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DIGGeRs & DeALeRs

Peter Bradford

using that data in real-time believes the ramifications may be positive
today but utilising it to iden- for the sector.
tify and predict trends to im- “We are seeing signs in many econo-
prove.” mies of an imperative to reboot not just
Like Nova, IGO is in har- the economy but the environment as well,”
vest mode at Tropicana. he said. “Stopping everything has demon-
“It is performing steadily, strated that you can have an immediate
although it is in a leaner pe- impact on the environment; I think that will
riod because we are in be- have a lasting influence.
tween cutbacks,” Bradford “The effect on demand won’t be immedi-
said. “We are relying on ate but we will see an increased transition
stockpiles for the remain- to clean energy in coming years.”
der of 2020 but once the The Panoramic bid aside, IGO’s corpo-
cutback is finished grade rate M&A strategy has been to gain a foot-
and production rates will hold in prospective mineral belts through
improve again. We are still JVs. In June, the company announced a
reporting 100-110,000 ozpa new $32 million exploration JV with Metals
production at operating X Ltd over the latter’s 2,394sq km explora-
grade up in the early years of the opera- costs others would be jealous of.” tion tenure in the Paterson province, WA.
tion. Two assets generating multimillion dol- The deal will see IGO sole fund $32 mil-
“Any mining engineer worth their salt lar returns each month have placed IGO in lion of exploration over 6.5 years to earn
looks to bring grade forward to maximise a strong financial position. The company 70% interest in the ground, excluding Met-
NPV and that is exactly what we are do- has a market cap of $2.7 billion, $464 mil- als X’s Nifty and Maroochydore projects.
ing. In time, the grade will drift lower, but lion in cash and just $57 million of debt. Bradford said the JV was a prime exam-
we then have the capacity in the plant to With operational consistency and balance ple of IGO’s greenfields investment strat-
increase throughput rates to maintain pro- sheet strength, the company has inevitably egy.
duction.” begun assessing new corporate moves. “Our approach is to put a lot of work
As well as the upfront development Late last year it made an unsolicited of- on area selection and get line of sight on
work, IGO has also pushed its techno- fer for fellow nickel miner Panoramic Re- areas we believe can host multiple Tier 1
logical capabilities in an effort to unlock sources Ltd. Panoramic was struggling to discoveries,” he explained. “Once we have
greater productivity at Nova, according to keep its Savannah mine restart on track at chosen an area, we look to tie up or con-
Bradford. the time but despite IGO’s offer represent- solidate as much of the belt as we can to
“Improved productivity has, in part, been ing a 42% premium on Panoramic’s last leverage that expertise.
brought about by technological advances,” closing price and a 52% premium on its “We were already in the Paterson with
he said. “We have done a lot to improve two-month VWAP, the target’s board and Encounter [Resources Ltd] which had al-
information underground. The fibre optics major shareholder Zeta Resources Ltd re- lowed us to deploy technical capacity in
we installed early on are the backbone of jected the $312 million offer. the region. Out of that we determined the
that. It allows us to generate real-time data With Savannah continuing to display best tools to use in the region and the new
and deliver it to decision-makers to im- development issues and IGO reluctant to agreement with Metals X gives us a critical
prove productivity. go any higher, the bid eventually lapsed mass in the area.”
“It has allowed us, for instances, to per- but Bradford doesn’t feel obliged to jump The strategy is already being enacted
form remote bogging from surface which straight into a new round of M&A. in the Fraser Range where IGO is finally
has meant during shift changes we can “We are not feeling compelled to do ready to start testing individual targets and
continue bogging which has aided pro- something, but we are looking all the time,” prospects.
ductivity. If we were operating manually he said. “With our assets performing and “In the Fraser Range the last 3-4 years
underground, there would be several more our balance sheet, we are better set up we have consolidated land and have
stoppages during those changes. We than at any time in the past to instigate a been doing big regional geophysical and
have also performed remote blasting un- transaction. However, it is all about finding geochemical programmes,” Bradford said.
derground which, again, can be performed the right asset, another project which is “We are now at the stage where all the re-
when manual operations cannot. aligned with our focus on the clean energy gional work is finished and we are working
“It is the same in the plant with improve- thematic. though targets, prioritising them and drill-
ments to recovery; every recovery im- “There is a large basket of products as- ing them. Across the belt we have gener-
provement is like free money to us.” sociated with that and while we have in- ated hundreds of targets.”
The wealth of data being generated by vestigated lithium and had a good look at It is an enviable position which few peers
Nova presents its own challenges. Brad- rare earths, nickel and copper remain the can replicate. If early success is achieved,
ford admits IGO took some time to har- standouts. We see copper as critical to the Bradford’s bright outlook at the start of
ness the power of this information. entire spectrum of clean energy and the FY2021 may be eclipsed in FY2022.
“One area we could have done more electrification of transport.”
on earlier was in building those special- The global pandemic-led recession has – Dominic Piper
ist skills and capacity on data but we are raised questions about EV and clean en-
doing it now,” he said. “It’s not just about ergy adoption timeframes, but Bradford

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