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impact assessment, it is ing targets. It is only early days for Ar-
very different,” mada with McGowan insistent on taking a
If Genmin was well on methodical approach to exploration.
the way to its final desti- “If you are going to do district-scale ex-
nation, other ASX-listed ploration, you have to have a pipeline of
juniors are still at the be- prospects, rank and choose them for test-
ginning of their journey in ing,” he said. “It’s about the right way to
Gabon. order and structure prospects to ensure
Armada Metals Ltd the best holes go into the best targets.”
listed in December fol- This is not to suggest the company is
lowing a $10 million IPO. only interested in technical success. If
The company is led by the next set of drilling results do show
Dr Ross McGowan who economic intercepts, Armada will ensure
is synonymous with Ivan- prospects are given the rightful attention.
hoe Mines Inc’s world- “Our point-of-view is any success we
class Kamoa copper dis- have in drilling will trigger a resource defi-
covery in DRC. nition programme,” McGowan said. “As a
McGowan brought to- junior, you must explore with an econo-
gether a technical team mist’s hat on, establish results but under-
full of African exploration stand the economics of any discovery as
expertise to identify the early as possible.”
most prospective dis- Despite listing just before the market
tricts for sedimentary- was swamped by global economic and
hosted copper. security negativity, McGowan has been
“Our background is pleased by the level of interest Australian
in exploration of large investors had shown in the Armada story.
Genmin’s Baniaka iron ore project now boasts almost areas using modern The company chose the ASX because of
700mt in resources
technology,” he told its reputation as a natural home for Afri-
Paydirt. “We ran a tech- can explorers.
Genmin’s task now is to ensure it de- nical targeting exercise around south- “We needed to be well-funded for the
livers a robust PFS on time. Ariti, who is central Africa, taking out bor-
well-versed in African iron ore develop- ders and infrastructure so we
ment thanks to his time at African Iron, wouldn’t get distracted and
said the Perth-based company had not Southern Gabon was at the top
simply applied a West Australian ap- of the list.
proach to Baniaka’s development, a de- “If you want to make a dis-
cision which was proving a real benefit covery you need big pieces of
given current industry conditions. ground and go somewhere that
“We haven’t tried to bring it all back to no one has been before and that
Australia, we had the plant designed in is what Gabon has. There has
South Africa by Golder Associates and been no modern exploration and
committed this month to detailed FEED we ended up with 3,000sq km of
work,” he said. “South Africa is a differ- prospective ground.”
ent labour market to Australia and there Despite choosing the region
is good availability of quality engineering for its sedimentary-hosted cop-
and infrastructure resources there, unlike per potential, the data soon led
in WA at the moment. It is an almost fixed- Armada down a different av-
price contract on the plant – with rise/fall enue.
provisions for the steel – so we are not “We picked targets in the ba-
seeing the same cost pressures.” sin and found mafic-ultramafic
The same approach has been taken on units,” McGowan explained.
environmental and social impact assess- “So, we quickly shifted our focus
ments with South Africa, Gabonese and to magmatic nickel-copper sul-
Caribbean experts engaged. phide deposits. This is a classic
Ariti said it was crucial to find consult- setting for them on the edge of
ants who knew the intricacies of operat- a craton.”
ing in unique environments. Initial drilling intercepted the
“You require different skills sets for intrusion with magmatic sul-
building projects in Africa,” he said. “Ga- phides present in all 10 diamond
bon is 2.5 degrees south of the equator holes drilled on the Nyonga pro-
and receives 2.2m of rainfall every year. ject.
So, the challenges of building an iron ore Follow-up work has already
project there are very different to those in begun with ground and air-
the Pilbara. It is a different mindset. It is borne geophysical programmes
the same for the environmental and social planned to identify further drill-
A skilled workforce is one of the hallmarks of
Gabon’s emerging minerals industry
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