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DIGGERS & DEALERS

Nothing but good

luck for Black Cat

by Michael Washbourne

s far as seasoned mining executive Paul Chapman is of Black Cat’s
Aconcerned, there is rarely a bad time to be developing a key exploration
gold mine. tenements.
Black Cat has acquired a suite of former
“It’s always a good time to be in gold, no matter what the gold On May 29,
Silver Lake-held ground, including
price is,” Chapman told GMJ recently. the company Wombola Dam
“Moving from exploration to production is not without its announced it
challenges, but the rewards are there if you do it right. Even was acquiring
though we’re presently in a hot gold market, I would always the Black Hills and South Three projects from unrelated
prefer to be looking to production than not.” third-party vendors. Both ground packages abut Black Cat’s
existing and newly acquired tenements.
Having presided over the early success of Silver Lake
Resources Ltd, in particular that company’s rise from unknown At the time of print, Black Cat was trading at an all-time high of
explorer to pre-eminent producer during the mid-to-late 79c/share, up nearly 300% since the end of March.
2000s, Chapman is now looking to repeat the trick with Black Chapman said the market reaction, including a share price
Cat Syndicate Ltd as its founding chairman. increase of almost 200% through June alone, was an indication
Joining Chapman for the ride is fellow Silver Lake alumni Les of how serious the company was about rapidly moving into
Davis and Gareth Solly. Former Avanco Resources boss Tony production.
Pologlase and recent Spectrum Metals chairman Alex Hewlett “I think people possibly read into it that we’re the real deal,”
complete the board. he said. “We’ve gone from having 300,000oz [in resources] to
Black Cat’s flagship asset is the historic Bulong gold mine, just over 700,000oz and we’ve got a big land holding near one of
25km east of Kalgoorlie. It was last mined more than 100 years the great gold capitals of the world. The prospect of production
ago, producing about 152,000oz. advancing fairly soon, I think that grabbed people’s attention
as much as anything. We just need to keep the momentum
For Chapman, Bulong has all the hallmarks of the project
going now.”
which gave rise to Silver Lake’s eventual success.
Drilling activities have resumed at Bulong as the company
“When we went and looked at Bulong for the first time, I
approaches completion of a feasibility study over the main
thought this looks a lot like the way I remember Daisy Milano
Myhree deposit later this quarter. Black Cat’s exploration team
when Les [Davis] and I first went out there and packaged that,”
will also look to re-prioritise all future drilling targets in the
he said. “It was a bit of a deja vu experience.”
larger portfolio once both acquisitions are finalised.
Black Cat caught the eye of investors in late May when it
With still so much work to do in 2020 and beyond, Chapman
announced two strategic acquisitions in consecutive days
believes his company has only just scratched the surface of
which not only increased the company’s landholding by 100sq
Bulong and its surrounding areas.
km but bolstered its resource base by 145%.
“When you consider we started off with an area that was
The first acquisition announced on May 28 involved Black
historically quite rich, but it had never really been the main
Cat striking a deal for Silver Lake’s Fingals and Rowe’s Find
project for someone…for us to make a discovery like Mhyree
projects, with some 425,000oz to be added to the company’s
which is one of the highest-grade pits going around, starting
resource base once the transaction is finalised.
at surface and so close to Kalgoorlie, that in itself it is amazing
Silver Lake has first right of refusal over any future toll treatment
and just goes to show that these old areas can still be highly
agreement and will also become a substantial shareholder in
productive,” Chapman said.
Black Cat.
“I think we’ve done 80,000m of drilling [since listing in January
Fingals, about 30km south-east of Bulong, is comprised of
2018] because it’s very cheap to operate out there. It’s amazing
a number of distinct mining areas, including Imperial and
how it never previously got the love it should have.”
Majestic, Fingals Fortune, Wombola Dam and Hammer and
Tap. Rowe’s Find is 100km east of Bulong and surrounds one
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