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sIte VIsIt

Ainscough considers

Kambalda as kin

asting his mind back to his days as a the chief geologist for the St Ives gold mine. valuations as far back as 2007, recently
Cplucky senior geologist almost three “I walked up and down the terrace at the peaking as high as $US48,226/t in March.
decades ago, Lunnon Metals Ltd man- time and got three job offers,” he said. “The With no shortage of high-grade, shal-
aging director Ed Ainscough still vividly one I took was in Kambalda and I stayed low drill hits at KNP, Ainscough continues
remembers the precise moment he intro- there for 10 months before my working visa to marvel at the Kambalda nickel district
duced his wife and children to Kambalda eventually started to run out.” which extends for more than 70km and
for the first time. Little did he know he would still be work- has historically produced more than 1.6mt
“My wife hadn’t been to this part of ing in Kambalda 35 years later, today lead- of nickel.
Australia before and I remember the cold ing a nickel explorer on the same ground “The longevity of a lot of professionals in
dawning on her face as we were picked he worked on as that very green geo. Kambalda is very much due to the signifi-
up by the chief geologist in Kalgoorlie. We Since listing in June of last year, Lunnon cant, amazing prospectivity for nickel and
were driving out to site and I could see the has netted a warm reception from its work gold in such a small space,” he said.
colour draining on her face like, ‘oh my god, at the aptly named Kambalda nickel project “You had this ability as a geologist or
where have I come to?’,” he recounted to (KNP), recently achieving an all-time high mining engineer [in previous years] to just
Paydirt. share price of $1.24 in April. get amazing exposure. It’s no surprise the
It was admittedly a shock for his wife who KNP, which shares grounds with Gold people seeded out into the industry from
hailed from New Zealand’s lush green hills. Fields Ltd, today commands a 2.2mt @ WMC after it got bought by BHP [Ltd] have
But like Englishman Ainscough, she has 2.9% nickel resource. been successful because they’ve had such
now grown to hold a soft spot for the small It’s not only considerable exploration amazing training.
town outside of Kalgoorlie where memo- success in its own right, but doubly impres- “It’s definitely rooted in the geological
ries have been made. sive to be had on brownfields well-travelled opportunity and the endowment to have
“The funny part is we ended up living in decades before by WMC. that longevity of nearly 60 years now; the
that area for eight years and now when we Kambalda’s winding history shaped in sheer amount of nickel and gold there. It’s
come back for visits, we both look at that swings and roundabouts, a “circle of life” as just an incredible 30-40km from Kambalda
bush as completely green and lush,” Ain- described by Ainscough, is very reflective to south of Foster and I definitely credit the
scough said. “She struggles to remember of the nickel market itself. geology here for keeping me interested.”
how dry she thought it looked in 1994.” The commodity has grown in popular- Looking back on his formative days and
This anecdote Ainscough holds close to ity over recent years as a poster child for camaraderie formed in the town, Ains-
his heart was his second stint in Kambalda, a low-carbon emission future, powered by cough affectionally calls it the “class of ’98”.
having first come to Kalgoorlie in 1987 as batteries such as those in EVs, alongside Some of his peers from that time include
an expat “with no job”. He would soon go its peers lithium and copper. Silver Lake Resources Ltd managing direc-
on to cut his teeth as a graduate geologist Nickel’s refreshed worth beyond its use tor Luke Tonkin and Rex Minerals Ltd chief
in Kambalda before eventually working as in galvanising steel has seen it rival old executive Richard Laufmann, among many

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