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Astral Resources
Investor Insight
Astral Resources presents a compelling investment case as an ASX-listed gold explorer with a 1.46 Moz resource base in Western Australia's premier Kalgoorlie region, anchored by its flagship Mandilla project which demonstrates robust economics with an AU$442 million NPV and 11-year mine life.
Overview
Astral Resources (ASX:AAR) is a gold mineral exploration company with three gold projects in tier 1 mining jurisdictions of Western Australia. The three assets are the Mandilla gold project, the Feysville gold project, and the Carnilya Hill gold project. The flagship and 100 percent owned Mandilla gold project has a mineral resource containing 1.27 million ounces (Moz) of contained gold. The other key project, 100 percent owned Feysville, hosts an updated Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) of 5.0 Mt at 1.2g/t gold for 196 koz of contained gold . Feysville could potentially become a satellite source of high-grade ore feed for the flagship Mandilla gold project.
The scoping study completed at Mandilla unveils robust project economics. The cornerstone of the scoping study is the Theia deposit, which alone accounts for 81 percent of the total Mandilla mineral resource estimate. The deposit hosts a mineral resource estimate of 29 Mt at 1.1 g/t gold for 1.02 Moz of contained gold in one large open pit. The scoping study indicates a mine life of 11 years with an annual production of 100,000 oz in the first seven and a half years, dropping to 41,000 oz for the remaining three and a half years. The study outlines compelling financial metrics, including NPV@8 percent of AU$442 million, free cash flow of AU$740 million, and a payback period of nine months.
Astral benefits from a team of professionals boasting extensive expertise in geology and mining.
The company is led by managing director Marc Ducler, who has more than two decades of experience in the mining industry. The management team has a proven track record of executing several successful exploration and development projects, as well as M&A.
Company Highlights
- Astral Resources is an ASX-listed gold exploration company in the Kalgoorlie region of Western Australia, a tier 1 jurisdiction and a mature mining region with a successful development history and granted mining leases.
- The company has three assets - the Mandilla gold project, the Feysville gold project, and the Carnilya Hill gold exploration project.
- The focus is on advancing its flagship Mandilla gold project, with a mineral resource estimate of 37 Mt at 1.1 g/t gold for 1.27 Moz.
- The scoping study at Mandilla highlights the project’s robust economics with a mine life of 11 years, NPV@8 percent of AU$442 million, and free cash flow of AU$740 million.
- Mandilla’s cornerstone Theia deposit comprises 81 percent of the project’s resources, contains 29 Mt at 1.1 g/t gold, with 1.02 Moz of contained gold in one large open pit.
- Updated JORC 2012 mineral resource estimate (MRE) at the Feysville gold project is 5.0Mt at 1.2g/t gold for 196koz of contained gold.
- Including the Mandilla MRE of 37Mt at 1.1g/t gold for 1.27Moz of contained gold, Astral’s total gold MRE is now calculated to be 42Mt at 1.1g/t gold for 1.46Moz of contained gold (Group MRE).
- The company is led by an experienced team with a proven track record of advancing projects to development and M&A.
Key Projects
Mandilla Gold Project
The Mandilla gold project is located within the northern region of the Widgiemooltha greenstone belt, approximately 70 kilometers to the south of the prominent mining hub of Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. Mandilla includes four deposits namely, Theia, Iris, Eos and Hestia. The cornerstone of the project is the Theia deposit, constituting 81 percent of Mandilla's resources, totaling 29 Mt at a grade of 1.1 g/t gold, amounting to 1.02 Moz of contained gold in a single open pit. Mandilla has a total mineral resource estimate of 37 Mt at 1.1 g/t gold for 1.27 Moz.
The scoping study indicates a mine life of 11 years with an annual production of 100,000 oz in the first seven and a half years, dropping to 41,000 oz for the remaining three and a half years. Astral estimates the pre-production capital spend at AU$191 million, and the project is anticipated to generate a free cash flow of AU$740 million (assuming a gold price of A$2,750/oz). The project’s NPV @8 percent is estimated at AU$442 million, and the IRR at 73 percent.
Drill collars at Theia deposit
Astral continues to advance exploration and resource expansion efforts at Mandilla. The company recently completed a four-hole 1,762-metre in-fill diamond drilling program at the Theia deposit late last year. Best results included: 28 metres at 2.63 g/t gold, 15.5 metres at 1.81 g/t gold, 9.6 metres at 27.6 g/t gold, 2.4 metres at 169.1 g/t gold, 24.9 metres at 4.14 g/t gold and 72.2 metres at 1.15 g/t gold.
Astral has commenced work on a pre-feasibility study at Mandilla, which is due in the June quarter 2025.
Feysville Gold Project
The Feysville project is situated in Australia's premier gold belt, merely 14 km south of the Golden Mile deposit, which boasts 70 million ounces, located in Kalgoorlie. The project's updated JORC 2012 MRE indicates 5.0 Mt at 1.2 g/t gold for 196 koz of contained gold. Including the Mandilla MRE of 37 Mt at 1.1 g/t gold for 1.27 Moz of contained gold, Astral’s total gold MRE is now calculated to be 42 Mt at 1.1 g/t gold for 1.46 Moz of contained gold (group MRE).
At Feysville, Astral is focusing on the high-grade Kamperman prospect. A recent 31-hole (3,834 m) reverse circulation (RC) drilling program at Kamperman returned encouraging assay results. The latest drilling program returned best assay results of 33 metres at 3.75 g/t gold, 22 metres at 5.21 g/t gold, and 22 metres at 4.44 g/t gold. This high success rate continues to indicate that Kamperman has the potential to be a substantial source of high-grade satellite ore for the Mandilla processing plant.
Carnilya Gold Project
The Carnilya Hill gold project is situated about 20 kilometers south-southeast of the company's Feysville project and approximately 40 kilometers southeast of Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. The project encompasses various tenements – M26/047-049, M26/453 – spanning approximately 2.65 sq. km. Astral holds rights for gold mining, while Mincor Resources NL (ASX:MCR) holds rights to nickel and other minerals.Management Team
Mark Connelly – Non-executive Chairman
Mark Connelly is a mining industry veteran who has held positions of CEO and managing director with several multinational companies across many jurisdictions, including Australia, North America, South America, Africa and Europe. He has a proven track record in deal making and was principally responsible for the merger of Papillon Resources and B2 Gold Corp in October 2014 (value US$570 million), as well as the key person responsible for the merger of Adamus Resources and Endeavour Mining for US$579 million. He is currently the non-executive chair of Calidus Resources, Omnia Metals Group, Alto Metals, Warriedar Resources and Nickel Search.
Marc Ducler – Managing Director
Marc Ducler has more than 20 years of experience in the mining industry. He has held senior operational management roles with GoldFields, BHP, Fortescue Metals, MRL and Roy Hill. He was also the managing director of Egan Street Resources (a gold exploration and development company) until it was acquired by Silver Lake Resources (ASX:SLR).
Peter Stern – Non-executive Director
Peter Stern has experience in corporate advisory, specializing in M&A and capital raising. He has spent six years with Macquarie Bank and three years with UBS and Deutsche Bank. He is a graduate of Monash University with a Bachelor of Science (geology major). Stern is a fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the chairman of Troy Resources.
David Varcoe – Non-executive Director
David Varcoe is a mining engineer with over three decades of experience. He has extensive operational and managerial experience across various commodities, including gold, iron ore, copper, diamonds, coal, uranium and rare earths. His expertise spans board positions, operations management, project management and consulting. Varcoe is a principal consultant with the leading Australian firm AMC Consulting.
Justin Osborne – Non-executive Director
Justin Osborne is a geologist with over 30 years of experience in exploration. He was previously the executive director at Gold Road Resources (ASX:GOR), where he played a crucial role in developing the world-class Gruyere gold deposit (6.6 Moz gold). Osborne also held senior positions on the exploration executive team at Gold Fields. He was instrumental in developing the Damang Superpit project in Ghana and achieved significant discovery success at the St Ives gold mine.
Brendon Morton – Chief Financial Officer & Company Secretary
Brendon Morton has over 20 years of experience, particularly in the global resources sector across Australia, Africa and Asia. He has held several executive financial and company secretarial roles with ASX-listed and unlisted companies in the resources industry.
Steve Lampron – Technical Services Manager
Steve Lampron is a mining engineer with more than 20 years industry experience. As well as having worked in production roles for companies such as Placer Dome, Barrick and North American Palladium he has also worked as a Consultant for over 10 years.
Julie Reid – Geology Manager
Julie Reid has 36 years of experience working across Australia, Vietnam and Indonesia, covering a variety of commodities in diverse geological terrains. She holds a Bachelor of Applied Science from Curtin University of Technology.
Gold exploration with highly prospective assets in Western Australia
Second LiDAR interpretation identifies additional compelling targets at GDM’s Devils Mountain Gold Project
Highlights:
- GDM purchased the Gympie 2023 LiDAR dataset from the QLD Government, totalling 80 km2, covering EPM 26135, which lies directly SE of the historical gold mining town of Kilkivan.
- A comprehensive LiDAR interpretation was undertaken by specialists GeoCloud Analytics. The interpretation indicated a total of 486 potential historical mine workings, including 40 adits, 16 shafts and 430 other prospecting pits. Many of the old workings were not previously known to GDM.
- The new LiDAR results, combined with previous exploration data has significantly enhanced GDM's dataset, used to identify and prioritise gold bearing targets for further follow-up exploration work.
Chief Executive Officer, Justin Haines, commented:
“This second LiDAR dataset for Devils Mountain has allowed GDM to get a more accurate picture of all of the historical gold mining at Kilkivan prospects area. Shafts and adits are good indicators of the presence of significant gold and base metal mineralisation, because of the effort invested in producing those old excavations. The LiDAR results confirm GDM’s strategy of targeting areas of abundant historical workings and applying modern exploration technologies to those targets”.
Devils Mountain Project
GDM’s Devils Mountain Project comprises 5 x EPMs (17685, 26062, 26135, 26709, 28438) located ~30 km northwest of Gympie (see Figure 1). The Project lies in the Palaeozoic Gympie and Wandilla Provinces of the New England Orogen in southeast Queensland.
Devils Mountain is highly prospective for gold and is host to an abundance of mineral occurrences. In addition to gold, the area contains occurrences of copper, silver, lead, zinc, tungsten and mercury, as well as a number of manganese deposits (see Figure 2). It’s geological setting has many similarities to the nearby Gympie goldfield.
Figure 1: Devils Mountain Gold Project Location Map
Figure 2: Devils Mountain Project Geology and known historical mining prospects
LiDAR Survey Data
LiDAR specialists GeoCloud Analytics purchased part of the Gympie 2023 LiDAR dataset from the QLD Government on behalf of GDM, over an 80 km2 area in the western part of the Devils Mountain Project, covering EPM 26135. The resolution of the raw data is 1 m. GeoCloud Analytics reprocessed the point cloud data to yield a 50cm resolution bare earth Digital Terrain Model (DTM).
The LiDAR survey was flown in 2023 with a minimum average density of 10.5 points per square metre with an average flying height of 1933m above ground level. Details of the survey are provided in the JORC Table 1, see Appendix 1.
A number of new LiDAR images were generated by GeoCloud Analytics in order to extract more information about the project. The enhanced 3D datasets and 2D images produced have facilitated detailed interpretations, allowing the identification of historical mine workings, prospecting pits, geological structures, access tracks and other surface features such as drill pads.
Click here for the full ASX Release
This article includes content from Great Divide Mining, 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.
Gidji Drilling Delivers More Gold Results
Miramar’s 80%-owned Gidji JV Project (“Gidji” or “the Project) is located approximately 15 kilometres north of Kalgoorlie and surrounded by multiple gold mining and processing operations, including Northern Star Resources Limited’s Kalgoorlie gold operations (Figure 1).
Miramar’s Executive Chairman, Mr Allan Kelly, said the first results from the current programme confirmed and extended the extensive supergene gold footprint discovered in previous drilling.
“The new results increase the footprint of the high-priority Blackfriars target, which shares several similarities to the multi-million-ounce Paddington gold deposit along strike to the north, including its location at the contact between the Boorara Shear Zone and the Black Flag Beds,” he added.
“This is the first systematic drilling at Gidji after a break of almost 3 years whilst, at the same time, the Australian dollar gold price has risen from $2,500/oz to well over $5,000/oz,” Mr Kelly said.
Current and previous drilling has outlined an extensive area of flat-lying supergene gold across multiple targets at Gidji, despite the stripped weathering profile under the Gidji Paleochannel.
The current drilling programme consists of approximately 180 aircore holes and aims to further refine bedrock drill targets under the younger transported paleochannel sediments.
Drilling commenced before Easter, was suspended due to heavy rainfall and recommenced on 6 May.
Figure 1. Gidji JV Project (yellow outline) and Boorara Shear Zone(white) in relation to Kalgoorlie.
Figure 2. New aircore drilling results (squares) in relation to previous drilling (circles).
Table 1. Significant drill results from the first 34 aircore holes at Gidji JV.Note: results reported above 0.25g/t Au lower cutoff
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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.
Asra to Secure 100% Ownership of Mt Cutmore at Leonora North Gold Project
Highlights
- Binding Term Sheet executed to acquire the remaining 49% of the Mt Cutmore prospects located at the Mt Stirling Leonora North Project subject to conditions, delivering 100% ownership upon completion.
- Consolidation of ownership aligns with Asra’s strategic focus to unlock further value within the Leonora Gold Project.
- Acquisition will strengthen Asra’s position in the renowned Leonora gold district, proximal to major operating mines and infrastructure.
The Project is situated in the Eastern Goldfields Super terrane of the Yilgarn Craton, where the area is known for orogenic gold deposits. The Project has a JORC (2012) Mineral Resource Estimate totalling 152,000 oz at 1.7g/t Au and is located within close proximity to significant gold mines, including Vault Minerals' 6Mtpa Au King of the Hills mine and Genesis Minerals' 2Moz Leonora and Kookynie operations.1
Asra Minerals Chief Executive Officer, Paul Stephen:
“Securing 100% of the Mt Cutmore prospects within the Project will be a pivotal step for Asra. This consolidation will enhance our strategic footprint in a highly prospective and active gold region.
Following the recently announced raise and with drilling permits in hand, we will be well placed to commence drilling the compelling, high-priority targets. This transaction will streamline our portfolio and provide a clear pathway to unlock value for our shareholders through focused exploration in one of WA’s premier gold districts.”
The Transaction consideration comprises of $200,000 cash and the issue of 75,000,000 fully paid ordinary shares in Asra at a deemed issue price of $0.002 per share (“Shares”) upon satisfaction of the conditions precedent of the Agreement (refer to the summary of the Agreement below for further details). The issue of the Shares is subject to shareholder approval under ASX Listing Rule 7.1, which Asra intends to seek at its upcoming annual general meeting, scheduled to be held in late May 2025.
Figure 1. Mt Stirling Leonora North
Mt Stirling Leonora North Project
The Mt Stirling Leonora North Project is strategically located approximately 40km northeast of Leonora within Western Australia’s Eastern Goldfields. This region is renowned for hosting numerous multi-million-ounce orogenic gold deposits and significant mining operations.
The Project is situated just 5km from Vault Minerals’ (ASX:VAU) major 6Moz King of the Hills mine and its recently expanded processing hub, which is the largest in the Leonora district. It is also proximal to Genesis Minerals’ (ASX:GMD) extensive 2Moz Leonora operations. The Project currently hosts a JORC (2012) Mineral Resource Estimate totalling 152,000 oz at 1.7g/t Au. This Mineral Resource Estimate provides a valuable foundation for the Project and future exploration efforts aimed at expansion.
Click here for the full ASX Release
This article includes content from Asra Minerals 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.
Astral Resources Investor Kit
- Corporate info
- Insights
- Growth strategies
- Upcoming projects