineralization in the ground, as well as mineralized rock dumps and tailings.
Historically, Manuka Resources has processed its stockpiles and gold mineralized waste products through its Wonawinta processing plant. However, inefficiencies associated with trucking and processing ore at the distant Wonawinta plant has led the company to revise its strategy. It is now looking to construct a processing plant at Mt Boppy so that ore from the mine can be processed on-site. Mt Boppy has excellent infrastructure including a 48-person mine camp and is fully permitted for the proposed processing plant and on-site production.
The updated mineral resource comprises 4.28 Mt at 1.19 g/t gold for 163 koz of contained gold, of which 82 percent is in the measured and indicated categories.
An on-site plant will offer significant cost savings and improve the project economics.
Manuka Resources anticipates Mt Boppy to deliver total EBITDA of >AU$90 million and cash flow of >AU$80 million over a five-year mine life.
Wonawinta Silver Mine Project
The Wonawinta plant
The Wonawinta project is fully permitted with all the necessary infrastructure, including an 850,000 to 1 million tpa processing plant. The plant has been used for processing ore from Mt Boppy. The Wonawinta silver mine is currently under care and maintenance. The company is considering the possibility of resuming operations at Wonawinta, leveraging the improved silver price environment. Manuka has released a maiden ore reserve (under its ownership):
- Ore Reserve of 4.8 Mt at 53.8 g/t silver containing 8.4 Moz of silver comprising:
- Proved Ore Reserves of 0.8 Mt at 50.8 g/t silver; and
- Probable Ore Reserves of 4.1 Mt at 54.3 g/t Ag.
The maiden silver ore reserve and the preparation of an implementation plan for Wonawinta support the potential restart of silver mining and processing operations in the near
future. The company is reviewing its silver restart plans in light of the current price increases and expects to announce a decision before the end of May 2025.
Taranaki VTM Project
The Taranaki VTM project is located within New Zealand's exclusive economic zone, approximately 22 to 36 kilometres offshore, outside the 12 nautical mile boundary from the coastline. The project boasts a JORC resource of 3.2 billion tons at 10.17 percent iron oxide, 1.03 percent titanium dioxide and 0.05 percent vanadium oxide. It holds a mining license allowing initial extraction of 50 million tons annually, resulting in 5 million tons of VTM concentrate per year for 20 years (concentrate grade of 56 to 57 percent iron, 8.5 percent titanium dioxide and 0.5 percent vanadium pentoxide). At this extraction rate, the JORC resource provides approximately 60 years of potential mining inventory.
The project was included in the New Zealand government's Schedule 2 of the Fast Track Approvals Act 2024. The next step for Manuka was to complete pre-feasibility study (“PFS”) on the project. This was released to the market on 26 March 2025 and presents an extremely robust economic outlook for the project as can be seen below.
Management Team
Dennis Karp – Executive Chairman
Dennis Karp is a former commodities trader with nearly four decades of corporate experience. He started his career in 1983 and worked in HSBC until 1997 before moving to Tennant, one of Australia’s largest physical commodities trading companies with operations in Asia and Europe. He was a principal shareholder of Tennant Metals until 2010 and a managing director until December 2014. He founded ResCap in December 2014. Since then, he has participated in diverse resource projects and investment opportunities across base metals and bulk commodities. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Cape Town.
Alan Eggers – Executive Director
Alan Eggers has over 40 years of experience in the mining sector. He is a geologist and was the founder of Summit Resources, which became an ASX top 200 company and was acquired by Paladin Energy in 2007 for AU$1.2 billion. Throughout his career, he has held director positions at numerous companies. He holds a Bachelor of Science, Honours, and Master of Science degrees from Victoria University of Wellington. He is recognized as a fellow of the Society of Economic Geologists and holds memberships in AusIMM and the Australian Institute of Geoscientists.
John Seton – Non-executive Director
John Seton is a lawyer with extensive experience in the mineral resources sector. He has served as director in several ASX and NZX listed companies. He holds a Bachelor of Laws from Victoria University, Wellington, and a Master of Law (Honours) from the University of Auckland and is a chartered fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Directors.
Haydn Lynch – Chief Operating Officer
Haydn Lynch has over 25 years of experience in M&A, capital markets and private equity. He has been involved in executing several domestic and cross-border transactions in various sectors including metals and mining, and industrials. He has held leadership roles in global investment banks, including Bankers Trust Australia, Investec Bank, RBC Capital Markets and Southern Cross Equities. He has undergraduate degrees in mechanical engineering and economics from the University of Queensland and a Master in Commerce from the University of New South Wales.
Dieter Engelhardt – Chief Metallurgist and General Manager
Dieter Engelhardt has over 30 years of experience in the mining industry including roles as senior metallurgist at Telfer Gold Mine and Northparkes Mines, resident manager at McKinnons Gold Mine, and manager of ore processing at CSA Mine. Engelhardt was employed by Newcrest Mining (now Newmont) in various roles, including as manager of ore processing and principal metallurgist.
Phil Bentley – Chief Geologist
Phil Bentley has over 40 years of experience in the mining industry across New Zealand, South Africa, and Australia, holding senior geological roles as well as senior management and director positions. He has worked as a chief geologist at Randgold Resources and Randgold & Exploration, Global Head of Exploration at Trafigura Mining Services, and Principal Geologist Africa at CSA Global South Africa. He is a Qualified person under NI 43-101 (Canada) and JORC (Australia) and is a Fellow of the South African Geological Society. He holds a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Geology at Victoria University of Wellington. He also has a Masters of Science in Economic Geology at Victoria University of Wellington and a Master’s of Science in Mineral Exploration from Rhodes University, Grahamstown South Africa.
Near-term production from both its silver and gold projects located in the Cobar Basin, Central West, New South Wales
OPINION — Goldenomics 101: Follow the Money
By Darren Brady Nelson
As an economist, I, perhaps somewhat sadly, have many economist friends. One of them recently alerted me to a post on X that was even a shock to me in the toxic 2020s. That being: “Almost all political donations by Fed employees go to one party. The Fed is already politicized.”
The post had a link to the data supporting this assertion, which was published at OpenSecrets. They are a “501(c)3” devoted to: “tracking money in US politics and its effect on elections and public policy.” Their theme is appropriately “Follow the Money,” as it is for this story.
Political money contributions, since 2016, from those at the Fed, range between 92 to 93 percent for Democrats and 8 to 9 percent for Republicans. As Public Choice economics teaches, it is crucial to “Follow the Money” in politics. Austrian and Chicago schools of economics teach the same for gold.
Gold pricing 101
Gold pricing is often characterized as being driven by “fear and uncertainty,” at least in the short run, including geopolitical fears like war and economic uncertainties such as recession. It is also typically recognized to be an “inflation hedge,” in the long run anyway.
Gold is an asset with a price determined in a 24/7/365 global auction, most often quoted per troy ounce, in the world’s reserve currency of US dollars. New supply plays an unusually small role compared to almost all other commodities, goods or services. Thus, highest bid wins.
Perhaps none of these things about gold, and its price, are new nor surprising. But what might be, despite the end of the gold standard in 1971 and legalization of gold investment in 1974, is that gold is still a shadow currency to fiat ones, especially US dollar, in the "always run."
The annual gold price from 1960 to 2024 is displayed below, as sourced from the World Bank. Rises include: late 1970s; late 2000s; and mid 2020s. Slides include: early 1980s; late 1990s; and early 2010s. Overall growth was: Sum 555 percent; Ave 8.7 percent; Max 98 percent; Min -24 percent; and CAGR 6.8 percent.
Money supply 101
Gold is the inflation hedge, precisely because it is shadow currency. Money supply is the inflation source, precisely because it is fiat currency. As Chicago economist Milton Friedman wrote in Money Mischief (1994): “In the modern world, inflation is a printing-press phenomenon.”
There are multiple money supply measures, such as M0, M1, M2 and M3. M1 includes paper and coin currency held by the general public as well as liquid bank deposits (e.g. checking accounts). M3 includes M1, plus less liquid bank deposits (e.g. savings accounts) as well as “repos.”
Austrian economist Robert Murphy details in Understanding Money Mechanics (2021) just how the Fed’s printing, Treasury bonds and bank loans create US money supply, through open market operations. Since 2008 and 2020, the Fed has expanded to buying and selling just about anything.
Speaking on behalf of the Fed, and all major central banks, the Bank of England wrote in Money Creation in the Modern Economy (2014): “(B)ank lending creates deposits. At that moment, new money is created. (This is) ‘fountain pen money,’ created at the stroke of bankers’ pens(.)”
Annual M1 and M3 money supply from 1960 to 2024 are displayed below, as sourced from the OECD. M3 starts to take off from the mid 1990s. Both blast off in the early 2020s, M1 in part due to redefinition. Combined growth was: Sum 533 percent; Ave 8.3 percent; Max 126 percent; Min -6.4 percent; and CAGR 7.4 percent.
Gold inflation 101
Christian economist Gary North points out in Honest Money (2011) that businesses have three choices in the face of money inflation: A) profit deflation; B) price inflation; C) quality shrinkflation. Investors have a fourth: D) gold inflation. A, B, and C are all bad options. D is good.
The chart below shows cumulative annual growth of gold versus M1 and M3. Gold performs and protects against both M1 and M3 from 1974 to 2019, even in 2001, but not against M1 from 2020 to 2024. In 2019, gold had a 150 percent lead on M1 and 92 percent on M3. By 2022, it shrunk to -110 percent and 80 percent.
Cumulative yearly growth (percent).
Sources: OECD and World Bank.
A 2020 regression study found: “When the Federal Reserve increases money supply by 1%, gold prices increase by 0.94%.” A 2023 academic paper: “Confirms a long-term relationship between gold price and US M2.” Note that M1’s 2021 redefinition has now made it nearly identical to M1.
Period yearly change (percent).
Sources: OECD and World Bank.
However, the authors of Austrian School for Investors (2015) wrote: “Gold does not correlate with the rate of inflation as such, but with the rate of change of the inflation rate. In order to buttress this hypothesis, we calculated the regression depicted in (the chart below).”
Source: Austrian School for Investors: Austrian Investing between Inflation and Deflation.
In conclusion, as per my Wokenomics 101 (2023) ghost blog, money inflation by: “increasing demand puts upward pressure on price and quantity and downward pressure on quality.” That puts upward pressure on: nominal CPI and GDP statistics; as well as real gold investment and price.
Inflation doesn’t harm all. It helps some. They are the “Bootleggers and Baptists,” as Public Choice economist Bruce Yandle dubbed them in 1983. Bootleggers are crony capitalists, politicians and bureaucrats whose inflated revenue outpaces costs. Baptists are the “useful idiots.”
Thus, “Follow the Money” back to the “inflationistas” of: Big Business; Big Government; and Big Banks. All gain supernormal profits from easy money: one, making more money; two, collecting more money; and three, creating more money. Also, “Follow the Money” when it comes to gold.
And, sadly, there is one policy that is always bipartisan; print more money. But, gladly, gold will always win.
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.
Pacgold: Advancing the Alice River Gold Project in Northern Queensland with Tier 1 Discovery Potential
Pacgold (ASX:PGO) is an Australian gold exploration company advancing the high-potential Alice River Gold Project in Northern Queensland. Led by a technically driven and experienced team with proven success across exploration, resource development, and capital markets, Pacgold is applying a systematic, discovery-focused approach to unlock the project’s value.
The company holds a dominant 377 sq km land package, including eight mining leases, along the highly prospective Alice River Fault Zone (ARFZ) — a major structural corridor interpreted to host an intrusion-related gold system analogous to globally significant deposits such as Fort Knox (USA) and Hemi (WA).
The Alice River Gold Project is a large-scale, greenstone-hosted gold system located in Northern Queensland, centered along the regionally significant Alice River Fault Zone (ARFZ). The project covers 377 sq km of contiguous tenure, including eight granted mining leases.
Pacgold controls over 30 km of strike length along the ARFZ — a major crustal-scale structure that has only recently been the focus of systematic exploration using modern techniques, offering significant untapped discovery potential.
Company Highlights
- District-scale Discovery Potential: Pacgold controls more than 377 sq km of tenure and more than 30 km of strike length across the Alice River Fault Zone (ARFZ), a fertile, underexplored structural corridor in Northern Queensland.
- Maiden Resource: In May 2025, the company published a 474,000 oz gold mineral resource estimate (MRE), covering just five percent of the total strike, confirming high-grade mineralization and strong potential for expansion.
- Aggressive Exploration Strategy: More than 10,000 metres of RC drilling campaign is underway, complemented by air-core and diamond programs, aimed at growing the Central Zone resource and testing multiple regional targets.
- Attractive Valuation Entry: With a market capitalization of just ~AU$10 million and an EV of AU$8.5 million (as of Q1 2025), Pacgold provides a low-cost entry into a potentially Tier 1 gold system.
- Experienced Leadership: The board includes proven mine developers and discovery geologists with prior success at Chalice, AngloGold Ashanti, BHP and Sibanye-Stillwater.
This Pacgold profile is part of a paid investor education campaign.*
Click here to connect with Pacgold (ASX:PGO) to receive an Investor Presentation
High-Grade Gold Discovery in First 8 Mile Drill Hole
- First RC hole at 8 Mile discovers high-grade gold and ends in mineralisation
- 8 Mile gold mineralisation extends 75m north of tenement boundary
The 8 Mile target is located within the Gidji JV Project (“Gidji” or “the Project”), approximately 15 kilometres north of Kalgoorlie and surrounded by multiple gold mining and processing operations, including Northern Star Resources Limited’s (“NST”) Kalgoorlie gold operations (Figure 1).
The 8 Mile Target is located immediately adjacent to NST’s “8-Mile Dam” gold deposit which, according to the most recent publicly available data, contains an estimated 7Mt @ 1.4g/t Au for 313,977 ounces1.
A limited number of fast-tracked results from the first RC hole, GJRC029, show a wide zone of gold mineralisation with a similar tenor to 8 Mile Dam (18m @ 0.94g/t Au from 480m including 1m @ 6.04g/t Au), approximately 75m north of the tenement boundary, and ended in mineralisation (3m @ 0.52g/t Au).
The Company is awaiting assay results from the remainder of the hole which are expected in 2-3 weeks.
Miramar’s Executive Chairman, Mr Allan Kelly, said the Company was excited to see gold mineralisation continuing onto Miramar’s ground for a significant distance.
“This is the first time we have discovered significant gold mineralisation on our side of the fence, even though the drill hole didn’t end up exactly where we planned it to. The flip side of this is that we have extended the strike of gold mineralisation for over 100m on to our tenements,” he said.
“We’ve also demonstrated a relationship between the IP anomalism and gold mineralisation, which makes the other IP anomalies we have outlined at Gidji even more prospective,” he said.
Figure 1. The Gidji JV Project and 8-Mile Dam in relation to Kalgoorlie and surrounding deposits.
GJRC029 aimed to test an Induced Polarisation (IP) anomaly on the tenement boundary interpreted to represent the sulphide-rich gold mineralisation seen at the neighbouring 8 Mile Dam Deposit.
GJRC029 was collared approximately 10m north of the tenement boundary and mirrored MPGD008, a diamond hole drilled down-dip approximately 40m south of the tenement boundary by KCGM in 2013 and which intersected significant gold mineralisation related to the 8 Mile mafic unit.
Unfortunately, GJRC029 deviated significantly from the planned azimuth and, as a result, by the time the hole was terminated at the target depth of 504m, the drill trace ended up approximately 75m north of the tenement boundary (Figure 2). Despite this, the hole intersected a thick section of the steep westerly- dipping and highly altered 8 Mile mafic unit with widespread sulphide mineralisation, including disseminated magnetite and coarse-grained arsenopyrite, pyrrhotite and chalcopyrite, similar to the 8 Mile Dam Deposit (Figure 3).
Based on visual logging of RC drill chips, handheld portable XRF results and magnetic susceptibility measurements, samples from the bottom 56m of the hole were sent for priority analysis by fire assay at Bureau Veritas in Kalgoorlie.
The results from these initial samples confirm the relationship between the gold mineralisation and sulphides, and a relationship between the best gold mineralisation and coincident magnetic anomalism and elevated Arsenic as measured by handheld portable XRF. The first results also confirm that the IP anomaly is associated with potentially significant gold mineralisation, whilst the significant deviation of GJRC029 away from the planned target increases the potential strike length of gold mineralisation on Miramar’s ground.
Significant results are listed in Table 1, with assay results from the remainder of the hole expected in coming weeks.
The initial RC drilling programme, which also tested two other IP targets, is nearing completion and results will be reported once received and compiled.
Once all assays are received, the Company will plan further RC and/or diamond drill holes including to test the dip and strike extent of the mineralisation intersected in GJRC029.
The Company advises that the WA Department of Mines, Petroleum and Exploration (DMPE) has extended the main Gidji JV tenement, E26/214, for a further five years, and will now expire in March 2030.
Click here for the full ASX Release
This article includes content from Miramar 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.
Manuka Resources Investor Kit
- Corporate info
- Insights
- Growth strategies
- Upcoming projects