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neWs

Stavely rewarded for slow

and steady approach

here was an overwhelming sense of re- has suffered because people got bored in September and continue until the end of
Tlief inside the Stavely Minerals Ltd camp with the time that it took to drill it out, but the year. Further work on the underground
last month after the company was finally the reality is that we couldn’t use RC drilling potential at Cayley Lode is also planned.
able to report a maiden resource of 9.3mt because of the shallow saline groundwater, A self-confessed copper bull, Cairns
@ 1.2% copper, 0.2 g/t gold and 7.1 g/t sil- so we had to do it all with diamond and so stressed the maiden resource for Cayley
ver for its Cayley Lode discovery in western that clearly slowed things up,” Lode was only the beginning for what could
Victoria. “We also did a relatively tight pattern of become Australia’s next copper mine.
Stavely executive chairman Chris Cairns 40m by 40m and I think the large proportion “We have come out with what I consider
said a weight had been lifted off the com- of indicated resources in the initial resource probably modest exploration targets for
pany’s shoulders with the long-awaited un- is vindication of that approach. We didn’t both the Cayley Lode and Carroll’s VMS
veiling of the resource which comes almost want to have to go back and redrill it, so we and we’re very confident that we’ll be able
three years after the initial discovery hole just drilled it properly the first time.” to achieve those and progressively grow
was drilled. Stavely’s announcement was preceded these deposits,” he said.
“It’s been 2.5 years under some pretty by Alkane Resources Ltd publishing a “This is just a flag in the sand saying, ‘this
difficult circumstances with the pandemic maiden inferred resource of 624mt @ 0.51 is where we’re starting from but there’s a
long way to go’.
“We’ve got some really good exploration
targets in the regional picture. Every little bit
helps with these things and I think if we can
build up a couple of additional resources,
that will really make this project very robust.”
Stavely has committed to establishing
a residential workforce for the proposed
long-life mining operation in western Vic-
toria. Cairns said the company continued
Stavely is eyeing a multi-decade mining operation in western Victoria after reporting a to work closely with the local authorities to
healthy maiden resource for its Cayley Lode discovery
have the project approved for development
in a timely fashion.
and at times working in western Victoria g/t gold equivalent for 10.1 moz (5.21 moz “There’s very good support from the gov-
with horizontal rain and freezing tempera- gold, 900,000t copper) for its headline- ernment departments and the Government
tures,” Cairns told Paydirt. grabbing Boda discovery, identified just itself and they’re engaging in trying to short-
“The team just soldiered on and got it a few weeks before Cayley
done and now we have a really high-quality Lode.
resource. I’m really proud of them for stick- Like Cairns, Alkane manag-
ing it out.” ing director Nic Earner was
Cairns is now dreaming of a potential also relieved to have finally
20-year operation at Cayley Lode, part of put the resource estimate out
Stavely’s namesake copper-gold project to the market after a challeng-
which now boasts total resources of 28.3mt ing period
@ 0.75% copper, 0.11 g/t gold and 3.5 g/t sil- “I think the resource also
ver containing 210,000t copper, 100,000oz matched what a lot of people
gold, 3.2 moz silver and 2,400t zinc. thought the resource was go-
The Cayley Lode resource predominant- ing to be, which is good be-
ly falls into the indicated category (5.87mt cause it means we’ve been
@ 1.04% copper, 0.23 g/t gold and 7 g/t communicating correctly,”
silver) with some 73% of the contained cop- Earner told Paydirt. Porphyry consultant Dr Greg Corbett with Stavely’s Dr
per constrained in an open pit. The under- “You don’t often make those Michael Agnew, Chris Cairns, Stephen Johnson and
ground estimate (1.7mt @ 1.8% copper, 0.2 sorts of discoveries. Ian Chal- Hamish Forgan
g/t gold and 6 g/t silver) is entirely inferred mers and his team, particular-
and further drilling is required to upgrade ly, have a track record of making discover- en the approvals process,” he said.
and expand the high-grade material. ies like that...to be able to turn that into a “We’re having those discussions now just
Shares in Stavely soared 520% in Sep- resource that you know is economic and trying to understand what it is you need to
tember 2019 on the back of the Cayley substantial, I think we’re really happy with do to get a project approved in Victoria. And
Lode discovery, but the company has since that.” I think those discussions have been very
struggled to maintain the market’s interest Stavely is now turning its attention to dou- productive in terms of our ability to get this
due to the extended amount of time it has bling the size of the Carroll’s VMS deposit project developed.”
taken to finalise the resource. (1mt @ 2.2% copper, 0.4 g/t gold, 5.6 g/t
“I do have a sense that our share price silver and 0.2% zinc) with drilling to resume – Michael Washbourne

Page 6 JULY 2022 aUSTRaLIa’S PaYDIRT