Page 24 - pd249 May17 mag-web
P. 24
COVER
of drilling needed and the market wasn’t
conducive to raising more money,†Ali-
canto managing director Schwertfeger
told Paydirt.
Instead of battening down the hatches,
Alicanto kept momentum in the project,
adopting a no-frills approach at Arakaka.
“We couldn’t afford drilling so we went
to a back-to-basics approach on the
ground; doing the mapping and the soil
sampling and pulling together the data-
sets to build the geological picture at
Arakaka in anticipation of it being ready
when the market turned,†Schwertfeger
said.
Chief geologist Marcus Harden was
given the task of leading the low-cost ex-
ploration push and he now sees the pe-
riod as a blessing in disguise for Alicanto.
“You often need that time on green-
fields projects but rarely get it when
investors are in pursuit of high-grade
drilling results,†Harden told Paydirt on
site at Arakaka. “But, the board made
the conscious decision that early drilling
wouldn’t change anything anyway so we
had more than a year to put the geologi-
“Alicanto chief geologist Marcus Harden has been integral to building the geological cal picture together.â€
understanding of Arakaka, a key attraction to Barrick The result was a comprehensive as-
sessment of Arakaka
Evidence of large gold You often need that time on which further reinforced
systems in Guyana was greenfields projects but rarely the company’s belief it was
there. All the gold majors capable of hosting multimil-
had been present at vari- get it when investors are in pursuit of lion ounce deposits.
ous times without seeing
With the market still far
high-grade drilling results. But, the
things through and the board made the conscious decision that from welcoming towards
more recent discoveries at juniors with ambitious ex-
Aurora (Guyana Goldfields ploration plans, Schwert-
Inc) and Karouni (Azimuth/ early drilling wouldn’t change anything feger and the board chose
Troy Resources Ltd) had anyway so we had more than a year to to use the geological un-
proven economic deposits derstanding Alicanto had
were present. put the geological picture together. compiled to find a different
Alicanto picked up funding option.
Arakaka and the Tassawini “There are probably four
gold project at the end of projects for a junior within
2012 when it acquired Strata- that one project area so it
Gold Guyana Inc from Takara would’ve been a big funding
Resources Inc in a $650,000 challenge going it alone,†he
deal. Takara had largely fo- said. “Instead, we made a
cused on Tassawini (taking conscious effort to get a JV
it to feasibility study) but Ali- partner for the project. We
canto swiftly changed focus opened up the data room
to Arakaka, which had been and had a number of mid-tier
previously drilled by New- and major companies show
mont Mining Corp. interest before we eventually
To Alicanto, Arakaka had struck a deal with Barrick
potential for multimillion [Gold Corp].
ounce discoveries; the prob- “We had turned the down-
lem was the hostile mar- turn to our advantage be-
ket conditions of early 2013 cause without that time and
meant juniors with ambitious work we couldn’t have taken
plans were finding it impossi- the project to the majors.
ble to raise support. That year of low-cost explo-
“We saw value in a differ- ration ultimately added a lot
ent place to StrataGold but Arakaka’s jungle environment is tough on exploration vehicles. of value to the project.â€
we couldn’t afford the kind Site mechanic Andrew Makanlall works on a Toyota Hilux The JV agreement offers
PAGE 24 MAY 2017 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT
