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Fellow geologist Lynda Burnett was particularly impressed with Osborne agreed.
the science used by the Predictive team to unearth Bankan. “For a very small company to drill a 500m deep hole, that’s a
The Regis Resources Ltd non-executive director also heaped very big bet and very gutsy but obviously it’s paid off in spades,”
praised on consulting geologist Bianca Manzi for her role in he said. “I think that’s testament to the people who picked up
expediting the resource. the ground to start with and those who have worked up the
“They have used good science, predictive work, combined all geophysical and geological processes to target what is clearly
the geophysics, geology and conceptual targeting, followed that now a world-class deposit.”
through, made a discovery, in a completely new area, and then Last year’s Explorer of the Year De Grey Mining Ltd was again
drilled it out into a resource in 17 months,” Burnett said. in contention and put forward a very strong case after posting a
“Bianca is an incredibly hardworking person, and my gut feel is bumper maiden resource of 6.8 moz @ 1.1 g/t gold for Hemi in the
that she would have contributed a huge amount to putting that all West Pilbara. The company followed up that announcement with
together. She deserves a lot of credit for getting that done in such a scoping study which outlined a 10 mtpa operation producing
a short timeframe.” 427,000 ozpa over 10 years for a capex of $835 million.
A close runner-up to Predictive was London-listed Greatland Morgans institutional sales director Paul Carter said De Grey
Gold plc for its Havieron discovery, about 45km east of Telfer in continued to deliver on what are very high expectations of Hemi
Western Australia’s Paterson province. The company has since post discovery.
brought Newcrest Mining Ltd into the fold and is now in the throes “It’s a world-class deposit in a Tier 1 jurisdiction – I know those
of development. things get bandied around but it is a Tier 1 deposit, it will definitely
host 20 moz and it’s just near Port Hedland,” he said.
“A lot of Australians will be a little bit perturbed about the metallurgy,
but the Super Pit is refractory and there’s plenty of people who
take refractory concentrates, etc. From my perspective, to
nominally come out and produce 400,000 ozpa is absolutely
sensational. And they’ll continue to find more.”
Mining engineer and ChemX Materials Ltd chair Kristie Young
is looking forward to seeing Hemi developed into a full-blown
mining operation.
“At some point, I would say right about now, investors will be
expecting a transition across to production,” she said.
“Project economics are key, I love a good financial model.
Projects in Australia are low risk from a jurisdictional perspective,
which really pulls it back to basic project financials – NPV, IRR,
payback, mine life, what’s in the ground, how much is it worth,
and how much will it cost to get it all done. I’m a big believer of a
robust financial model, with sensible inputs.”
Other contenders for the award were Tietto Minerals Ltd which
completed both a PFS and a DFS, as well as growing the
resource at its Abujar project in Cote d’Ivoire to 3.35 moz in the
Lynda Burnett
past year and Alkane Resources Ltd which is set to unveil its
maiden resource for the Boda porphyry discovery in New South
An initial PFS released in October focused on development of Wales over the coming months.
just South East Crescent and processing via existing facilities Burnett urged Alkane to continue backing the strategy which led
at Telfer. The study forecast production of 1.43 moz gold and to the discovery of Boda two years ago.
62,000t copper over nine years for an AISC of $990/oz ($US643/
“I think they’re one to watch,” she said. “I haven’t followed them
oz), which would see Greatland immediately installed as the
super closely, but I do know they’ve been backing themselves
world’s second lowest-cost gold producer.
and drilling more holes and making it bigger.
Burnett highlighted the courage of Greatland founder Callum
“Whether its economic or not, it’ll depend on geometry, cover,
Baxter and former chief executive Gervaise Heddle to commit
gold price, copper price, all those sorts of things. They already
to drilling under some 500m of cover to discover Havieron and
had a bit of an idea of what they had, because they’ve been
attract the attention of Newcrest at a time when Telfer’s future
drilling in that area and looking at porphyries for a very long time.
looked bleak.
Technically, it’s fabulous but they still haven’t put a resource out
“Newcrest wouldn’t probably have touched it if they hadn’t been yet and until then the economics are in question. But they’re
so desperate to keep their mine operating,” she said. “It was definitely one to watch.”
serendipity that Newcrest could spend the money and turn it into
what it is. Greatland probably could have done it themselves, but
they would have diluted their shareholders because there would
have been a lot of money needing to be raised.”

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