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.
At the Nightflower project, Tartana has upgraded its exploration target after reviewing its earlier estimation, in light of the recent increases in the antimony price. Nightflower is a high-grade silver-lead deposit with previously overlooked significant antimony credits. Nightflower exploration target includes 2.75 Mt @ 364 g/t silver equivalent for 32 Moz silver equivalent to 5.36 Mt @ 270 g/t silver equivalent for 47 Moz silver equivalent (the exploration target is conceptual in nature only and there is no guarantee that further exploration will define a resource). Drilling is now being planned to test the target and upgrade previously identified mineralisation to JORC 2012 reporting standards.
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.
Shuyi (Kiara) Wang was appointed a director of Tartana Minerals on July 17, 2024. Wang is an accomplished, emerging leader with a strong academic and professional background. She holds a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Philosophy from The University of Melbourne and is currently pursuing a Juris Doctor at the prestigious Melbourne Law School.
A diamond and Reverse Circulation (“RC”) drilling program is expected to commence in early February to test several compelling targets within a 4km long northwest trending zone centred around the Company’s 704Koz AuEq Carlow Mineral Resource1 which includes 374Koz gold, 64,000t copper and remains open. Despite proximity to Carlow, the targets planned to be drilled during the March Quarter are previously untested.
Summary of Planned Activities – March Quarter 2025
Recently appointed Managing Director Julian Hanna2 commented: ‘As a result of the excellent work completed by the Karratha exploration team during 2024 and following the announced capital raising in December, Artemis is now in a strong position to undertake drilling of some exciting targets at the Karratha Gold Project.
Exploration in the following months will be focussed on the Carlow Tenement which hosts a significant gold - copper resource at Carlow and covers a wide range of exploration targets within a wide, prospective corridor with minimal previous drilling.
I look forward to working closely with the very experienced and committed team at Artemis and updating shareholders with results from the drilling in due course.’
Figure 1. Artemis tenements in Pilbara region of Western Australia with Carlow Tenement hatched
Priority Drill Targets and other Activities – March Quarter 2025
Marillion Electro-Magnetic Anomaly3
Marillion is a large, highly conductive electro-magnetic (FLTEM) anomaly modelled by the Company’s consulting geophysicist as a 500m long, c.11,000 siemens conductor with the top at approximately 350m vertical depth (refer to Figure 2). Marillion is undrilled, and the source of the conductive anomaly is unknown.
Drilling is planned to start in early February with the first drill hole designed to test the centre of the Marillion EM anomaly for possible sulphide hosted mineralisation.
Marillion may potentially represent an extension of the Carlow gold/copper deposit offset >500m by a fault or represent a possible sulphide accumulation at the interpreted base of the Andover Intrusion which is mapped in outcrop near Marillion.
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B2Gold Corp. (TSX: BTO, NYSE AMERICAN: BTG, NSX: B2G) ("B2Gold" or the "Company") will release its fourth quarter and full year 2024 financial results after the North American markets close on Wednesday, February 19, 2025.
B2Gold executives will host a conference call to discuss the results on Thursday, February 20, 2025, at 8:00 am PT / 11:00 am ET.
Participants may register for the conference call here: registration link . Upon registering, participants will receive a calendar invitation by email with dial in details and a unique PIN. This will allow participants to bypass the operator queue and connect directly to the conference. Registration will remain open until the end of the conference call. Participants may also dial in using the numbers below:
The conference call will be available for playback for two weeks by dialing toll-free in the U.S. and Canada: +1 (855) 669-9658, replay access code 8765183. All other callers: +1 (412) 317-0088, replay access code 8765183.
About B2Gold
B2Gold is a responsible international senior gold producer headquartered in Vancouver, Canada. Founded in 2007, today, B2Gold has operating gold mines in Mali, Namibia and the Philippines, the Goose Project under construction in northern Canada and numerous development and exploration projects in various countries including Mali, Colombia and Finland.
ON BEHALF OF B2GOLD CORP.
"Clive T. Johnson"
President and Chief Executive Officer
For more information on B2Gold please visit the Company website at www.b2gold.com .
Contact: Michael McDonald VP, Investor Relations & Corporate Development +1 604-681-8371 investor@b2gold.com Cherry DeGeer Director, Corporate Communications +1 604-681-8371 investor@b2gold.com
News Provided by GlobeNewswire via QuoteMedia
B2Gold Corp. (TSX: BTO, NYSE AMERICAN: BTG, NSX: B2G) ("B2Gold" or the "Company") will release its fourth quarter and full year 2024 financial results after the North American markets close on Wednesday, February 19, 2025.
B2Gold executives will host a conference call to discuss the results on Thursday, February 20, 2025, at 8:00 am PT / 11:00 am ET.
Participants may register for the conference call here: registration link . Upon registering, participants will receive a calendar invitation by email with dial in details and a unique PIN. This will allow participants to bypass the operator queue and connect directly to the conference. Registration will remain open until the end of the conference call. Participants may also dial in using the numbers below:
The conference call will be available for playback for two weeks by dialing toll-free in the U.S. and Canada: +1 (855) 669-9658, replay access code 8765183. All other callers: +1 (412) 317-0088, replay access code 8765183.
About B2Gold
B2Gold is a responsible international senior gold producer headquartered in Vancouver, Canada. Founded in 2007, today, B2Gold has operating gold mines in Mali, Namibia and the Philippines, the Goose Project under construction in northern Canada and numerous development and exploration projects in various countries including Mali, Colombia and Finland.
ON BEHALF OF B2GOLD CORP.
"Clive T. Johnson"
President and Chief Executive Officer
For more information on B2Gold please visit the Company website at www.b2gold.com .
Contact: Michael McDonald VP, Investor Relations & Corporate Development +1 604-681-8371 investor@b2gold.com Cherry DeGeer Director, Corporate Communications +1 604-681-8371 investor@b2gold.com
News Provided by GlobeNewswire via QuoteMedia