Far Northern Resources (ASX:FNR) FNR is very encouraged by the success of the recent drilling program in Far Northern Queensland. The IP targets will be reassessed for further directional drilling on the Mining Lease.
HIGHLIGHTS
All targets were intersected in line with the IP anomalies identified in June - See ASX announcement of 12 June 2024 (see Fig 2)
Figure 1 Empire Mining Lease- IP intersections of targets 1,2,3,5.
Figure 2 Empire Mining Lease - Location of Empire Stock Work, Pinnacle & United Empire, with recent Drilling
The Board of Far Northern Resources Limited, said:
The fact that sulphides are present in all four anomalies and were encountered in the very first drilling program, is very encouraging. We will now reassess all IP targets for further directional drilling in the near future.
FNR would like to thank Fender Geophysics, Mitre Geophysics and Bullion Drilling, for their work.
All samples have now been submitted to Intertek Minerals in Townsville for testing. FNR looks forward to receiving the assay results and getting back on the ground at the Empire Mining Lease to follow up on recent exploration program.
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This article includes content from Far Northern 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.
Far Northern Resources (ASX:FNR) is a newly listed Australian explorer focused on gold and base metals. The company debuted on the ASX on April 12, 2024, after finalizing its IPO, during which it secured AU$6 million in funding. The company has three exploration projects – two based in Northern Queensland (Empire and Rocks Reef) and one in the Northern Territories (Bridge Creek).
In the 2022-23 fiscal year, mining played a pivotal role in Australia's economy by generating a record $455 billion in export revenue, accounting for nearly 66 percent of the total exports. This underscores the industry's significant contribution to the nation's economic stability, government revenues, and the creation of employment opportunities in regional areas.
According to the Fraser Institute Annual Survey of Mining Companies 2022, Australia is one of the most attractive regions for mining. Fraser Institute ranks the Northern Territories and Queensland as the 6th and 13th most attractive destinations for mining investment.
During 2023, Queensland's mines yielded 12.6 tons of gold, positioning it as the fourth most prolific state in Australia for this precious metal. Its output falls slightly below that of the Northern Territory (13.9 tons).
The presence in relatively attractive mining jurisdictions positions the company to capitalize on opportunities in Australia's resource sector and deliver sustainable returns to its shareholders. The IPO funds of AU$6 million have provided sufficient funding to the company to advance its exploration projects. Overall, Far Northern is planning a 20,000-meter drilling program over the next two years, which will consist: of 5,000+ meters for Empire; 2,500 to 5,000 meters for Bridge Creek; and 2,500 meters planned at Rocks Reef in the China Wall prospect.
The Empire Project, situated 34 km west of Chillagoe in North Queensland, covers an expanse of 252 hectares, on granted mining lease 20380. The tenement boasts a rich exploration history, marked by substantial drilling conducted across various phases. This culminated in the determination of a 2019 mineral resource estimate of 22,505 oz of gold on the Empire Stockworks gold deposit.
Over 7,460 meters of RC drilling and 750 meters of diamond core drilling have been carried out by Far Northern Resources, resulting in multiple intersections of copper, gold and silver. Rock chip assays yielded noteworthy grades, with results showing up to 12.64 percent copper (FNRRCS24001) and 4.12 grams per ton (g/t) gold (FNRRCS24002). Further surface sampling unveiled copper grades ranging from 2.61 percent to 11.89 percent and gold grades from 0.70 g/t to 2.16 g/t.
The rock chip assays extended the strike of known mineralization at the Empire Stockworks prospect by a further 750 meters and management believes it could be part of a bigger porphyry-style target.
Several targets have already been identified on the Empire tenement:
Empire Stockworks Prospect: Located close to the northern Breccia zone, this is the most advanced Far Northern target, in respect of exploration progress.
United Empire: Situated south of the Empire Stockworks prospect and adjacent to the Pinnacles breccia zone, this anomaly exhibits copper/gold characteristics, as revealed by previous exploration efforts conducted by entities other than Far Northern.
Copper Pit: It is also located south of the Empire Stockworks prospect and close to Pinnacles breccia. The analysis of the minor mullock heaps in the vicinity suggests the area holds promise for copper and gold prospects.
Pinnacles Prospect: It is situated in the Pinnacles breccia zone to the south of the Empire Stockworks Prospect. Far Northern has done very minimal exploration work so far on this prospect.
Going forward, Far Northern is planning a 5,000-meter drilling program at Empire over the next two years, which should lead to further expansion of the resource base. The program will focus on the Empire Stockworks prospect, where the aim is to upgrade inferred resources to indicated, and to extend the mineralization along strike and at depth.
The project is located 150 km south of Darwin in the Northern Territories. It comprises three mining leases, 766, 1060, 30807, situated within the Pine Creek Geosyncline. The project is in the historical mining area of Cosmos Howley – Pine Creek which has produced over 2 million oz of gold. A mineral resource estimate was completed in 2022 containing 70,560 oz of inferred gold resources.
At Bridge Creek, Far Northern is planning a 2,500- to 5,000-meter drilling program, aiming to enhance inferred resources to indicated status, as well as extend the mineralization both along the strike and at depth.
The Rocks Reef Project is located 52 km west of Chillagoe and comprises exploration permit 26473, which covers the Georgetown Tectonic Province. It is situated along a northeast structural trend spanning over 20 kilometers, within a large quartz-veined and altered porphyry formation. Geochemical sampling has revealed anomalous gold and silver veins within a 3-km by 1-km area.
The Rock Reefs property presents a prospective upside for Far Northern with historical exploration confirming the presence of a mineralized vein system at the China Wall prospect. FNR has already identified targets for the tenement:
China Wall: Situated north of the tenement, this represents the most advanced target in terms of exploration progress within Rocks Reef. The previous operator had drilled a total of 155 air track holes along major and minor epithermal veins and structures, reporting precious metal mineralization. Subsequently, Far Northern conducted rock chip and soil analyses as part of follow-up investigations. Management is now planning a 2,500-meter drill program at the China Wall prospect.
Savannah Way and Single Peak: It is located about 1.3 km north of the China Wall. Far Northern has undertaken a rock chip and soil sampling program.
Roadside Copper: The target is located about 4.5 km from the China Wall Prospect. It saw little exploration work when it was held by the previous owner. Far Northern has conducted preliminary exploration including the analysis of rock chips and soils, which revealed the presence of gold, copper and associated minerals in the area.
North Drift Breccia and South Drift: Here again, the rock chip and soil samples have returned positive results indicating potential for mineralization.
Cameron Woodrow has over two decades of experience in the financial and mining industries, both domestically and internationally. He oversees the day-to-day operations of the company in collaboration with FNR's geologist. Woodrow's professional background commenced in the investment banking sector in Europe and Australia, where he held positions as a corporate advisor and sales trader at Paterson Securities and the Stonebridge Group. Earlier in his career, he served in various roles at Merrill Lynch and Credit Suisse in London.
Mattew Bashford has nearly 28 years of experience serving as CFO and company secretary at various public and private firms. Bashford has played a crucial role in the success of Far Northern Resources since its inception, contributing to its structuring, all capital raises to date, and accounting/tax compliance. He has been serving as a director of Far Northern since May 17, 2019. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Queensland and is also a chartered accountant.
Catriona Glover is a qualified lawyer with over two decades of experience in corporate and commercial law, specializing in corporate governance and providing company secretarial advice to both listed and unlisted entities. She has offered legal counsel, corporate governance expertise, and company secretarial services to numerous companies across diverse industries such as biopharma, financial services, mining, stockbroking, education, manufacturing, software and not-for-profit organizations. Glover has been the company secretary for several listed and unlisted companies, including Far East Gold, Maronan Metals, VGI Health Technology (NSX:VGI), Aeramentum Resources, and Invictus Biopharma.
With more than two decades of experience, Michael Stephenson has served as an exploration project manager for prominent companies such as Hancock Prospecting, Murchison Metals and Great Central Mines. He has extensive expertise in exploration project management, accumulated over 20 years of professional practice. Stephenson has played a pivotal role at Far Northern, overseeing all exploration activities, including structural mapping, rock chipping and soil sampling. Notably, he played a crucial role in enhancing the JORC Resource at Empire by executing the drilling program in 2020.
Roderick Paul Corps commenced his career as a stockbroker at Porter Western (now Macquarie Group), followed by tenures at Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan in the United Kingdom. He has served as a director for Eternal Resources (ASX:BRN) and Voyager Global Group, which is now Cyelip Group (ASX:CYQ). From 2013 to 2021, he was the corporate and investor relations manager at Westgold Resources (ASX:WGX). Currently, Corps is a non-executive director at Marketech and serves as the managing director of NICO Resources (ASX:NC1).
Key Points
Yalgoo Project
Remorse Target Drilling
TEM have previously announced its plans to conduct a circa 5,000m Reverse Circulation (RC) drilling program at the exciting Copper focussed Remorse Target 1 which is part of the Company’s flagship Yalgoo Project. Works have been significantly delayed due to unforeseen weather and flooding onsite 2 which have prevented safe access. Earthworks have now commenced including site access tracks and drill pad construction. Upon completion of this work, drilling is anticipated to start late August 2024.
Figure 01: Earthworks commencing at the Remorse Target
Next Steps
The Board of the Company has authorised the release of this announcement to the market.
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This article includes content from Tempest 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.
Results continue to highlight the prospectivity of the Historic Rushworth Goldfield. The ongoing success of the drilling validates our mineral systems model and supports the company’s ongoing exploration strategy across a field showing very shallow historic development and very limited previous deeper drill testing.
Highlights include:
Chairman, James Chirnside commented:
“Dart’s drilling activities at Rushworth continue to be successful. By leveraging our advanced mineral systems model and in-depth structural analysis, we have effectively pinpointed highly prospective targets. Each drill hole has consistently returned positive gold grades, reinforcing the potential of these identified structures. We remain committed to further advancing our exploration efforts and are eager to further develop the project’s apparent opportunities”
Drilling Results Discussion
The first results from the Phase 2 program returned up to 0.24m @ 8.8g/t Au, from 56.2m downhole from hole SWDD004 (Shellback Reef) from within a broad zone of sulphide mineralisation returning 7.1m @ 0.75g/t Au from 50.8m - (DTM ASX 23rd July 2024) in the Star of the West area. Results from Phase 2 continue to show high grade results within the targeted Shellback Reef structures with hole SWDD005 showing up to 0.4m @ 8.4g/t Au from 19.9m downhole.
SWDD005 intersected a steep south dipping thrust fault structure surrounded by apparent sulphide mineralisation forming a halo of gold results (1.2m @ 4.5g/t Au from 19.9m). Mineralisation was observed in the drill core as weathered sulphide pitting with surrounding iron staining, surrounding a quartz reef structure in sandstone lithologies. In line with the results from hole SWDD004, SWDD005 also intersected at least two zones of gold mineralisation with the weak lower zone showing up to 0.5m @ 1.1g/t from 94.9m downhole (Figure 3). Lidar interpretation to the west of holes SWDD004 & SWDD005 illustrates a broad area of extensive surface pitting (Figure 2). SWDD006 results remain outstanding, however given the pleasing results from initial drilling into the Shellback Reef to date, further drill testing appears to be clearly warranted in the coming months
The presence of gold rich sulphide mineralisation surrounding thrust faulting is a consistent observation and supports the company’s interpretation that the mineralising fluid and deposition environment of the Rushworth region is similar, if not the same, as nearby Central Victorian gold regions of Fosterville and Costerfield.
Rushworth Phase 3 drilling
Drilling has commenced at the Phoenix Reef prospect with 385m of a planned 1100m drill program completed to the 7th of August 2024. The Phoenix group of historic workings is one of the more extensive for the field but still only shows historic workings to some 50m below surface. Drilling is targeting interpreted deeper repeating thrust faulting below the historic stacked Phoenix, Fletchers and Appleton’s Reefs exploited for over 1000m of strike from surface.
Figure 1: Phoenix Hill cross-section compiled from geological mapping completed by Jones & Turnbull (2014) and Boucher (2016). Figure modified from Dart Mining ASX November 2020. Planned drilling location shown in Red.
Rushworth Structural Architecture
The Rushworth goldfield is focused along a series of regional East-West orientated anticline folds which host shallow historic gold workings along a cumulative strike length of approximately 14km (Figure 2). The major limbs of the anticline also exhibit smaller scale parasitic folding and various changes in bedding strike and dip. Significant North-South orientated structures crosscut and offset East-West bedding and fold hinges along the length of the field.
The East-West orientation of the field is unusual for Victorian Goldfields, which usually trend North-South, due to the added structural complexity of the Rushworth Region being highly influenced by the Lachlan Orocline formation and induced North-South crustal shortening through subduction rollback.
Mineralisation historically exploited at Rushworth concentrated on alluvial mining before focus shifted to the hard rock source. Mineralisation is dominated by free gold located in quartz veins hosted within sandstone and shale lithologies.
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This article includes content from Dart Mining NL, 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.
All amounts expressed in US dollars
Barrick Gold Corporation (NYSE:GOLD)(TSX:ABX) today announced the declaration of a dividend of $0.10 per share for the second quarter of 2024. The dividend is consistent with the Company's Performance Dividend Policy announced at the start of 2022.
The Q2 2024 dividend will be paid on September 16, 2024 to shareholders of record at the close of business on August 30, 2024.
In addition to the dividend, Barrick repurchased 2.95 million shares during the second quarter under the $1 billion share buyback program that was announced in February 2024.
"The continued strength of our balance sheet and our world class gold and copper asset base allow us to distribute a robust quarterly dividend while maintaining ample liquidity to invest in growing our business. Additionally, we took the opportunity to buy back stock at a compelling valuation," said senior executive vice-president and chief financial officer Graham Shuttleworth.
Enquiries:
President and CEO
Mark Bristow
+1 647 205 7694
+44 788 071 1386
Senior EVP and CFO
Graham Shuttleworth
+1 647 262 2095
+44 779 771 1338
Investor and Media Relations
Kathy du Plessis
+44 20 7557 7738
Email: barrick@dpapr.com
Website: www.barrick.com
Cautionary Statement on Forward-Looking Information
Certain information contained or incorporated by reference in this press release, including any information as to our strategy, projects, plans, or future financial or operating performance, constitutes "forward-looking statements". All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements. The words "will", "perform", "maintain", "growth", "potential", "would", "could" and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. In particular, this press release contains forward-looking statements including, without limitation, with respect to Barrick's operating and financial performance, liquidity available to invest in growth projects, and the potential for Barrick to deliver enhanced dividends to shareholders under its Performance Dividend Policy.
Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions including material estimates and assumptions related to the factors set forth below that, while considered reasonable by the Company as at the date of this press release in light of management's experience and perception of current conditions and expected developments, are inherently subject to significant business, economic, and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. Known and unknown factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements, and undue reliance should not be placed on such statements and information. Such factors include, but are not limited to: fluctuations in the spot and forward price of gold, copper, or certain other commodities (such as silver, diesel fuel, natural gas, and electricity); the speculative nature of mineral exploration and development; assumptions relating to the trading price of the Company's common shares; changes in mineral production performance, exploitation, and exploration successes; disruption of supply routes which may cause delays in construction and mining activities at Barrick's more remote properties, including disruptions in the supply of key mining inputs due to the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and conflicts in the Middle East; whether benefits expected from recent transactions are realized; diminishing quantities or grades of reserves; increased costs, delays, suspensions and technical challenges associated with the construction of capital projects; operating or technical difficulties in connection with mining or development activities, including geotechnical challenges, tailings dam and storage facilities failures, and disruptions in the maintenance or provision of required infrastructure and information technology systems, including risks related to cybersecurity incidents; failure to comply with environmental and health and safety laws and regulations; timing of receipt of, or failure to comply with, necessary permits and approvals; uncertainty whether some or all of targeted investments and projects will meet the Company's capital allocation objectives and internal hurdle rate; the impact of global liquidity and credit availability on the timing of cash flows and the values of assets and liabilities based on projected future cash flows; the impact of inflation, including global inflationary pressures driven by ongoing global supply chain disruptions, global energy cost increases following the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and country-specific political and economic factors in Argentina; fluctuations in the currency markets; changes in national and local government legislation, taxation, controls or regulations and/or changes in the administration of laws, policies and practices, expropriation or nationalization of property and political or economic developments in the jurisdictions in which the Company or its affiliates do or may carry on business in the future, including the potential impact of proposed changes to Chilean law on the status of value-added tax refunds received in Chile in connection with the development of the Pascua-Lama project; risks relating to political instability in certain of the jurisdictions in which Barrick operates; non-renewal of or failure to obtain key licenses by governmental authorities; risks related to operations near communities that may regard Barrick's operations as being detrimental to them; lack of certainty with respect to foreign legal systems, corruption and other factors that are inconsistent with the rule of law; damage to the Company's reputation due to the actual or perceived occurrence of any number of events, including negative publicity with respect to the Company's handling of environmental matters or dealings with community groups, whether true or not; the possibility that future exploration results will not be consistent with the Company's expectations; risks that exploration data may be incomplete and considerable additional work may be required to complete further evaluation, including but not limited to drilling, engineering and socioeconomic studies and investment; risk of loss due to acts of war, terrorism, sabotage and civil disturbances; risks associated with illegal and artisanal mining; risks associated with new diseases, epidemics and pandemics; litigation and legal and administrative proceedings; contests over title to properties, particularly title to undeveloped properties, or over access to water, power and other required infrastructure; business opportunities that may be presented to, or pursued by, the Company; our ability to successfully integrate acquisitions or complete divestitures; risks associated with working with partners in jointly controlled assets; employee relations including loss of key employees; risks related to competition in the mining industry; increased costs and physical and transition risks related to climate change, including extreme weather events, resource shortages, emerging policies and increased regulations relating to greenhouse gas emission levels, energy efficiency and reporting of risks; Barrick's ability to achieve its sustainability goals, including its climate-related goals and GHG emissions reduction targets; risks related to the failure of internal controls; risks related to the impairment of the Company's goodwill and assets; and availability and increased costs associated with mining inputs and labor. In addition, there are risks and hazards associated with the business of mineral exploration, development, and mining, including environmental hazards, industrial accidents, unusual or unexpected formations, pressures, cave-ins, flooding and gold bullion, copper cathode or gold or copper concentrate losses (and the risk of inadequate insurance, or inability to obtain insurance, to cover these risks).
Many of these uncertainties and contingencies can affect our actual results and could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements made by, or on behalf of, us. Readers are cautioned that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. All of the forward-looking statements made in this press release are qualified by these cautionary statements. Specific reference is made to the most recent Form 40-F/Annual Information Form on file with the SEC and Canadian provincial securities regulatory authorities for a more detailed discussion of some of the factors underlying forward-looking statements and the risks that may affect Barrick's ability to achieve the expectations set forth in the forward-looking statements contained in this press release.
Barrick disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law.
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