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Explorers up and away

he Australian exploration sector has 5.9% copper and 1 g/t gold at Thursdays discovery. The juniors have had good runs
Tenjoyed a lively beginning to 2020 and Gossan in October followed Alkane Re- of late and haven’t even got rigs turning yet,”
some believe the inflow of capital supporting sources Ltd’s hit at Boda, North Molong, Howard said.
success stories can be traced back to 2017. New South Wales, a month earlier. Magmatic, which started the year at 22c/
The big news three years ago was con- A hint of Cadia-style potential has now share and was trading at 39c in late Febru-
glomerate gold potential discovered in the seen a crowd gather near Boda, as porphy- ary, recently raised $5 million to effectively
Pilbara, sparking a rush from investors all ry copper-gold nearology plays and gold start a drilling programme at the Lady Ilse
over the world to divert their exploration projects, particularly high-grade ones, atop gold-copper porphyry prospect, about 6km
plans towards the intriguing geological op- investors’ wish lists at the moment. from Boda, later this month.
portunity in the vast West Australian wilder- “Thursdays Gossan appears to be a new In the meantime, Sky Metals Ltd enjoyed
ness. kind of mineralised system not typically a good run last month at Hume within the
“The whole conglomerate gold fable of seen in Australia and more akin to the Mag- Cullarin gold project, Goulbourn, NSW, af-
2017 may have been the real catalyst for ma mine in Butte, Montana, home of the ter announcing results from two diamond
all this recent hot money, with tales of vast ‘Richest Hill in the World’. Stavely contin- drill holes 200m apart had intersected
quantities of watermelon seed gold cap- ues to drill with four rigs turning at present, “a broad package of strongly altered vol-
turing minds and catapulting the market as it tries to define the extents of this high- caniclastic rocks associated with zinc and
caps of entrepreneurial juniors,” Hartleys grade system. Perhaps the ultimate goal lead sulphides, consistent with the target
resources analyst ‘McPhillamy’s style
Paul Howard told gold mineralisa-
Paydirt. tion”.
“Following the Sky was trading
Bellevue [Gold at 24c/share at the
Ltd] and Spectrum time of print after
[Metals Ltd] suc- starting the year at
cess of late, inves- 9c.
tors are looking to “Within the gold
replicate earnings space, De Grey
with a lot of hot [Mining Ltd; 5c to
money pouring into as high as 23c/
exploration stories share in February]
in recent months. also looks to be
FOMO [fear of RIU Explorers conference managing director Stewart McDonald, Hanna Oliver, onto something ex-
missing out] also Sascha Oliver and Shanelle Oliver presented Stavely Minerals’ executive chairman citing at Hemi in the
has a place; those Chris Cairns with the Craig Oliver award Pilbara with 46m
who missed out @ 6.6 g/t gold from
previously are very eager to get on the next for Stavely is to uncover a deeper porphyry 92m and 44m @ 5.1 g/t gold from 40m),”
growth story. source of this high-grade copper,” Howard Howard said.
“Every dollar invested in Spectrum in said. “Elsewhere, the Paterson province con-
January 2019 is now worth about $25. Alkane’s intersection of more than 500m tinues to command interest with Newcrest
Similarly, investors in Bellevue are 200% @ 0.48 g/t gold and 0.2% copper at Boda and Greatland’s [Gold plc] Havieron deposit
better off over the same period and we’re was followed up with a deeper intercept, set to receive 20,000-30,000m of drilling in
now seeing Bellevue attracting high calibre which returned similar grades over 689m 2020 ahead of a maiden resource. Rio’s
personnel [Luke Gleeson recently appoint- announced last month. [Tinto Ltd] Winu is also said to be shaping
ed as head of corporate development] as it “The project is only 120km north of New- up, which bodes well for juniors like Antipa
looks towards development,” he said. crest’s [Mining Ltd] Cadia and has sparked [Minerals Ltd], which is active in the re-
One of the instigators of the recent explo- a large amount of interest in Alkane over gion. In Victoria, Kirkland Lake [Gold Ltd]
ration rally – Stavely Minerals Ltd – was duly whether it has uncovered something eco- is spearheading the revival of the Victorian
recognised for its efforts at Thursdays Gos- nomic and/or the next Cadia. Alkane’s gold sector with juniors like Catalyst [Metals
san, Victoria, with the Craig Oliver award at neighbours Magmatic [Resources Ltd] Ltd, Navarre [Minerals Ltd] and Stavely set
the recent RIU Explorers conference. and Impact [Minerals Ltd] have ignited the to benefit.”
A shallow sulphide intercept of 32m @ ‘nearology’ story close to the Boda-Kaiser – Mark Andrews

rowing uncertainty over the global spread of the coronavirus with delegations from the EU, the UK and Asia confirmed to attend.
G and its affect on international travel has resulted in Paydirt Media However, as concerns over the spread of the coronavirus extended
postponing the Battery Minerals Conference, due to be held in Perth outside of China, these international delegations have been forced to
on March 4-5. The conference has steadily grown over its five-year postpone their travel plans.
history, incorporating presentations and panel debates on a range of
topics in the battery and critical minerals space from the EV revolution, The organisers felt it appropriate to postpone the Battery Minerals
to supply/demand dynamics, supply chain security and new energy Conference to allow these and other stakeholders the opportunity
generation and storage solutions. to fully participate. Paydirt Media is monitoring the coronavirus
situation closely and once there is clarity on the containment of the
The importance of the conference was highlighted by the large virus, it will consult with stakeholders on finding an appropriate date
international contingent scheduled to participate in Perth this year to host the conference.

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