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June 06, 2022
Tempus Resources Ltd (“Tempus” or the “Company”) (ASX: TMR, TSX.V: TMRR, OTCQB: TMRFF) is pleased to announce the results from the Phase 2 sampling program at the Valle del Tigre Project (VdT) located in south-eastern Ecuador. The Phase 2 program was a larger scale follow-up to the initial reconnaissance work conducted during February 2021 where areas with anomalous gold and copper were discovered (see Tempus announcement dated 25 March 2021).
HIGHLIGHTS
- Soil geochemistry sampling results reconfirm the presence of copper and gold mineralization at Valle del Tigre – highlighting two zones of anomalous copper and gold values within the 5 km2 survey area
- Copper-bearing minerals, chalcopyrite and bornite observed within the survey area, as well the presence of sericite and potassic alteration
- Anomalous copper and gold results correlate with 3 km geophysical anomaly “footprint” of target mineralisation zone identified in previous ZTEM fly over survey
Results from the Phase 2 sampling program reconfirm the presence of gold and copper mineralization at Valle del Tigre and show a direct correlation with the geophysical anomalies generated by the airborne geophysical survey (ZTEM) work that Tempus conducted on the project in 2019.
Tempus President & CEO, Jason Bahnsen commented “The results of our Phase 2 exploration program at Valle del Tigre highlight the potential of the project for both copper and gold mineralisation. The MMI soil geochemistry results have identified two strongly anomalous areas within the overall 3km geophysical footprint that we will target for further exploration work. The Vdt project is centrally located in a major copper porphyry mineralisation trend that hosts several major copper deposits.”
The Phase 2 exploration program included a Mobile Metals Ion (MMI) geochemistry soil sampling survey over an area of approximately 5 square kilometres in addition to rock and stream sediment samples. In total 505 MMI soil samples were collected, together with 53 rock samples and 48 stream sediment samples.
In 2019, Tempus conducted a ZTEM, Magnetics and Radiometrics helicopter-borne geophysical survey over the VdT license area (see Tempus announcement dated 15 December 2019). The airborne geophysics defined two east-west trending magnetic highs which are transected by a strong northeast trending ZTEM anomaly that extends for over 3 km in length. At other regional copper porphyry projects including, Panantza, Mirador and Warintza, the copper mineralization occurs in east trending zones with a similar orientation to the two magnetic anomalies that occur at VdT.
The Phase 2, MMI soil, rock and stream sediment sample results have identified two anomalous areas that display good coincidence for copper, gold, molybdenum and bismuth (see Figure 2 and Figure 3). Chalcopyrite and bornite plus sericite and potassic alteration was observed within the sample area.
Photo: Outcrop of intrusive alteration, oxidized with argillic and phyllic (clay -sericite) and potassic alteration with some sulphide veining.
Tempus is currently completing further analysis and review of the geochemical and geophysical results with regard to next steps towards refining target locations for a future drill program.
Valle del Tigre is centrally located in a newly emerging copper porphyry belt that includes the El Hito and Santa Barbara deposits to the south (Lumina Gold) and Mirador, Panantza and Warintza deposits to the northeast (Figure 1).
There are strong geological similarities between VdT and Warintza and Mirador with the Hollin Formation unconformably overlying the Misahualli Formation which is underlain by the older Zamora Batholith (see Figure 2). Copper mineralization in the northern part of the copper district is associated with a younger intrusive phase of the Zamora Batholith which has been dated as upper Jurassic in age.
QA/QC
All samples were collected by Tempus Resources under the supervision of Mr. Sonny Bernales (CPG, QP) who maintained chain of custody until delivery of the samples to SGS Laboratories in Lima, Peru for preparation and analysis. SGS’s facility in Lima, Peru is accredited to the ISO 9001 standard for assays and all analytical methods include quality control materials at set frequencies with established data acceptance criteria.
The Phase 2 exploration program was conducted between 30 January 2022 to 23 February 2022. In total 505 MMI soil samples were collected, together with 53 rock samples and 48 stream sediment samples.
Click here for the full ASX Release
This article includes content from Blackstone 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.
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Rick Rule, proprietor at Rule Investment Media, shares his latest thoughts on the resource space, including the sectors where he sees the most hate — and the most opportunity.
Click here to download recordings from the Rule Symposium.
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11 July
Top 5 Canadian Mining Stocks This Week: Avanti Gold Gains 158 Percent on Misisi Settlement
Welcome to the Investing News Network's weekly look at the best-performing Canadian mining stocks on the TSX, TSXV and CSE, starting with a round-up of Canadian and US news impacting the resource sector.
Statistics Canada released its June Labour Force Survey on Friday (July 11). The data indicated that 83,000 new jobs were added to the workforce, led by 34,000 new employees in the wholesale and retail trade category and a 17,000 worker rise in the healthcare and social assistance category.
In other positive news for the Canadian job market, the overall employment rate rose by 0.1 percent to 60.9 percent, while the unemployment rate declined by 0.1 percent to 6.9 percent.
The strong labour report came as a surprise to analysts who had been expecting employment rates to be flat month-over-month and the unemployment rate to increase to 7.1 percent. The June data signifies the first notable improvement in the job market since January and breaks a three-month rising trend in the unemployment rate.
Late on Thursday (June 10), US President Donald Trump threatened Canada with a 35 percent tariff on all exports starting on August 1. In his letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney, Trump said that Canada had imposed unfair trade practices, citing a 400 percent tariff on dairy products.
However, Canada has a trade deficit with the US when it comes to dairy. Imports in 2024 reached a record C$877 million, while exports of Canadian dairy totaled just C$358 million. Canada imposes a tariff rate quota, which limits the amount of duty-free dairy products that can enter Canada. Tariffs are only applied once the quota is exceeded.
Trump also pointed to continued flows of fentanyl into the US, saying, “If Canada works with me to stop the flow of fentanyl, we will, perhaps, consider an adjustment to this letter.”
The president has used fentanyl as a reason for imposing tariffs against Canada since the start of his term, although the Canadian government is already taking action to secure the border further and the flow of the drug through the northern border remains a fraction of what it is at the southern border.
So far in the 2025 fiscal year, which started in October 2024, there have been 58 pounds of fentanyl seized at the Canada-US border. While the quantity of drugs seized coming from Canada has increased from 43 pounds the prior year, the number of events recorded has fallen to 38 from 67 in fiscal year 2024.
In December 2024, Canada announced C$1.3 billion in additional funding for increased security at the border, which included new and expanded detection capacity for illegal drugs. Between February and March, the Canada Border Services Agency conducted a one month drug-seizure operation focused on air, land and sea shipments named Operation Blizzard.
In May, the agency reported it seized 1.73 kilograms of fentanyl during the operation, 1.44 kilograms of which were en route to the United States. Additionally, 67.5 percent of the 2,600 seizures related to any drug "were of illegal narcotics coming to Canada from the United States," with only 17.5 percent going in the other direction.
Trump also announced on Tuesday (July 8) a 50 percent tariff on copper imports into the United States. The levies were imposed under section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, which is designed to give the president the power to levy tariffs on imports deemed to be critical to national security.
According to the United States Geological Survey, Canada is the second largest exporter of refined copper to the United States behind Chile and top exporter of copper ore to the country.
The effects of the tariffs may take some time to work into the market. Still, British Columbia and Ontario will feel the impact as the two largest copper-producing provinces.
The copper price skyrocketed on the news to a fresh all-time high of US$5.72 per pound on the COMEX.
Markets and commodities react
In Canada, equity markets were mixed this week. While the S&P/TSX Composite Index (INDEXTSI:OSPTX) fell 0.04 percent to close at 27,023.25 on Friday (July 11), the S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index (INDEXTSI:JX) fared better, gaining 4.01 percent to 784.42, and the CSE Composite Index (CSE:CSECOMP) climbed 6.53 percent to 129.79.
US equity markets ended the week largely flat overall, with the S&P 500 (INDEXSP:INX) gaining just 0.21 percent to close Thursday at 6,259.74, the Nasdaq 100 (INDEXNASDAQ:NDX) climbing 0.13 percent to 22,780.60 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEXDJX:.DJI) falling 0.44 percent to 44,371.52.
In precious metals, the gold price rose 0.56 percent over the week to US$3,356.14 by Friday at 4 p.m. EDT. The silver price reached US$38.53, its highest price since 2011, near the end of trading Friday, before pulling back slightly to end the week up 3.38 percent at US$38.41.
In base metals, copper pulled back slightly from its fresh all-time high mentioned above, but still ended the week with a 10.24 percent gain to US$5.58. The S&P GSCI (INDEXSP:SPGSCI) lost 0.98 percent to close at 551.38.
Top Canadian mining stocks this week
How did mining stocks perform against this backdrop?
Take a look at this week’s five best-performing Canadian mining stocks below.
Stock data for this article was retrieved at 4 p.m. EDT on Friday using TradingView's stock screener. Only companies trading on the TSX, TSXV and CSE with market capitalizations greater than C$10 million are included. Mineral companies within the non-energy minerals, energy minerals, process industry and producer manufacturing sectors were considered.
1. Avanti Gold (CSE:AGC)
Weekly gain: 158.33 percent
Market cap: C$10.92 million
Share price: C$0.155
Avanti Gold is an exploration and development company working to advance its flagship Misisi gold project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
The project consists of three mining licenses covering an area of 133 square kilometres in the Kibara gold belt and is a 73.5/21.5 joint venture between Avanti and Chinese mining company MMG (HKEX:1208), with the DRC government retaining a 5 percent interest.
An August 2023 technical report demonstrated an inferred mineral resource estimate of 3.11 million ounces of contained gold from 40.8 million metric tons of ore with an average grade of 2.37 g/t.
Shares in Avanti rose this week after the company announced on Thursday that it settled the payment dispute between itself, Arc Minerals (LSE:ARCM) and Regency Mining, which Avanti acquired in December 2022.
Prior to its acquisition by Avanti, in April 2022 then-private company Regency agreed to purchase Arc subsidiary Casa Mining, owner of the 73.5 percent interest in the Misisi project. Under the terms of the original deal, Regency agreed to pay Arc in part with US$1.25 million in shares of a public company, which was never fulfilled.
The new settlement agreement will enable Avanti to reduce the amount it owes if it pays within certain timeframes: US$562,500 if it pays Arc by August 31, or US$625,000 by October 31 or US$750,000 by December 31. If the payment is not completed this year, the amount owed will revert to the original US$1.25 million and be due on January 1, 2026.
2. Silver Mountain Resources (TSXV:AGMR)
Weekly gain: 139.68 percent
Market cap: C$27.87 million
Share price: C$1.51
Silver Mountain Resources is an exploration and development company working to restart production at the Reliquias underground mine in Central Peru.
The mine is part of the larger Castrovirreyna project, which consists of three blocks of mineral concessions. The main Reliquias block consists of 245 concessions covering an area of 24,093 hectares. The site also hosts a 2,000 metric ton per day processing plant, with an operating tailings dam.
A May 2024 preliminary economic assessment demonstrated project viability with an after-tax net present value of C$85 million, an internal rate of return of 51 percent and a payback period of 1.8 years.
The included mineral resource estimate showed measured and indicated grades of 4.25 ounces per metric ton silver, 0.41 grams per metric ton (g/t) gold, 2.02 percent lead, 3.09 percent zinc and 0.32 percent copper from 1.31 million metric tons of ore.
Shares in Silver Mountain gained significantly this week after it announced on Tuesday (July 8) that it was finalizing an agreement with global commodities supplier Trafigura for a US$10 million prepayment facility to advance work at Reliquias.
The company said it would provide further details once definitive documentation is completed.
3. Altima Energy (TSXV:ARH)
Weekly gain: 100 percent
Market cap: C$23.99 million
Share price: C$0.49
Altima Energy is a light oil and natural gas exploration and development company with operations in Alberta, Canada.
Its primary asset is the Richdale property in Central Alberta. The property consists of five producing light oil wells and sits on 5,920 acres of long-term reserves. The property hosts combined proved and probable reserves of just under 2 billion barrels of oil equivalent, with a pre-tax net present value of C$25.8 million.
The company also owns two wells at its Twinning light oil site near Nisku, seven producing wells at its Red Earth property in Northern Alberta and two multi-zone wells at its Chambers Ferrier liquid gas production property.
Shares in Altima gained this week after it released news on Tuesday that it had completed a private placement for proceeds of up to C$5.5 million. Under the terms of the deal, the company will issue 20 million units at C$0.275 per unit, which each include one common share and one warrant allowing the holder to purchase a common share for C$0.40.
The company said that part of the proceeds would be used to complete field upgrades at its Red Earth and Richdale properties.
4. McFarlane Lake Mining (CSE:MLM)
Weekly gain: 83.33 percent
Market cap: C$14.88 million
Share price: C$0.055
McFarlane Lake Mining is a gold exploration company working to advance a portfolio of properties in Southern Ontario, Canada, with options agreements in place to earn 100 percent interests in the projects.
Its primary focus has been on its McMillan property southwest of Sudbury. The site consists of 12 mining leases over 268 hectares and hosted historic mining in the 1930s.
McFarlane Lake explored the property throughout the first half of 2025. On July 3, the company shared assay results from the final drill hole of its drill program at the project. The drill hole intersected a broad interval of 1.3 g/t gold over 29.5 meters, which included intersections of 6.6 g/t gold over 4.55 meters and 20.1 g/t over 1.45 meters.
In the same announcement, the company reported that a downhole electromagnetic survey of the drill hole located an electromagnetic "superconductor" nearby.
Shares in McFarlane were up this week after it was announced on Monday (July 7) that it would be acquiring the Juby Gold project from Aris Mining (TSX:ARIS) for a total consideration of US$22 million, including US$10 million in cash.
The transaction includes Aris’ 100 percent stake in Juby and its 25 percent stake in the adjacent Knight property, in which Orecap Invest holds the other 75 percent interest.
In a follow-up release on Tuesday, the company said the property is one of Ontario’s largest undeveloped gold properties and highlighted a historical indicated mineral resource of 775,000 ounces of gold from 21.31 million metric tons of ore with an average grade of 1.13 g/t gold, plus an inferred resource of 1.49 million ounces of contained gold from ore grading 0.98 g/t.
5. World Copper (TSXV:WCU)
Weekly gain: 75 percent
Market cap: C$14.63 million
Share price: C$0.07
World Copper is an exploration and development company focused on its Zonia copper project in Central Arizona, US. It also owns the Escalones copper project in Chile.
The Zonia property, acquired following a merger with Cardero Resources in January 2022, has seen extensive exploration dating back 100 years and hosted open-pit mining operations until 1975.
In November 2024, the company released an amended resource estimate for the project, showing a total indicated resource of 668 million pounds of contained copper from 112.2 million short tons of ore with an average grade of 0.297 percent, and an inferred resource of 320 million pounds from 62.9 million short tons of ore with an average grade of 0.255 percent.
On February 19, World Copper reported it had entered into a binding agreement to sell Zonia to an arm’s length third party for cash considerations of C$26 million. However, on May 6, World Copper announced that it terminated the agreement.
The company has not released news since. Shares gained this week against a backdrop of US copper tariffs and a surging copper price.
FAQs for Canadian mining stocks
What is the difference between the TSX and TSXV?
The TSX, or Toronto Stock Exchange, is used by senior companies with larger market caps, and the TSXV, or TSX Venture Exchange, is used by smaller-cap companies. Companies listed on the TSXV can graduate to the senior exchange.
How many mining companies are listed on the TSX and TSXV?
As of February 2025, there were 1,572 companies listed on the TSXV, 905 of which were mining companies. Comparatively, the TSX was home to 1,859 companies, with 181 of those being mining companies.
Together the TSX and TSXV host around 40 percent of the world’s public mining companies.
How much does it cost to list on the TSXV?
There are a variety of different fees that companies must pay to list on the TSXV, and according to the exchange, they can vary based on the transaction’s nature and complexity. The listing fee alone will most likely cost between C$10,000 to C$70,000. Accounting and auditing fees could rack up between C$25,000 and C$100,000, while legal fees are expected to be over C$75,000 and an underwriters’ commission may hit up to 12 percent.
The exchange lists a handful of other fees and expenses companies can expect, including but not limited to security commission and transfer agency fees, investor relations costs and director and officer liability insurance.
These are all just for the initial listing, of course. There are ongoing expenses once companies are trading, such as sustaining fees and additional listing fees, plus the costs associated with filing regular reports.
How do you trade on the TSXV?
Investors can trade on the TSXV the way they would trade stocks on any exchange. This means they can use a stock broker or an individual investment account to buy and sell shares of TSXV-listed companies during the exchange's trading hours.
Article by Dean Belder; FAQs by Lauren Kelly.
Don't forget to follow us @INN_Resource for real-time updates!
Securities Disclosure: I, Dean Belder, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Securities Disclosure: I, Lauren Kelly, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
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11 July
Top 5 Australian Mining Stocks This Week: Yandal Shares Double on Arrakis Drilling Results
Welcome to the Investing News Network's weekly round-up of Australia’s top-performing mining stocks on the ASX, starting with news in Australia's resource sector.
This week's top-performing stocks list is dominated by oil and gas companies, alongside gold and lithium companies.
In Australian mining news, the Fair Work Commission ruled that BHP (ASX:BHP,NYSE:BHP,LSE:BHP) must raise the wages of 2,200 workers at three coal mines in Queensland. The workers in question were employed indirectly through a hiring firm and were being paid significantly less than their peers working directly under BHP.
The case was brought by two worker's unions and based on the Same Job, Same Pay reforms made by the government last year. To align wages, the FWC ruled BHP must raise the labour hire employees' wages by AU$30,000 each.
Market and commodity price round-up
The S&P/ASX 200 index opened at 8,603.00 on Monday (July 7) and closed at 8,590.70 on Thursday (July 10), reflecting a 0.14 percent decline over the period.
As for precious metals, gold saw a slight dip in US dollar terms, going down 0.25 percent from US$3,337.32 on July 7 to US$3,328.89 by July 10 at 5 p.m. AEST. In Australian dollars, gold decreased 0.32 percent, moving from AU$5,093.25 to AU$5,076.81 over the same time period.
Silver also pulled back slightly during that time. After starting the week at US$36.94 in US dollars it closed at US$36.64,a 0.81 percent dip. In Australian dollars, silver went down 0.87 percent, going from AU$56.37 to AU$55.88.
Top ASX mining stocks this week
How did ASX mining stocks perform against this backdrop?
Take a look at this week’s five best-performing Australian mining stocks below as we break down their operations and why these mining stocks are up this week.
Stock data for this article was retrieved at 4 p.m. AEST on July 10 using TradingView's stock screener. Only companies trading on the ASX with market capitalizations greater than AU$10 million are included. Mineral companies within the non-energy minerals, energy minerals, process industry and producer manufacturing sectors were considered.
1. Yandal Resources (ASX:YRL)
Weekly gain: 100 percent
Market cap: AU$28.14 million
Share price: AU$0.17
Yandal Resources is a gold exploration company focused on Western Australia. The company’s flagship Ironstone Well–Barwidgee project is located within the Yandal Belt and is currently under development.
On May 21, Yandal reported diamond drill results from the project’s Siona prospect, including 16.3 meters at 0.5 grams per tonne (g/t) gold and 29.1 meters at 0.4 g/t gold. According to the company, the results demonstrate "broad, low-grade mineralisation with internal higher-grade zones."
The company is also advancing its Arrakis prospect at its Caladan target area, with reverse-circulation drilling results released April 30.
Yandal released the first results of its air-core program at the Arrakis project on Thursday (July 10), which highlighted results of 11 meters at 2.1 g/t gold and 12 meters at 1.1 g/t gold. The company stated that it has now intercepted mineralisation at the prospect over more than 800 metres in strike.
Shares of the company rose on the day of the announcement, opening at AU$0.095 and closing at AU$0.17. On July 11, shares peaked at AU$0.18.
2. Lakes Blue Energy (ASX:LKO)
Weekly gain: 71.79 percent
Market cap: AU$60.09 million
Share price: AU$1.34
Lakes Blue Energy is an oil and gas explorer with assets across Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and Papua New Guinea. The company is currently focused on the Wombat Gas Field in Victoria’s Gippsland Basin.
According to the company's description of Wombat, the project holds a gas production potential of around 20 petajoules per year, which could support a region facing natural gas shortages.
On June 18, Lakes secured AU$6.5 million in funding to support the drilling of the Wombat-5 well.
The company recommenced trading on July 4 ahead of the drilling restart at Wombat. It had been suspended from quotation in October 2023.
Most recently, on Wednesday (July 9), Lakes secured final regulatory approvals for its drilling of the Wombat-5 well. The company plans to begin drilling the well on July 31.
3. Pantera Lithium (ASX:PFE)
Weekly gain: 66.67 percent
Market cap: AU$11.37 million
Share price: AU$0.02
Pantera Lithium is a lithium brine exploration and development company based in Perth, Western Australia. Its flagship asset is its Smackover lithium brine project in the Smackover formation of Arkansas, US.
The company made headlines on July 9 when it announced a binding agreement with Energy Exploration Technologies (EnergyX) to sell Pantera’s wholly owned subsidiary Daytona Lithium, which holds the Smackover project, for AU$40 million. The total amount will be paid via AU$6 million in cash and AU$34 million in EnergyX stock.
This means Pantera will gain exposure to EnergyX’s broader lithium portfolio, including the Black Giant project in Chile and Project Lonestar in Texas, and it will still have exposure to the Smackover project as well.
Subject to shareholder approval, the transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2025. Pantera said that it plans to pursue new opportunities in the battery and critical minerals space supported by the capital injection and strategic alignment with EnergyX.
Shares of Pantera surged 116.66 percent on the day of the announcement, closing at AU$0.026.
4. TMK Energy (ASX:TMK)
Weekly gain: 50 percent
Market cap: AU$25.56 million
Share price: AU$0.003
TMK Energy is a gas exploration company focused on accelerating the development of its Gurvantes XXXV coal seam gas project in Mongolia’s South Gobi desert. The project is 8,400 square kilometres in size and six active coal mines are within its boundaries.
On Tuesday (July 8), the company signed a new drilling contract with Major Drilling Group International (TSX:MDI), the company who drilled its six existing pilot wells in the Nariin Sukhait area.
The contract covers the drilling of Lucky Fox 07 (LF-07), the final pilot production well in the current Lucky Fox complex. The company expects LF-07 to enhance gas production and provide data on reservoir pressure behavior.
Drilling is scheduled to commence in the second half of July, following Mongolia’s Naadam festival.
TMK’s 2025 work program also includes up to five exploration wells in an area 60 kilometres east of the Nariin Sukhait area. These efforts aim to expand the company’s 2C contingent resources.
5. NuEnergy Gas (ASX:NGY)
Weekly gain: 40 percent
Market cap: AU$49.86 million
Share price: AU$0.028
NuEnergy Gas is an independent clean energy company advancing its three coal bed methane production sharing contracts (PSC) in South Sumatra, Indonesia. According to the company, it aims to integrate the three into a hub.
The company is currently executing its early gas sales initiative, which aims for an initial production of 1 million standard cubic feet per day from a series of four coal bed methane wells at its Tanjung Enim PSC. It reported the start of drilling for the first well on June 19 and its completion July 4.
In late June, the company announced it extended its Heads of Agreement with Indonesia’s national natural gas distributor for gas sales through June 26, 2026.
Its most recent news came on Tuesday, when NuEnergy announced that it had begun the drilling for its second of four wells for the early sales initiative at Tanjung Enim.
Don’t forget to follow us @INN_Australia for real-time news updates!
Securities Disclosure: I, Gabrielle de la Cruz, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
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10 July
Pilbara 2.0: Inside Australia’s Newest Gold Frontier
The Central Pilbara region of Western Australia is undergoing a quiet revolution that is rapidly reshaping the global gold exploration landscape.
Once dismissed as a technically challenging and geologically inconsistent terrain, Pilbara is now emerging as one of the world’s most exciting new gold frontiers and drawing serious attention from institutional investors, driven by transformative discoveries, a maturing geological model and a wave of junior explorers tapping into underexplored intrusive-hosted systems.
Anchored by the multimillion-ounce Hemi discovery — one of the most significant gold finds in Australia in over a decade — this region is not just proving its geological potential, but also demonstrating the kind of scale, consistency and margin profile that modern gold investors seek. As the discovery window remains wide open and valuations are still accessible, the Central Pilbara presents a rare opportunity for early exposure to what may become one of Australia’s next tier-one gold districts.
Pilbara 2.0: A new gold narrative
Historically, Pilbara’s “nuggety” terrain with patchy gold occurrences made consistent exploration success difficult. That perception changed dramatically with the discovery of the Hemi deposit by De Grey Mining in 2020.
Hemi is a 10.5 million ounce gold resource that marked the region’s first major intrusive-hosted gold system. Now owned by Northern Star Resources (ASX:NST), Hemi validated the thesis that the Pilbara hosts world-class, tier-one deposits with scalable, consistent mineralisation.
This discovery catalysed a new wave of investment and exploration focused on intrusive-style systems rather than alluvial or conglomerate gold. The success of Hemi has inspired exploration efforts across the Mallina Gold Corridor — a structural trend now being recognised as one of Australia’s most prospective gold belts.
Hemi’s success is not an isolated case. Other companies have contributed to the growing confidence in the Pilbara gold province: Kairos Minerals (ASX:KAI) controls the 1.4 million ounce Mount York gold project, one of the largest undeveloped free-milling gold resources in the region; Novo Resources (TSXV:NVO,OTCQB:NSRPF) helped ignite international interest in Pilbara through its early focus on conglomerate gold; and Greatland Resources (ASX:GGP,LSE:GGP), though better known for its Havieron discovery in a broader Western Australian context, helped shift sentiment toward underexplored Western Australian provinces.
These developments have collectively set the stage for the next phase of discovery-led value creation.
Investment case: New Age Exploration
New Age Exploration’s (ASX:NAE) Wagyu gold project sits in a sweet spot, strategically located between Northern Star’s Hemi and Withnell deposits along the Mallina Gold Corridor. This positioning is not coincidental; the project lies on the same structural corridor as Hemi, raising the potential for geological continuity.
Recent reverse-circulation drilling results at Wagyu provide compelling early evidence: 8 metres at 5 grams per tonne (g/t) gold, including 1 metre at 28.6 g/t gold from shallow depths; 4 metres at 2.5 g/t gold from 76 metres; and broad mineralised envelopes confirmed across multiple targets, including a 1 kilometre gold zone between Target 1 and Target 10.
These high-grade hits, combined with the project's proximity to a world-class discovery, draw clear geological parallels to Hemi’s early stage exploration history.
Still in its early stages, Wagyu offers exposure to large-scale upside with relatively low capital intensity. The company has successfully applied geophysical surveys to identify high-priority targets. A March/April 2025 reverse-circulation program confirmed gold mineralisation at four of five targets, intersecting both oxide and fresh-rock systems.
Moreover, the use of arsenic as a pathfinder element, mirroring the strategy that aided Hemi’s discovery, has opened new corridors for exploration. New Age Exploration's application of this vectoring technique underscores its methodical, data-driven approach.
With mineralisation open along strike and at depth, New Age Exploration is advancing toward its next drill campaign, signaling a transition from early stage prospecting to systematic resource definition — an inflection point that can unlock significant valuation re-rates.
Investor takeaway
With the Central Pilbara now validated as a fertile gold district, the stage is set for a new wave of discoveries.
De Grey and Kairos have already delivered transformational results. New Age Exploration, with its strategic land position, geological continuity with Hemi and early high-grade results, stands out as a potential next-mover in this unfolding gold boom.
Investors seeking exposure to high-upside discovery plays in a proven region would do well to watch promising exploration developments at Pilbara.
This INNSpired article is sponsored by New Age Exploration (ASX:NAE). This INNSpired article provides information which was sourced by the Investing News Network (INN) and approved by New Age Exploration in order to help investors learn more about the company. New Age Exploration is a client of INN. The company’s campaign fees pay for INN to create and update this INNSpired article.
This INNSpired article was written according to INN editorial standards to educate investors.
INN does not provide investment advice and the information on this profile should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any security. INN does not endorse or recommend the business, products, services or securities of any company profiled.
The information contained here is for information purposes only and is not to be construed as an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of securities. Readers should conduct their own research for all information publicly available concerning the company. Prior to making any investment decision, it is recommended that readers consult directly with New Age Exploration and seek advice from a qualified investment advisor.
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