Siren Gold (ASX:SNG) is an exploration and development company focusing on gold assets at its 1,100-square-kilometer tenement package located on the historic, high-grade Reefton, Lyell and Sams Creek goldfields in New Zealand.
Reefton Goldfield was first discovered in 1866 with total current recorded production of 11 million ounces (Moz) of gold, consisting of 2 Moz @ 16 grams per ton (g/t) gold from underground, 0.7 Moz from open pit and ~8 Moz gold from alluvial mining.
Mining and the local communities thrived in the region during the early 1900s, but most of the 94 underground mines closed by 1942 during WWII, and the Blackwater mine, which produced 740 koz @ 19 g/t down to more than 700 meters below the surface, finally shut down in 1951 bringing the entire field to a close. The gold price in 1951 was US$35 per ounce.
Fast forward to 2023, mining analysts believe current gold prices are only the beginning of a large upward trend, with gold prices reaching the $2,000 mark in the last quarter of 2023. What we know is clear: Gold has outperformed the S&P 500 over the past 20 years, as production from gold mines runs low without enough new projects to replace them.
Siren’s gold projects present an opportunity for new supply sources to emerge. The Reefton Goldfield is a high-grade mining district located on the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand.
Siren’s global mineral resource currently sits at 1.33 million ounces at 3.3 grams per ton (g/t) AuEq (gold equivalent), from Sams Creek, Alexander River, Big River, Supreme and Auld Creek.
The district is widely known for producing gold, antimony and coal. A crucial aspect of the Reefton Goldfield is the significant occurrence of antimony, a rare thermal-resistant metal and a poor conductor of electricity. These attributes make it ideal for flame retardants, paints and various industrial applications to improve thermal tolerance. Additionally, antimony is a critical element in lithium-ion batteries and next-generation liquid metal batteries utilized for energy storage systems. The presence of antimony in the goldfield creates additional value for Siren’s projects as exploration continues.
Siren currently has seven projects, many of which were active sites that were closed during WWII despite encouraging exploration or production. Now, the company has built an expansive portfolio of projects and will undergo systematic exploration of its assets using leading-edge technologies and techniques.
With seven projects under its belt, Siren is primarily focused on Sams Creek, Alexander River, Big River and Auld Creek. These four projects are slated for future exploration and potential development to improve the assets’ value.
A skilled management team leads the company towards fully exploring its promising portfolio, with diverse expertise in geology, corporate administration and finance.
The Sams Creek Gold Project is located 140 kilometers northeast of Reefton and 100 kilometers northeast of Lyell.
The Sams Creek porphyry dyke-style gold deposit is equivalent in geology deposits to the Australian Eastern Lachlan fold belt that contains very large porphyry copper-gold and porphyry gold-style deposits like at Cadia and Ridgeway in New South Wales.
Siren believes there is significant potential at Sams Creek for a very large underground mining operation as the orebody is over 60 meters thick, has a vertical extent of 1 kilometer and has been traced for more than 7 kilometers along strike.
To date, around 127 diamond holes have been drilled at Sams Creek and the blue-sky project already contains an impressive resource estimate, with much of the asset remaining unexplored.
The Alexander River project covers 16.75 square kilometers and is 100 percent owned by Siren Gold. The asset is located 15 kilometers away from the prolific Blackwater Mine, a vital sign of what’s possible at Alexander River.
The Big River project covers 44.87 square kilometers and is considered a highly prospective exploration target of 100 to 125 koz at 7 to 9 g/t gold. The company will continue exploring to determine the asset's depth and gold grade.
The Auld Creek project contains an epizonal mineralization that extends over 2 kilometers and contains high-grade gold and massive stibnite veins. Nearby mines have produced over 400 koz of high-grade gold, which indicates what’s possible at the company’s asset.
Five diamond holes have been completed at Auld Creek with all five holes intersecting significant mineralisation in the Bonanza East Shoot.
The company provided a maiden mineral resource estimate (MRE) for the Auld Creek Prospect which includes 132 koz @ 7.1 g/t gold equivalent (AuEq) containing @ 3.5 g/t gold and 8,700 tons of antimony @ 1.5 percent antimony. The MRE includes the following significant intersections;
With a global MRE of above 1.3 Moz, Siren is on track to achieve its vision of being a multiple-million-ounce, high-grade gold and antimony producer.
Siren owns additional gold assets that are being systematically explored to increase shareholder value further.
Brian Rodan is a fellow of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy with 45 years of experience. He is the managing director and owner of Australian Contract Mining, a mid-tier contracting company that successfully completed $1.5 billion worth of work over 20 years. ACM was sold to an ASX-listed gold mining company in 2017. Rodan is the founding director of Dacian Gold, which purchased the Mt Morgans Gold Mine from the administrator of Range River Gold. After listing on the ASX in 2012, Rodan became Dacian’s largest shareholder. He had a 15-year tenure with Australia’s largest full-service ASX-listed contract mining company with an annual turnover of more than $850 million.
Victor Rajasooriar is a highly experienced Australian mining executive and board director who has more than 25 years of operational and technical experience across both underground and open pit mining operations. Rajasooriar’s distinguished career has seen him hold senior roles with major resource companies, including managing director and CEO of Echo Resources (ASX:EAR) until the completion of a takeover by Northern Star Resources (ASX:NST). Before joining Echo, Rajasooriar was chief operating officer for leading underground mining contractor Barminco and has held senior technical roles with Gold Fields and Newmont Mining. At Newmont, this included operational responsibility for the Waihi Gold Operation in the North Island of New Zealand between 2006 – 2008. He holds a bachelor of engineering (mining) from the WA School of Mines and is a member of both the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy.
Paul Angus is a New Zealand-based exploration geologist with more than 30 years of mining and geology experience in New Zealand. He graduated from Otago University and has held senior management roles with OceanaGold. While he was an exploration manager, Angus discovered more than 3 Moz at Macraes, Reefton and Sams Creek.
Keith Murray is a chartered accountant with 40 years of experience at the general manager level in audit, accounting, tax, finance, treasury and corporate governance. During the 1990s, Murray was group accounting manager, corporate and taxation joint company secretary for Eltin Limited, a leading Australian-based international mining services company. Murray is currently general manager corporate and company secretary for the Heytesbury Group.
Sebastian Andre is a chartered secretary with over 10 years of experience in corporate advisory, governance and risk services. He has previously acted as an adviser at the ASX and has a thorough understanding of the ASX Listing Rules, specializing in providing advice to companies and their boards for capital raisings, IPOs, backdoor listings, corporate compliance and governance matters. Andre holds accounting, finance, and corporate governance qualifications and is a member of the Governance Institute of Australia.
HIGHLIGHTS:
This is the first diamond drill program at Ricciardo since 2014, when just three (3) diamond holes were drilled by the previous operator.
The results reported in this release are for four (4) (255m) of the 16 (1420m) diamond holes drilled to date. Approximately 2,200m of diamond drilling is planned as part of the current phase of combined RC and diamond drilling at Ricciardo and M1.
The results from these initial four diamond holes extend the high-grade shoot below the Silverstone North pit and infill a previous gap in the high-grade zone of the MRE below the northern part of the Ardmore pit (adding confidence and continuity to the MRE in this area).
These outcomes, while stemming from only a small part of the overall current phase of drilling, continues to demonstrate the outstanding MRE growth potential that exists at Ricciardo and along the broader ‘Golden Corridor’ trend.
Figure 1: The Golden Range and Fields Find Projects Mines and projects within trucking distance of the Warriedar tenure are shown. The location of the Ricciardo deposit within the 25km-long ‘Golden Corridor’ at the Golden Range Project is annotated
The Ricciardo gold system (within the Golden Range Project) spans a strike length of approximately 2.3km, with very limited drilling having been undertaken below 100m depth. Ricciardo possesses a current Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) of 8.7 Mt @ 1.7 g/t Au for 476 koz gold.1 The oxide material at Ricciardo has been mined by previous operators.
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This article includes content from Warriedar 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.
Tartana Minerals is a new copper producer generating strong cash flow, with a substantial exploration footprint in a tier 1 mining jurisdiction. Tartana Minerals is creating shareholder value through investment in increasing its existing copper, zinc and gold resources and accelerating exploration of key projects within its highly prospective exploration portfolio. Tartana Minerals presents a compelling investment against the backdrop of a strong macroeconomic environment for copper.
Tartana Minerals (ASX:TAT) is a copper, gold, silver and zinc, producer, explorer and developer in Far North Queensland. Its flagship project is the 100 percent owned Tartana copper and zinc project which comprises four mining leases located north of Chillagoe. The company’s business model has involved refurbishing an existing heap leach - solvent extraction – crystallisation plant which is located on the Tartana mining leases. The refurbishment and commissioning of this plant is now completed and the company is producing copper sulphate pentahydrate which is sold to offtaker, Kanins International. Copper sulphate is priced on a premium plus percentage of the LME copper price and provides investors with leverage to anticipate increasing copper prices.
The company, formerly known as R3D Resources, changed its name to Tartana Minerals in April 2024. Tartana Minerals is based in Sydney, Australia.
Tartana Minerals has reported the following resources:
These copper, zinc and gold resources remain open at depth and along strike and the company has designed drilling programs to expand these resources. In particular, the copper mineralisation and potentially the gold mineralisation have scope to be upgraded through ore sorting.
However, the refurbished heap leach – solvent extraction – crystallisation plant utilises existing copper in the ponds and the heaps and these copper sources will be replenished when we commence mining from the open pit.
The first and second shipments of copper sulphate were sold during the June 2024 quarter with further shipments are currently being prepared. The copper sulphate contains 25 percent copper metal and payment is based on the LME copper price for the preceding month plus a premium. It is one of the few forms of saleable copper where the copper content receives the full LME price.
Sprinklers operating on the lower heap. Note the presence of copper (blue).Chillagoe region of Far North Queensland is highly prospective with the discovery and development of a number of key projects over the last few decades including Red Dome (2.5 Moz gold), Mungana (1.2 Moz gold), and King Vol (250 kt zinc). These deposits occur along the Palmerville Fault in a similar location to the Tartana Mining leases.
The mining leases at Tartana contain copper, zinc and gold mineralisation but the company also has significant projects which are both east and west of the Palmerville Fault. In the west it has the Cardross and Mountain Maid copper-gold projects and further north it has the Beefwood project. Mountain Maid has gold resources mentioned above and which are open to the south and at depth while the company is finalising a maiden copper resource for the Cardross project. The Beefwood project comprises a buried geophysical target and surface sampling has recovered samples grading up to 180 g/t Au with no apparent source. Drilling is planned to test this target in the current dry season.
In the east of the Palmerville Fault, the company has the Bellevue/Dry River project, the OK South project and the Dimbulah Porphyry project, all copper projects with historic copper mines and prospects. Like many parts of Far North Queensland, historical exploration has not been systematic and thorough despite many promising expressions of surface mineralisation.
Tartana’s exploration team comprises of experienced exploration geologists with supporting cash flow from their copper production, they expect to be able drill the most promising targets in the short term.
Overall, the macroeconomic environment for copper remains strong. The LME three-month copper price hit US$5.24/lb on May 17, the highest since March 7, 2022, driven by a weaker US dollar, Chinese property stimulus measures, and a short squeeze on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange futures market.
In the near-to-mid term China’s demand for refined copper is expected to grow, due to better-than-expected performances from key consumer segments, including the power grid, solar installations and electric vehicle and air conditioning appliance sales. On the supply side the copper concentrate market is expected to remain in a significant deficit due to the estimated delay in the Cobre Panama mine restart but will be partially offset by the higher projected production from smelters in China. As a result, we see further demand growth and supply tightening for the copper market as positive for base metal equities who maintain significant leverage to increasing prices.
Jihad Malaeb is an experienced entrepreneur across a number of industries, including hospitality and construction, as well as having significant experience in mineral exploration and mining operations – both as an active investor and company director. He currently owns and operates a portfolio of hospitality businesses and real estate across Australia, which have been established over the past 30 years. Malaeb was previously a non-executive director of Critical Resources (ASX:CRR), where he helped steer CRR through the past few years as one of its largest shareholders and as a board member.
Steve Bartrop’s professional experience spans more than 30 years covering periods in both the mining industry and financial sector. With a geology background, Bartrop has worked in exploration, feasibility and evaluation studies and mining in a range of commodities and in different parts of the world. In the financial sector, he has been involved in research, corporate transactions and IPOs spanning more than 20 years, including senior roles at JPMorgan, Bankers Trust and Macquarie Equities.
Bartrop is also a director of Southwest Pacific Bauxite (HK), a company developing a bauxite project in the Solomon Islands and chairman of Breakaway Research.
Bruce Hills is an accountant and is currently an executive director of Breakaway Investment Group, which operates the Breakaway Private Equity Emerging Resources Fund. Hills is a director of a number of unlisted companies in the mining and financial services sectors including The Risk Board and Stibium Australia. Hills has 35 years’ experience in the financial sector including 20 years in the banking industry primarily in the areas of strategy, finance and risk.
Dr Alistair Lewis is a successful entrepreneur and highly experienced medical doctor with over 40 years’ experience. For the past 10 years Lewis has been involved in the management of mining and exploration companies. In 2017, Lewis established Oosen Lewis Mining in North Queensland. He financed the aggregation of a substantial portfolio of gold, tin, tungsten and antimony assets and instigated subsequent extensive exploration programs. These assets now form part of the QSM portfolio.
Michael Thirnbeck is an experienced geologist with over 25 years in managing numerous mineral development projects in Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and Australia. He has been a member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy since 1989 and holds B.Sc (Hons.) degree from University of Queensland.
All amounts expressed in US dollars unless stated otherwise
Barrick Gold Corporation (NYSE:GOLD)(TSX:ABX) – Africa's largest gold mine, Kibali, continues to deliver growth as its strong record of replenishing reserves and resources, and further investment in technology and capacity, position it to sustain its 750,000 ounces annual production past the current 10-year horizon to 15 years and beyond.
Speaking to media and other stakeholders today, Barrick president and chief executive Mark Bristow said Kibali was not only Africa's largest gold mine but also its most automated and, thanks to its three hydropower stations, a leader in renewable energy. When its back-up solar power plant and battery storage system are commissioned next year, the renewable component of its energy mix will increase to 85%.
"When we started building Kibali 14 years ago, this was one of the DRC's most underdeveloped regions. The value we created and the infrastructure we built here have since transformed it into a new economic frontier and a flourishing commercial hub, with a community that has grown from 30,000 to over 500,000 people. We've promoted this growth through investment in community development and partnering with local businesses we have mentored. Our Azambi power station, for example, was built by an all-Congolese team. Since 2010, Kibali's payments to local contractors and suppliers have amounted to almost $2.7 billion (CDF 7.6 trillion)," Bristow said.
"In addition, Kibali has written a new chapter in Barrick's long support for Africa's biodiversity by partnering with African Parks and the DRC Government to re-introduce a sustainable population of white rhino to the DRC's Garamba National Park, which the mine also supports in other ways. This means that, together with the Barrick coffee project in the Haut-Uele region aimed at revitalising the once vibrant Robusta coffee industry which Isiro was once renowned for, we are not only looking after our host countries in the present but also to their national heritage in the future."
Bristow said Kibali was built on partnerships with its stakeholders, notably the government and its host communities. Based on its success, Barrick was ready to invest in new gold and copper opportunities in the DRC, provided the government continued to build alongside it.
Enquiries:
DRC country manager
Cyrille Mutombo
+243 812 532 441
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 "on track", "value-creating", "perform", "transform', "expect", "continue", "increase", "commitment", "grow", "will", and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. In particular, this press release contains forward-looking statements including, without limitation, with respect to: the anticipated benefits from Kibali's local procurement initiatives and investment in local partnerships and communities; Barrick's investment in community programs and projects; and Barrick's commitment to the DRC and potential further growth opportunities.
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; 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 DRC and other jurisdictions in which the Company or its affiliates do or may carry on business in the future; changes in mineral production performance, exploitation, and exploration successes; the possibility that future exploration results will not be consistent with the Company's expectations; disruption of supply routes which may cause delays in construction and mining activities, including disruptions in the supply of key mining inputs due to the invasion of Ukraine by Russia; risk of loss due to acts of war, terrorism, sabotage and civil disturbances; 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 Barrick's targeted investments and projects will meet the Company's capital allocation objectives and internal hurdle rate; 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; risks associated with new diseases, epidemics and pandemics; litigation and legal and administrative proceedings; employee relations including loss of key employees; increased costs and physical and transition risks related to climate change, including extreme weather events, resource shortages, emerging policies and increased regulations to related to greenhouse gas emission levels, energy efficiency and reporting of risks; 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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