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WIN Metals Ltd (ASX: WIN) (“WIN” or “the Company”) is pleased to provide shareholders with an updated Mineral Resource Estimate (“MRE”) for its flagship Butchers Creek Gold deposit, part of the Butchers Creek Gold Project (“BCGP”) located in the East Kimberley region of Western Australia.
Highlights
- Updated Mineral Resource Estimate: Butchers Creek Gold Mineral Resource revised to 5.23Mt @ 1.G1g/t Au for 321,000oz of Gold
- Significant Increase in Indicated Resource: Indicated category up by 86% to 3.58Mt @ 2.24g/t Au for 258,000oz of Gold
- Project De-Risked: Updated Mineral Resource significantly enhances confidence for future Economic Evaluation
- Growth Focused 2025 Drill Program: Planned drilling to target high-priority, high- grade resource growth targets, including Golden Crown (currently 0.4Mt @ 3.1g/t Au Inferred Mineral Resource1) with recent extensional drilling returned 6m @ 10.85g/t Au2
- Heritage survey scheduled: April survey ahead of the proposed July drill program
WIN Metals Managing Director and CEO, Mr Steve Norregaard, commented:
“Our first update of the Butchers Creek Mineral Resource following the successful maiden drill campaign completed late in 2024 has delivered an 8C% increase in the Indicated Resource. This paves the way for the Company to advance development studies while we continue to drill our other high-priority, high-grade targets.
With readily accessible mineralisation located immediately below the shallow open pit amenable to low-cost open pit mining methods, the opportunity to monetise this asset in the current high gold price environment is now an imperative.
To complement this great outcome, the Company will continue to enhance the resource base focussing on the Golden Crown area during the forthcoming dry season, building on the promising high-grade drill intersections reported last year.
The significant achievements by WIN during the short time we have held this project, and the opportunities we see in this underexplored goldfield in WA’s Kimberley region, provide a strong foundation for our future growth.”
This latest April 2025 MRE update increases the Mineral Resource to 321,000oz of gold at 1.G1g/t Au, with 258,000oz gold at 2.24g/t Au representing 80% of the MRE classified as Indicated available for economic studies for project development.
Table 1: Butchers Creek Gold Resource SummaryNote: Figures are rounded and reported at 0.5g/t cut-off to 150m below surface (open pit) and 0.8g/t below 150m of surface
This update reflects the successful conversion of an additional 11G,000oz at 2.24g/t Au into the Indicated category representing an 86% increase in Indicated gold resource ounces compared to the 2021 MRE1 as demonstrated in the waterfall chart in Figure 1 below.
Figure 1: Mineral Resource Changes by Classification
Click here for the full ASX Release
This article includes content from Win Metals, 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.
OPINION — Goldenomics 103: Gold Protects and Performs
By Darren Brady Nelson
US President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs certainly caused quite the stir in the markets on April 2.
Gold dropped about 6 percent, and silver 12 percent. A week later, a pause was announced, which ended on August 1. Gold and silver have since risen approximately 11 percent and 24 percent, respectively.
Six month gold and silver price performance.
Source: Trading Economics (gold) and (silver).
Unless you are a professional, or even amateur, trader, it is best to look at gold and silver investment with a perspective of years or decades, rather than just days, weeks or even months. Since the start of the COVID-19 panic in March 2020, gold and silver have exploded 123 percent and 192 percent.
10 year gold and silver price performance.
Source: Trading Economics (gold) and (silver).
In the shorter term, the gold price is driven by what economist John Maynard Keynes called “animal spirits.” In the longer term, it is driven by “monetary spirits.” And not just as protection, but also for performance. The Presidential Gold Guide highlights both in chapters four and five.
Source: Fisher Liberty Gold.
Gold unsurprisingly protects
Economist and investor Mark Skousen has wisely noted that: “Since we left the gold standard in 1971, both gold and silver have become superior inflation hedges.” Gold has more than countered the results of inflation, as measured by CPI, and the drivers of inflation, as measured by M3.
And the numbers back that up. The Gold Protects chart below compares the gold price, CPI and M3 in terms of cumulative growth of each from 1971 to 2025. That is throughout the whole era of gold as an investment, which officially started in 1974 once private ownership was restored.
During this era, gold grew by 541 percent, CPI by 214 percent and M3 by 384 percent. Annual average growth for gold was 10 percent, CPI at 4 percent and M3 at 7 percent. Maximums were 92 percent, 14 percent and 29 percent, respectively. CPI only failed to grow twice, ie. 0 percent in 2009 and 2015. M3 decreased twice, by -4 percent in 2023 and -6 percent in 2024.
Gold surprisingly performs
The highly respected In Gold We Trust (IGWT) report states: “When dealing with the specific level of gold allocation, it is advisable to differentiate between safe-haven gold and performance gold. The Big Long strategy emphasizes the potential of performance gold in the coming years.”
IGWT thus recommends an investment portfolio "rule of thumb" that includes 15 percent in “safe-haven gold” and 10 percent in “performance gold.” The Gold Performs chart below compares gold price, S&P 500 and nominal GDP in terms of cumulative growth of each from 1971 to 2025.
Gold grew by 541 percent, the S&P 500 by 484 percent and GDP by 339 percent. Annual average growth for gold was 10 percent, with the S&P 500 at 9 percent and GDP at 6 percent. Maximums were 92 percent, 45 percent and 14 percent, respectively. Gold did have a higher standard deviation of 27 percent, compared to 17 percent for the S&P 500 and 3 percent for GDP.
Animal and monetary spirits
Gold protects as a hedge or safe haven, not just from inflation, but from the flip side of that same coin of the boom-bust cycle. Both are driven, in the longer term, not by “animal spirits,” but by “monetary spirits.”
Inflation is when money inflation has a widespread impact as price inflation. A bubble is when money increases have a more concentrated impact such as in certain asset values. The bubble eventually bursts when “monetary spirits” are finally reined in by monetary realities.
I say “monetary spirits” because of the role of fiat money, as indicated by, say, M3. When money supply outstrips money demand in a localized way, then that is a bubble, and when in a general way, that is inflation.
The former shows up in certain asset, wholesale and/or producer prices, whilst the latter shows up in CPI. Asset prices include the S&P 500. But nominal GDP is also "ginned up" as it is ultimately a price times quantity measure as well. Price is expressed in money terms.
Conclusion
Gold can have ups and downs, as standard deviation indicates, due to the “animal spirits” of fear and uncertainty, that tend to be daily, weekly or monthly. Yet gold both protects and performs due to the “monetary spirits” of inflation and boom-bust, which tend to be decennially.
In particular, gold performs when the S&P 500 does not, like in the aftermaths of the 2001/2002 dot-com collapse, the 2008/2009 global financial crisis and 2020/2021 COVID-19 lockdowns.
Therefore, when it comes to gold, “follow the money” of central bank “money printing” and fractional reserve bank “fountain pen money,” for both superior inflation protection and boom-bust performance.
And besides, Skousen rightly "begged the question" as follows: “Gold and Silver have always had value, never gone to zero. Can you say the same for stocks and bonds?”
About Darren Brady Nelson
Darren Brady Nelson is chief economist with Fisher Liberty Gold and policy advisor to The Heartland Institute. He previously was economic advisor to Australian Senator Malcolm Roberts. He authored the Ten Principles of Regulation and Reform, and the CPI-X approach to budget cuts.
Click here to read Goldenomics 101: Follow the Money, and here to read Goldenomics 102: The Shadow Price of Gold.
