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Arika Resources Limited (ASX: ARI) (“Arika” or “Company”) is pleased to announce that it has completed a synthesis of multiple regional and local scale geophysical datasets over its Yundamindra Gold Project (“Yundamindra”) situated 65km southwest of Laverton in the world class eastern goldfields mining district of Western Australia.
KEY HIGHLIGHTS
- Data filtering technology applied to multiple regional and local scale geophysical data sets has identified over 25+ new high priority targets at Arika’s Yundamindra Project beyond the areas where recent drilling has returned a series of spectacular results, including1:
- 14m @15.48 g/t Au from 46m (Hole YMRC077 Pennyweight Point)
- 30m @ 3.86 g/t Au from 64m (Hole YMRC06G Pennyweight Point)
- 14m @ 3.13 g/t Au from 28m (Hole YMRC003 Landed at Last)
- 12m @ 2.G3 g/t Au from 43m (Hole YMRC02G Landed at Last)
- The resulting interpretation shows the project area to be a structurally complex intrusive volcanic and granitic interaction with intense structural disruptions. Key elements which are consistently associated with many of the region’s most significant multi-million ounce gold deposits.
- The analysis has provided an improved understanding of the lithological and structural architecture at Yundamindra enabling a re-interpretation and refinement of the structural controls on the known mineralization at Landed at Last and Pennyweight Point and the identification of new high priority targets.
- Importantly, none of these new targets have been previously drill tested and the results materially expand the potential for new discoveries at Yundamindra.
- Mineralisation along the Western Corridor at Landed at Last is highly correlated with the location of two major NW-SE trending faults (C multiple second order linking structures which occur between them) which are identified in the geophysical data extending for over 10km’s along strike.
- Mineralisation along the Eastern Corridor is similarly associated with two major faults but trending NNE-SSW. Mineralisation at Pennyweight Point is now confirmed to sit on the easternmost of these faults, which extend for at least 4.5km’s along strike.
- A confluence of structures is located in the south-central zone where recent field mapping has identified several large outcropping E-W trending quartz veins central to an extensive area of previously unrecorded, historical alluvial gold workings.
- Phase 2 drilling, designed to test extensions at Pennyweight Point along strike and at depth from the recent drill results is scheduled to commence next week with an initial 3,000m (of a wider 6,000m program) to be drilled prior to the end of year break.
The initial phase of work has been very successful in developing an improved understanding of Yundamindra’s place in the regional framework and of refining the lithological and structural architecture at the local scale (Figure 1). Understanding these key elements is critical in guiding effective ongoing exploration at the project.
Figure 1: Yundamindra Project structural interpretation from geophysics data showing Landed at Last and Pennyweight Point amongst a plethora of historical gold workings C prospects over TMI (RTP).
Note the strong correlation of historical workings and ARI’s recent drilling successes with major faults.
Landed at Last is located at the northern end of the ‘Western Corridor’ and sits on a major fault package that extends for ~10km’s.
Pennyweight Point is located within the ‘Eastern Corridor’ and sits on a well-defined structure visible in geophysical imagery extending over a strike length of at least ~4.5km’s. Refer to Figure 3 INSET for more detail.
Significant historical workings at Highland Chief C Bound to Rise, along with the remains of a multi-head stamp battery/processing facility, occur within the Pennyweight Point mineralised corridor ~2km’s SW of Arikapotos’s recent drilling at Pennyweight Point. These clearly demonstrate the strongly mineralised nature of the host structures and the potential for significant mineralisation to extend well beyond the areas tested to date.
Commenting on the recent analysis, Arika’s Managing Director Justin Barton said:
“We continue to take a methodical and systematic approach to our exploration effort at Yundamindra. We’re off to a great start with the outstanding results recently reported from our first drilling campaigns at Pennyweight Point and Landed at Last, but the work completed by our geophysics consultants in collaboration with our technical team clearly demonstrates the scale of the opportunity across the entire project area. The structures hosting these two deposits continue for kilometres along strike, and host a multitude of other historical alluvial workings, pits, shafts and open stopes which have never been drilled.
In the South-Central Zone, at the confluence of the western and eastern corridors, recent field mapping of several high priority targets has identified multiple large E-W trending quartz veins surrounded by extensive, previously unrecorded alluvial workings. This is another very exciting discovery in a structurally attractive area that has seen little to no exploration and adds to the pipeline of targets lining up for drill testing.
All of this is increasing our belief that Yundamindra has the makings of a very large mineralised system in an area surrounded by significant word-class mines. This work is driving a transformational step change in the project and Company.
Our exploration team is continuing to gather, analyse and interpret as much information as possible as we build a better understanding of the area, as the Company embarks on an extensional drilling program, starting at Pennyweight Point, anticipated to commence next week.”
Click here for the full ASX Release
This article includes content from Arika 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.
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.
