Australian Resources & Investment December 2022

VOLUME 16 NUMBER 6 | 2022

Australian Resources & Investment A DISRUPTIVE BUT FRUITFUL 2022

IMARC 2022: AN INVESTMENT PARADISE

THE AGE OF ENERGY NATIONALISM

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COMMENT

An eventful year is in the books TOM PARKER Tom.Parker@primecreative.com.au

T

What a year it’s been, with sustained adversities offset by soaring prices for some commodities. If the global resources sector was to ever get a reality check, 2022 would have been it.

his year has presented its challenges, with geopolitical and economic uncertainty compounded by sustained supply-chain disruptions, labour shortages and extreme weather events, to name a few.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24 saw countries and jurisdictions across the world impose sanctions on Russia, crippling its trade and production as a result.

This sent already-tight commodity markets into a spin, with energy commodities particularly affected given Russia is a leading exporter of oil, gas and coal.

As European nations scrambled to access alternative energy supplies amid sweltering summer conditions, coal prices surged and have since maintained their gusto, benefiting the Australian coal sector.

This saw the likes of Whitehaven Coal, New Hope Corporation and Yancoal enjoy record coal prices and soaring profits. However, windfalls were quelled by extreme rainfall, with production affected at many New South Wales and Queensland coal mines during 2022.

In our final edition of 2022, we sat down with Ernst & Young (EY) consulting partner Michael Rundus to reflect on the year just gone and talk about the firm’s recent report exploring the top 10 business risks and opportunities for the mining and metals sector in 2023.

Environmental, social and governance (ESG) topped the list for a second year in a row, with geopolitics coming in at two (four in 2022), climate change at three (two in 2022), license to operate at four (three in 2022) and costs and productivity at five (10 in 2022).

Rundus said ESG maintained its position at the top as it permeates every risk on the list.

“ESG-related issues made up the entire top three risks of last year’s report – each with a significant, distinctive impact that made it impossible to treat them as one risk,” Rundus told Australian Resources & Investment.

“ESG is now inherent in every single risk this year, which created a real challenge for our team writing the report, but I think truly highlights a risk that has further broadened with stakeholders and cannot be ignored.”

Elsewhere in this issue, Tony Featherstone discusses the success of mining IPOs amid a tough 2022 market, while Regina Meani reflects on coal’s stellar year.

Alexandra Colalillo explores the theme of ‘energy nationalism’ and how the global energy crisis has seen certain countries exploit and weaponise energy supply.

Staying local, we head south and profile the historic and emerging Victorian goldfields and discuss the key investment takeaways from the International Mining and Resources Conference.

Happy reading.

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W W W. A U S T R A L I A N R E S O U R C E S A N D I N V E S T M E N T. C O M . A U

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CONTENTS

I N T H I S I S SU E T H E F E AT H E R S T O N E R E P O R T

8

Miners shine in tough IPO market

PROFILE

34 Larvotto carves out a multicommodity future

15

F E AT U R E D R E N E WA B L E S

12

Analysis with Regina Meani

14

A disruptive but fruitful 2022

36 Powering up for renewable energy at mine sites

18 IMARC 2022 delivers an investment paradise

MINE CLOSURE

40 The art of mine closure and rehabilitation

GOLD

20

OreCorp’s golden future

22

Victoria’s endless treasure chest

D R I L L I N G T E C H N O L O GY

26 The Lachlan Fold Belt: A Legacy of exploration

28

44 The rise of the Pit Viper 46 The water well drilling specialist

Gold247: A vision for the gold market FOLLOW THE LE ADERS R E S O U R C E N AT I O N A L I S M

30

48

he latest executive movements in T the resources sector

The age of energy nationalism EVENTS IRON ORE

32

Hawsons Iron weathers the storm

40

50

hat’s happening in the resources W industry?

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F E AT H E R S T O N E R E P O R T

THE

Featherstone REPORT

MINERS SHINE IN TOUGH IPO MARKET

BY TONY FEATHER STONE

Investors turn to resources as floats from other sectors struggle to get traction.

Booming interest in lithium stocks buoyed the resources sector in 2022.

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ining and energy companies remain a rare bright spot in the Australian initial public offerings (IPO) market, as resources-sector outperformance supports listings.

Analysis by Australian Resources & Investment identified 124 mining IPOs on the ASX in the 2021–22 financial year (FY22).

Six energy companies listed in that period.

For context, there were around 200 total listings on ASX in FY22. By listing volumes, diversified mining and energy (materials) companies have dominated a tough IPO market.

Materials companies raised just over $2

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billion in FY22 through IPOs, but two large IPOs – 29Metals and Vulcan Steel – skewed that figure.

29Metals, a copper producer that listed in September 2021, raised $527 million.

The Melbourne-based company was worth $961 million upon listing and was the sixth largest IPO from last year.

Vulcan Steel listed on ASX in late November 2021 and raised $371 million in its IPO. It was valued at $933 million at its $7.10 issue price.

Vulcan soared after listing to a 52-week high of $10.47 but traded at $8.05 in early November in a weak equities market.

29Metals rallied from its $2 issue price to a 52-week high of $3.35. But after heavy market falls in mid-2022, it was at $2.07 in early November.

Beyond Vulcan and 29 Metals, however, was a different story for mining and energy IPOs. The median capital raised was only $6.23 million for each IPO in those sectors, reinforcing the challenges of raising capital for speculative companies in a bear market.

Heightened equity-market volatility is a tough backdrop for IPOs. When investment risks rise, more investors retreat to the safety of cash or prefer large-cap companies

AUSTRALIAN RESOURCES & INVESTMENT

that have stronger balance sheets and diverse operations.

This ‘risk-off’ approach has sparked carnage in small-cap stocks. The S&P/Small Ordinaries Index, which measures stocks ranked 101–300, has lost almost 20 per cent (on a total return basis) over one year. In contrast, the S&P/ASX 200 Index has lost three per cent in that period.

As aggregate equity returns fall, it’s no surprise that investors have shunned IPOs; most of them have been speculative micro-cap stocks.

The resources sector has yet again been an exception. The S&P/ASX 200 Resource Index is up 26 per cent over one year.

High commodity prices underpinned gains in the resources sector, as did booming interest in lithium and coal stocks.

But on a year-to-date basis, the S&P/ASX 200 Resource Index is up 12 per cent, having given back earlier gains.

Share-price falls in BHP Group, Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals Group this calendar year have weighed on returns.

HIGHLIGHTS WA1 Resources (ASX: WA1) is this year’s IPO star. The gold-copper explorer raised $4.5

Mining and energy companies remain a rare bright spot in the Australian initial public offerings market. million and listed on the ASX in January.

The stock was worth $5.3 million at listing.

WA1’s $0.20 issued shares soared to a 52week high of $2.92, providing windfall gains for investors in its IPO. The shares traded at $1.76 in early November.

In August, WA1 announced the results from its maiden drill program at its West Arunta project in central Western Australia near the Northern Territory border. The company hit paydirt at the first hole drilled (of seven) at the P2 target, discovering a niobium-rare earths system.

WA1 has attracted huge industry and investor interest, and has this year been a favourite among day traders, who

speculated on the pending result from WA1’s next six holes.

Far East Gold (ASX: FEG) has been another IPO standout. The Brisbane-based gold-copper explorer has advanced projects in Queensland and Indonesia, and raised $11.7 million through an IPO in January. Far East’s $0.20 issued shares soared to a high of $0.76, easing to $0.67 in early November.

In June, Far East reported the presence of free gold from its Woyla copper-gold project in Indonesia. Previously explored by Barrick Gold and Newcrest, Woyla can be drilled over its entire strike length for the first time after the Indonesia Government issued a decree granting a borrowed-use licence.

High commodity prices underpinned gains in the resources sector in 2022.

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F E AT H E R S T O N E R E P O R T

Tony Featherstone is a former managing editor of BRW, Shares and Personal Investor magazines. The information in this article should not be considered personal advice. It has been prepared without considering your objectives, financial situation or needs. Before acting on information in this article consider its appropriateness and accuracy, regarding your objectives, financial situation and needs. Do further research of your own and/or seek personal financial advice from a licensed adviser before making any financial or investment decisions based on this article. All prices and analysis at November 11 2022.

In an ASX company announcement, Far East described Woyla has “one of the most highly prospective undrilled copper-gold projects in south-east Asia”.

Far East believes Woyla has potential to host high-grade epithermal and porphyry deposits.

Far East’s 51 per cent interest in Woyla will increase to 80 per cent when the feasibility study and definition of a maiden resource estimate that complies with the Joint Ore Reserve Committee (JORC) Code is complete. Woyla could be a companymaking project for Far East – a possibility not lost on early investors in its IPO. Among other highlights, Lithium Plus Minerals (ASX: LPM) shares have more than doubled their $0.25 issue price, hitting $0.62 in early November.

Lithium Plus listed on the ASX in February and raised $10 million through an IPO. Its early success continues the growth of mining-exploration companies that are raising IPO capital to develop minerals, such as lithium, that are needed for battery storage and other aspects of green energy and the global move towards decarbonisation. More IPOs in green-energy minerals are expected in 2023.

In October, Lithium Plus announced high-grade lithium intercepts at its Lie Prospect in the NT. The Lei Prospect is about

Heightened equity-market volatility is a tough backdrop for IPOs.

2km south of Core’s BP 33 deposit, which has a large JORC-compliant resource.

“It is extremely encouraging to have confirmed a significant strongly mineralised pegmatite system at Lei, located only 1.5km from Core Lithium’s development centred on the Grants pegmatite,” Lithium Plus said in an ASX announcement in October.

In gold exploration, Southern Cross Gold (ASX: SXG) has rallied. The company wants to lead a renaissance of Victoria’s goldfields.

Melbourne-based Southern Cross raised $9.1 million in an IPO and listed on the ASX in March 2022, valuing the company at $12.4 million. Its $0.20 issued shares rallied to a 52-week high of $0.78 soon after listing, before easing to $0.47.

The company announced promising drilling results at its Sunday Creek project in Victoria, describing them as “spectacularly wide”.

In other precious metals, Southern Palladium (ASX: SPD) has rallied to $0.86 from a $0.50 issue price. Southern Palladium raised $19 million its IPO, making it one of the larger resource-sector listings this year. The company joined the ASX in April.

Used in the automotive industry, palladium has attracted greater interest this year amid supply risks in South Africa and Russia. Southern Palladium’s IPO was

well timed and it appears to be making good progress at its Bengwenyama PGM (platinum group metals) project, in which it holds a direct 70 per cent stake.

UPCOMING IPOS Listings across the market have slowed sharply in the second half of 2022 in the face of the ongoing sell-off in global equities. ASX data shows only 15 companies had IPOs in early November. The majority were mining explorers.

The fourth quarter is typically the busiest for IPOs, as companies try to close their offer before the Christmas break.

This year’s fourth-quarter activity looks unusually quiet, however, although IPO listings volumes can change quickly.

As always, speculative micro-caps – particularly those raising capital through an IPO – feel the brunt of the global bear market. Moreover, for every resource IPO that has starred this year, many more resource floats have lost investors money.

Among upcoming resource IPOs, Richmond Vanadium Technology and Toubani Resources are the largest proposed listings. They sought $35 million and $32.5 million, respectively, in their IPOs and were expected to list in November 2022, as Australian Resources & Investment went to print.

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F E AT U R E D

— ANALYSIS — WITH REGINA MEANI Coal: The big winner for 2022 IN SELECTING THE best performing stocks for 2022, we gauged their performance from January through to the end of October.

While many stocks started the year well and may have outperformed in the first half of the year, the second half saw much of that performance lost either within a broad downturn or increased volatility. So we looked for stocks that had held a steady upward trend and did not experience too much volatility.

The big winners were mostly found in the coal sector, but there was an outstanding performance from a stock we discussed in the last issue of Australian Resources & Investment, Quantum Graphite Limited, which gained some 200 per cent in the period.

Coal soared throughout 2021 and into 2022, with the price only recently beginning to soften. It seems global demand has been fuelled by the markets and governments racing to stock up on traditional energy supplies amid blockages caused by the Russia–Ukraine war.

Added to this is that the effect of the green energy movement, which has seen less investment in coal-powered energy facilities. As the European winter descends, demand for coal is increasing due to the shortage of gas from the reduction in the use of Russian supplies, and this may flow through to shorten the current downturn in coal prices.

Most Australian stocks participated in the June market sell-off but some were able to hold their trends better than others.

New Hope Group was one of the better performers, which can perhaps be attributed to its diverse business interests and operations which span coal mining, exploration, port operation, oil, agriculture, innovative technologies and investment.

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New Hope’s performance can possibly be attributed to its diverse business interests and operations.

For our analysis period of between January and October, the coal price gained over 150 per cent, adding some 23 per cent if its peak in September is taken into account.

The recent dip on coal price has had an impact on the value of the New Hope Group, but it maintains its strongly rising trend from its low point in 2021 at $1.13.

The rise from this level completed the first stage of its basing process, catapulting the price towards $2 in a few weeks.

The upward path saw the price reach its peak at $7.46 on October 21, gaining in excess of 220 per cent. In reaching this level, the price had pushed through the upper limits of its trend channel and, combined with momentum divergence,

a pullback towards support was initiated.

Going towards the end of 2022 and into 2023, the price may oscillate within the trend path between $5.40 and $7 as it regains its trend strength.

It’s not signalled at this time, but a drop below $5 would indicate a fall in the trend to around $4.50 with a risk to $4 before the upward path is resumed towards $8 and potentially towards $15.

Whitehaven Coal’s share price gained over 300 per cent from January until it peaked at $11.04 on October 7. Along with the price for coal, Whitehaven’s price pulled back into November, but the indications are turning favourable for a more short-lived breather in the upward path.

AUSTRALIAN RESOURCES & INVESTMENT

Whitehaven Coal’s share price gained over 300 per cent from January until it peaked at $11.04 in October.

Whitehaven Coal is a dominant player in Australia’s only emerging high-quality coal basin in Gunnedah, New South Wales, where it operates three open-cut mines and one large underground mine.

Whitehaven has complimentary premium assets at the Vickery, near Gunnedah, and Winchester South in Queensland’s Bowen Basin.

The company produces high-quality metallurgical and thermal coal for export to advanced and developing economies across north and south-east Asia.

In reaching $11 in October, the price became extremely overbought in reaction to the steepness of the rise.

In a similar fashion to the New Hope price, it had accelerated through the upper limits of its trend path and needed to lessen the gradient of its rise. The price has entered a pause/pullback phase and more developments may occur within that phase before the upward path is resumed.

Support is located in the $8–8.50 area.

A fall through $7.80 would indicate a more significant pullback towards trend support located between $6.30 and $6.50. When the upward path is resumed, resistance would be located between $10 and $11 and, once cleared, the share price would have the potential to head towards $17 and possibly significantly higher.

For New Hope and Whitehaven, traders and investors may see opportunities during the pause phase, but they should use caution with tight stop losses in place.

While it’s not in the coal winners’ circle, we must include Woodside Energy Group, which entered a new era on June 1 with its merger with BHP Petroleum. Woodside is now one of the top 10 global independent energy companies by production and the largest energy company listed on the ASX. The merger sets up Woodside to become a significant energy supplier for

the world’s increasing demands now and into the future. Its diverse portfolio allows for additional growth opportunities and the increased capacity to steer through the energy revolution.

Starting 2022 with a share price of $22.15, the value rose strongly to reach $34.60 in early March, where the price paused and began a period of 15–20 per cent oscillations within its upward path.

Within the upwards oscillations, the price attained $36.26 on October 31, gaining over 63 per cent during the period.

Moving into November, the price was punching higher and attempting to break free of the longer-term downward trend that has been hampering the price from the peak in 2008.

Beginning to break clear of its downtrend challenges in the $36–37 range, the price faces higher resistance around $39.50 and then closer to $45, with the ability to move much higher through its alltime peak. Over the near term, a drop below $34.75 would suggest a false attempt to break the trend and indicate more action within the oscillations phase with critical support located between $30 and $31. Other coal stocks that have been more volatile during 2022 but still achieved significant results by October 31 are Terracom Limited, up over 400 per cent; Stanmore Resources, over 180 per cent; and Yancoal Australia, over 100 per cent.

Woodside Energy Group merged with BHP Petroleum on June 1.

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INDUSTRY OUTLOOK

Coal prices surged in 2022 as countries scrambled to access alternative energy supplies.

A disruptive but fruitful 2022 This year has presented its challenges, but many of the disruptions have paved the way for the industry’s continued evolution.

T

he global resources sector has endured a testing 2022, a year riddled with geopolitical and economic uncertainty.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24 sent the world’s alreadytight commodity markets into a spin. As countries and jurisdictions across the globe imposed sanctions on Russia, the country’s trade and production was crippled Given Russia is a world-leading exporter of oil, gas and coal, these markets were affected first, with oil prices quickly soaring to over $US130 per barrel, and gas prices soon following suit.

In the wake of the Russia–Ukraine war, Europe endured a historic energy crisis amid a sweltering summer. As countries scrambled to access alternative energy supplies, coal prices surged and have since maintained their gusto, benefiting the Australian coal sector.

Whitehaven Coal, which operates four mines in the Gunnedah Basin of New South Wales, achieved a record average coal price of $581 per tonne (t) in the September quarter of 2022 ($514/t in the June quarter).

The company shifted coal at $189/t in the September quarter of 2021.

Yancoal, which operates mines in NSW and Queensland, enjoyed an average coal price of $481/t in the September quarter, a 31 per cent rise from the June quarter and 210 per cent jump from the September quarter of 2021.

But with windfalls came concessions, and geopolitics again played its part.

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In June, the Queensland Government introduced a new system for coal royalties in response to record prices. This significant change came after what had been a 10-year royalty freeze on the sector.

Under the new three-tiered system, the royalty rates are 20 per cent for coal prices above $175/t, 30 per cent for prices above $225/t, and a 40 per cent tier that would apply when prices exceed $300/t.

Mining companies such as BHP, Coronado Global Resources, Anglo American and Bowen Coking Coal – all of which have coal assets in Queensland – expressed concerns over the new royalties, particularly considering the lack of engagement from the State Government prior to their introduction.

Ernst & Young consulting partner Michael Rundus said resource nationalism was an increased concern for mining companies.

“Changing governments in key mining regions such Australia, Peru, the US and Chile mean miners are waiting to see what new policies and taxes will emerge,” Rundus told Australian Resources & Investment. “Many miners are fearful of the re-emergence of resource nationalism – 72 per cent of miners we surveyed were anticipating some form of resource nationalism to recoup debt incurred during the pandemic.

“We have already seen this in Queensland, with coal royalties and we may see use of other instruments such as windfall taxes.”

EY releases a report each year considering the 10 most important business risks/opportunities facing the mining and metals sector in the following calendar year, and geopolitics rose from fourth to second on the 2023 list.

Environmental, social and governance (ESG) topped the list for a second year in a row, with climate change coming in at three (two in 2022), license to operate at four (three in 2022) and costs and productivity at five (10 in 2022).

Rounding out the top 10 were supplychain disruption at six, workforce at seven, capital at eight, digital and innovation at nine, and new business models at 10.

In preparing the report, EY surveyed global mining and metals executives between June and August 2022, with most respondents from the C-suite.

With the heightening stresses of geopolitics, climate change, license to operate and costs and productivity, it begs the question: why is ESG again considered the key business risk/ opportunity facing the global mining and metals sector in 2023?

“ESG-related issues made up the entire top three risks of last year’s report – each with a significant, distinctive impact that made it impossible to treat them as one risk,” Rundus said. “ESG is now inherent in every single risk this year, which created a real challenge for our team writing the report but I think truly highlights a risk that has further broadened with stakeholders and cannot be ignored.”

AUSTRALIAN RESOURCES & INVESTMENT

ESG continues to grow in stature and importance in the global mining sector, with each of the three pillars increasingly influencing investor sentiment and the overarching financial prosperity of the industry.

“Good governance is always going to be a top trend, but investors and analysts are smarter,” a senior mining executive in EY’s report said. “It’s no longer a ‘check the box’ exercise.”

ESG spans so many different considerations and variables that it is difficult to condense; however, mining companies that don’t take it seriously risk being left out in the cold.

“Miners need to take a holistic approach to ESG – a focus on one area isn’t enough,” Rundus said.

“Integration of ESG into corporate strategy is key to success; it impacts all areas of the business and so cannot be left to a small department to solve.

“The goal needs to be net-zero in all aspects of ESG and miners need to be able to report effectively on this.”

Despite the sector’s disruptions, Rundus said the global mining and metals industry has a critical role to play into the future, with an uplift in capital forecast.

“The energy transition will begin and end with mining and metals and so I think we can remain bullish on the outlook,” he said.

“The shockwaves of the Ukraine war have led to an acceleration of (the) energy

Ernst & Young consulting partner Michael Rundus.

transition. There is so much capital being invested into technology solutions, renewables, hydrogen and green metals, and this is likely to accelerate at a rate the sector is not prepared for, particularly as countries take energy security into their own hands.”

The infrastructure of ESG itself is also transforming, and miners most open to change could benefit the most.

“The combination of social and environmental issues with digital transformation is driving sector-wide disruption,” Rundus said.

“And we would expect to see changes to portfolios and risk appetite, and more

fundamental shifts to business and operating models.

“Companies that do this successfully will future-proof their business model to better deal with disruption and changing commercial relationships, and ultimately win competitive advantage.”

The global resources sector could hope for more stability in 2023 but, given recent disruptions feel more evolutionary than ephemeral, that might be wishful thinking.

Either way, the energy transition cannot be achieved without the earth’s minerals, making mining and metals a wise investment into the future.

Supply-chain issues were a major feature of the mining industry throughout 2022.

– 15 –

EVENTS

IMARC 2022 delivers an investment paradise The most influential people in the resources industry recently came together for IMARC 2022. Australian Resources & Investment was on to the ground to examine the key investment opportunities.

T

his year’s International Mining and Resources Conference (IMARC) was a special event on the resources calendar, with this iteration marking the event’s first inperson program since 2019.

This year’s conference, which took place from November 2–4, was also the first time the event was held in Sydney.

Accompanying a large exhibition celebrating the latest innovations in the mining equipment, technology and services (METS) sector were several theatres housing panel discussions and presentations exploring a variety of themes.

As a resources and investment masthead, much of Australian Resources & Investment’s time was spent catching talks in the SW Accountants & Advisors investment theatre or

walking through the Mines & Money mining and investment hub, where more than 75 mining and exploration companies had booths to demonstrate their credentials.

The mining pitch battle was marked down as a must-see discussion, with four companies strutting their stuff before a panel of industry investors.

On day one, Sarytogan Graphite, Atlantic Lithium, Galan Lithium and Tinka Resources showcased their abilities, as judges from Lion Selection Company, Resource Capital Funds and Pure Asset Management watched on.

With lithium and graphite represented by three of the companies, there was little doubt the battery revolution was going to permeate the dialogue at some point.

Whether the high profile of these commodities left Sarytogan, Atlantic and Galan in better stead compared with Tinka’s zinc aspirations wasn’t clear, but the investors were always seemingly going to latch onto ‘what’s hot’, for better or worse.

After the four companies were given three minutes to showcase their operation, investors tabled their analyses and picked a winner.

Resource Capital Funds’ (RCF) director – projects Lauren McGregor chose Sarytogan Graphite as her winner, backed by her firm’s leaning for “the big upside”.

Sarytogan, which listed on the ASX in July, is developing its Sarytogan graphite deposit in central Kazakhstan. The project has an inferred mineral resource of 209 million tonnes at 28.5 per cent total graphite content (TGC).

The exhibition showcased the latest innovations in the METS sector.

– 16 –

AUSTRALIAN RESOURCES & INVESTMENT

Many presentations were standing room only.

A drilling campaign was expected to be completed in November, forming the basis of updated mineral resource estimate in the first quarter of 2023.

Graphite is becoming increasingly important in the green energy transition, given the fact it’s indispensable as an anode in lithium-ion batteries.

McGregor commended the four companies’ focus on their license to operate, where they are looking to build out their local workforce, but she couldn’t look past Saratoga’s “shoot for the moon” story.

When asked by the pitch battle facilitator – Melbourne Mining Club chair Richard Morrow – if battery metals were in RCF’s “bailiwick”, McGregor said given her firm has invested in more than 30 commodities over its 25-year history, it will look at anything at the right time.

“The demand story for battery metals is undeniable,” she said. “We’d love to invest more in lithium, but prices at the moment on the equity side make that harder for us.

But on the credit side, it’s a great place to deploy capital.

“At RCF, we’re very focused on battery metals. Having said that, we still see a place for gold, which will continue to be an important commodity for us.”

Pure Asset Management portfolio manager – resources Daniel Porter also selected Sarytogan as his winner.

“From our perspective, we are also pretty focused on those strategic and critical minerals,” he said. “We’re very focused on the graphite space at the moment, so I’ll have to give it to Sarytogan Graphite. There’s some good upside there.

“At Pure, we focus on the credit side as well, so there’s some good gains to be had for (the graphite) space.”

When asked about his thoughts on gold, Porter offered some intriguing insights into the precious metal’s future.

“We’re a little bit contrarian at our fund in that we usually get into things when they’re not so well liked,” he said. “And we’re getting a lot of inbound attention from gold companies, which suggests to us that in about 18 months’ time gold is probably going to be the place to be.

“We’re happy to look at it and we’re pretty bullish on gold down here.”

As for Lion Selection Group, executive director Hedley Widdup said that while he sees a lot of appeal in lithium and graphite, Tinka Resources was his winner.

“I thought the least sexy of the commodities, yet with a clearly enunciated upside in terms of valuation, the price hasn’t had to go sky high for you to make it and well presented in Peru, so for me (it’s) Tinka Resources with the zinc story,” he said.

Tinka Resources, which is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, is developing its Ayawilca zinc-silver project in central Peru.

Tinka announced fresh results from its 2022 drill program in October, with drill hole

Drilling takes place at the Alice River project.

– 17 –

EVENTS

Industry heavyweights presented throughout the conference.

A22-195 returning high-grade zinc results (6m at 18.8 per cent zinc) within a repeated section of favourable limestone.

During his pitch, Tinka president and chief executive officer Graham Carman said Ayawilca was one of the largest undeveloped zinc projects in the world and that if the mine was producing, it’d be in the top 10 zinc producers worldwide.

Underneath Ayawilca’s zinc lies a tin deposit, further bolstering the project’s upside.

Wandering through the Mines & Money mining and investment hub, Australian Resources & Investment chatted to ASX-listed Pacgold about its Alice River gold project in north Queensland. Managing director Tony Schreck said he’d had “a fantastic few days”.

“What we’ve got out of this is we’ve met up with a number of the larger companies, some of the institutional investors coming through,” he told Australian Resources & Investment. “Some of them are existing shareholders and some potential new shareholders, which would be great.”

– 18 –

Schreck said it had been an amazing time since Pacgold launched its initial public offering (IPO) in July 2021.

“On the back of a high-grade gold discovery, we were the best performing gold IPO on the ASX last year,” he said.

“We’ve been drilling all year, putting out some really nice results, and we look forward to continuing (that). We’ve got a lot of news to come out over the coming months.”

In November 2021, Pacgold announced it had hit the widest zone of gold mineralisation yet at Alice River, after drill hole ARDH004 returned 93m at 0.8g/t from 131m. This intersection was made 100m beneath all previous drilling, further enhancing the result.

Pacgold has continued to intersect highgrade gold at Alice River throughout 2022 and Schreck said the company sees enormous scale at the project.

“We think we can see prospects over 30km,” he said. “Our aim is to join those up and show it as part of one large gold system.”

Alongside continued drill campaigns, Pacgold is also conducting geophysical surveys to better understand the extent of Alice River.

The site’s gold history harks all the way back to the early 1900s, where it was first discovered in 1903 and mined until 1917.

A shallow open pit at Alice River was mined in the late-’80s, when 30,000 ounces of gold was produced at 5.6g/t, and a further 3000 ounces was extracted in the ’90s.

After being held by a prospector for 20 years – where only limited exploration was completed – Pacgold acquired Alice River from a deceased estate in December 2020.

“We’ve come in, done new exploration and applied modern exploration models,” Schreck said. “And that’s how we’ve been successful quite quickly with the drilling.

“It (Alice River) had been locked up for 20 years, so coming in here with new ideas and new technologies has been the (key to) success.”

Cyprium Metals is advancing its Nifty copper restart project in Western Australia.

AUSTRALIAN RESOURCES & INVESTMENT

Nifty is represented by an open-pit oxide heap leach SX-EW (solvent extraction and electrowinning) operation, underground sulphide mine and 2.8 million-tonne-perannum sulphide concentrator, which are all in care and maintenance.

Cyprium executive director Barry Cahill told Australian Resources & Investment that once the company has completed a finance process, 2023 will be focused on refurbishing the existing infrastructure Pacgold’s Alice River project in north Queensland.

before recommencing production in the first half of 2024.

“Quite quickly, we go from copper developer to copper producer,” Cahill said.

“Then we get into cash flow, and then cash flow enables us to develop our other projects at Maroochydore and Nanadie Well.”

The Maroochydore project is located approximately 85km south-east of Nifty and has a shallow oxide and sulphide mineral resources of more than 480,000 tonnes of copper.

Evolution Capital completed an investor report on Cyprium in June 2022 and identified Nifty as the sixth largest and highest-grade copper development project in Australia, while Maroochydore was ranked the eighth largest.

While some copper mines produce concentrate, Nifty will produce a cathode product. Cahill said this has its advantages.

“Initially Nifty was started as an oxide heap leach SX-EW (project) and produced about 200,000 tonnes of copper cathode and copper cathode is a final finished product, it’s 99.99 per cent pure copper … and it’s shipped direct to a manufacturer,” he said.

“With concentrate, you’re basically upgrading the mineral to a particular grade and then you’re putting it on a ship and sending it to a smelter in another country. Then the smelter will produce the cathode and the cathode is then sent to the manufacturers.

“So we’re cutting out the middleman.

There’s lots of advantages about what we do commercially and environmentally, but mainly due to commercial reasons it (producing copper cathode) is much more efficient and you make much more on the revenue side.”

Western Mines Group managing director Caedmon Marriott filled Australian Resources & Investment in on the company’s Mulga Tank nickel-copper-platinum group elements project in Western Australia.

After listing on the ASX in July 2021, Western Mines commenced a maiden drill program at Mulga Tank in April this year,

Visible gold core from the Alice River project.

with six out of 10 holes intersecting visible nickel sulphides.

A second drill program was set to commence in November, which Marriott said would extend until March or April next year with the aim to follow up promising targets determined in the first round of drilling.

“There’s the potential for both ends of komatiite exploration,” Marriott said. “We’ve got potential for a Mount Keith-style – a very large disseminated system – or also something more like a Perseverance or Kambalda komatiite channel flow as well.

“So we’re testing several targets to try and narrow it down the discovery in that space.”

Komatiite-hosted nickel sulphide deposits represent some of the world’s largest such deposits.

Mount Keith, Kambalda and Perseverance are all renowned komatiite complexes in WA. The industry might know Mount Keith as a mine within BHP’s Nickel West operation, while Mincor Resources is operating its Kambalda nickel operation.

The Mines & Money mining and investment hub was a hive of activity during IMARC 2022, and if it wasn’t a place for companies to engage with interested passers-by or their peers, juniors were conducting important investor meetings in meeting rooms or at their booths.

Aside from a daily mining pitch battle, many juniors also had the opportunity to deliver a 10-minute presentation on their company from the SW Accountants & Advisors investment theatre.

IMARC was truly the place for knowledgesharing, collaboration and entrepreneurialism.

And the industry have the opportunity to do it all again when IMARC 2023 takes place from October 31 – November 2 at ICC Sydney.

See you there.

– 19 –

GOLD

OreCorp’s golden future OreCorp is developing its Nyanzaga project in Tanzania, which has all the makings of a gold success story. We take a closer look at the project’s future.

I

n March 2021, Tanzania swore in Her Excellency Samia Suluhu Hassan as its new president following the death of previous leader John Magufuli.

This signalled the revival of the African nation’s mining sector as Her Excellency looked to reconcile relations with miners and drive new investment into the industry.

President Hassan announced her desire to improve the economic contribution of the mining sector to at least 10 per cent of Tanzania’s gross domestic product (GDP) by 2025. In 2019, the industry represented 5.2 per cent of the country’s GDP. President Hassan’s appointment also coincided with the approval of OreCorp’s special mining license (SML) to develop the Nyanzaga gold project in the Lake Victoria Goldfields of north-west Tanzania, for which the company had applied in 2017.

The SML was granted to new joint venture company, Sotta Mining Corporation, for an initial term of 15 years. OreCorp holds an 84 per cent interest in Sotta through its subsidiary, Nyanzaga Mining Company. The Government of Tanzania holds the remaining 16 per cent stake as free carried interest.

OreCorp executive chair Matthew Yates said the SML has opened the floodgates for the company.

“We always knew that Nyanzaga was a world-class deposit, and we just needed the permit and the opportunity to build it,” he told Australian Resources & Investment.

“Then we finished the definitive feasibility study (DFS). Henk (Diederichs) led the DFS team as chief operating officer and did a brilliant job to deliver what is a very high margin gold project with an excellent production profile.”

OreCorp announced Nyanzaga’s DFS in August, demonstrating a project capable of producing an average of 234,000oz per annum across 10.7 years. Peak gold production is expected to be 295,000oz per annum, with Nyanzaga to average 250,000oz per annum across the first eight years.

The pre-production capital cost is $US474

– 20 –

OreCorp is targeting first gold from Nyanzaga in the first half of 2025.

million, which includes underground development, open-pit pre-strip, plant and associated infrastructure, and $US36 million of contingency.

A high-margin project with an all-in sustaining cost of $US954/oz, the pre-tax net present value of Nyanzaga is $US926 million, with an internal rate of return (IRR) of 31 per cent based on a $US1750/oz gold price. The payback period is 3.7 years.

OreCorp is targeting first gold from Nyanzaga in the first half of 2025.

The next priority for OreCorp is financing Nyanzaga, with an initial focus on shoring up

the project’s debt profile.

“We’ve started a debt funding process for the project,” Yates said. “So we’ve appointed Auramet International, a debt advisor which has offices all over the world.

“Auramet will basically scour the globe talking to banks and other financial institutions looking for potential lenders who will put money into these projects.”

Yates said OreCorp was looking for “competitive debt” in the mining industry.

To support this search, the company has established a data room with all the relevant documentation for the Nyanzaga project.

AUSTRALIAN RESOURCES & INVESTMENT

OreCorp’s Nyanzaga project is located in the Lake Victoria Goldfields of north-west Tanzania.

“Debt discussions are going very well on two fronts,” Yates said.

“Firstly, we’ve had a lot of interest from financial institutions and we’ve got several CAs (confidentiality agreements) signed and people active in the data room.

“Secondly, we believe that in the nottoo-distant future we’ll start receiving confirmations of interest – whether that’s binary or not – and an idea of the extent of this.

“We consider the carrying capacity of Nyanzaga, because of its robust margins, to be extremely high and we feel you could debt finance maybe 60 or 70 per cent of the project, which goes a long way to mitigating the equity issue.”

The ultimate goal for OreCorp is to ensure financing creates as little dilution as possible for its shareholders, ensuring Nyanzaga has the best opportunity for success.

Above all, it’s critical to have the right asset at your disposal.

“Ultimately, you need to have the right Drilling takes place at the Nyanzaga project.

ingredient to start with, which is a solid project with a high production profile, high margin, and longevity. Nyanzaga delivers on all three,” Yates said.

Diederichs, who was recently promoted to managing director and chief executive officer (CEO) of OreCorp, with Yates shifting to executive chair, said OreCorp was also advancing other priorities at Nyanzaga, such as early contractor engagement.

“We are preparing for early contractor engagement or the FEED (front end engineering design) phase of the project, which will put us in a position – when we get to an FID (final investment decision) – to then place the longlead items and commence early construction work shortly thereafter, by mid-2023,” he told Australian Resources & Investment.

“Then we’re focused on the rest of the construction activities for the next 18 months to two years until we start the commissioning activities for first gold production by mid-2025.”

Yates said his appointment as executive chair means he can focus his efforts on Nyanzaga’s financing, while Diederichs takes charge of project development.

“Once we got to the DFS phase, my role started to move more into financing and progressing that side of the business, whereas the incoming CEO needs to be a lot more focused on the project and how that’s all going to come together – the systems, processes and timelines,” he said.

Yates and Diederichs commenced their new roles from OreCorp’s annual general meeting (AGM) on November 16. Craig Williams retired as OreCorp chair at the conclusion of the AGM. Accompanying Nyanzaga’s economic potential, the project also has strong green credentials. Yates said once the Julius Nyerere hydropower station is up and running, 71 per cent of Nyanzaga’s power would come from hydropower (currently 36 per cent from hydropower), with the remaining 29 per cent from natural gas.

There is also the potential to further uplift Nyanzaga’s renewable capacity.

“There is scope as the project moves forward to contemplate electric underground fleets, as well as the potential use of hydrogen in the open-pit fleet,” Yates said.

“The hydrogen-versus-battery race is running now, as we know, and once you’ve got the first hydrogen truck up and running, as an industry we could potentially look to start generating hydrogen.

“You can only do that if you’ve got plentiful amounts of competitively priced electricity and water, which is exactly what we have today (at Nyanzaga).”

With the DFS complete and the SML granted, OreCorp has a clear runway to elevate its Nyanzaga gold project into production.

In doing so, Tanzania’s renewed economic aspirations are set to get a major boost.

– 21 –

GOLD

The Bendigo region in central Victoria is home to many new and emerging gold projects.

Victoria’s endless treasure chest While it accounts for only one of Australia’s top-five producing gold mines, Victoria has long been known for its high-grade deposits. We take a closer look at the state’s gold mining future.

V

ictoria’s gold mining history predates Australia’s federation.

That history was first ignited by an 1850s gold rush and has carried through to the present day, with a host of mining and exploration companies taking advantage of the state’s high-grade, low-cost potential.

Active gold mines in Victoria include the likes of Fosterville, Costerfield, Stawell and Morning Star, the former of which is considered one of the lowest cost gold operations in the world.

And with many emerging exploration projects looking to enter the production ranks, we shine a light on some of Victoria’s most promising gold assets.

FA L C O N M E TA L S Falcon is advancing its Pyramid Hill project, which was first staked in 2017 and covers an area of over 5000 square kilometres.

– 22 –

Much of the tenure is located in the Bendigo region in the central part of the state, north of Fosterville and the historic Bendigo Goldfields, where more than 22 million ounces of gold have been produced.

After Falcon Metals was demerged from Chalice Mining in December 2021, the company commenced drilling at Pyramid Hill’s Karri prospect in January.

Drilling at Pyramid Hill’s Ironbark prospect would soon ensue, with both targets producing high-grade gold intersections in 2022.

Falcon managing director Tim Markwell said the company had gotten off to a positive start at Pyramid Hill.

“We’ve received some pretty strong results, especially from Ironbark East,” he told Australian Resources & Investment. “It was great to see high-grade gold in the pan of that magnitude.

“In the central part of our permit where Ironbark East is located, there’s a lot of gold and we’re now getting a history of good drill results from that area.”

Falcon announced in July air core (AC) drill hole PHAC1030 had intersected 40m at 2.81 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from 50m of depth, including 26m at 4.2g/t. Within this, there were smaller increments of gold graded at up to 17g/t.

Diamond drilling at Karri in early 2022 also produced encouraging findings, with 6g/t and 7g/t hits emerging from the prospect.

However, these weren’t as significant as Ironbark, which means Falcon has shifted priorities.

“When you’ve got several prospects, you might expect one to stick its head up and demand more attention (than others),” Markwell said.

AUSTRALIAN RESOURCES & INVESTMENT

Kalamazoo Resources is advancing a suite of projects in the Victorian goldfields.

“Prior to this, the Karri prospect was the most advanced target with the biggest dataset, but given our results from Ironbark, that’s the highest priority now.”

Markwell also earmarked the Wandoo prospect as an exploration priority for Falcon, with its potential determined following a first pass benchmarking exercise.

“This year we went back and benchmarked our first pass drilling results at all our prospects against what we initially got at Karri, and the Wandoo prospect stood out as one that demanded more attention,” he said.

“Bearing in mind, we did get some very good results at Karri, such as 5m at 14g/t, including 2m at over 30 grams.

“But the first pass drilling at Wandoo is materially better than what was achieved at Karri at the same stage.”

Chalice completed a diamond drilling campaign at the Karri prospect between September 2020 and February 2021, leading to a 5.1m intersection at 14g/t gold, including 2.2m at 32.1g/t.

But a higher percentage of Wandoo’s first pass drill results were deemed anomalous

compared to Karri’s, and Falcon will strategise its next drill program accordingly.

Falcon has secured two AC drill rigs for a program that will include infill drilling at Ironbark East, as well as infill at other priority prospects. The drill program was set to commence in mid-November.

Beyond that, alongside making a bonafide discovery, Markwell hopes to work towards a resource in the near future.

“It’d be great to say that we’re doing an infill drilling program to get a resource statement out at some point,” he said.

“But we’ve got to be sensible and pragmatic. We’ve got a big ground holding; we’ve got to prioritise our drilling carefully and make sure we hit the best targets first.”

K AL AMA ZOO RESOURCES Kalamazoo Resources has been developing its Castlemaine and South Muckleford gold projects in the Bendigo region of Victoria.

The company also acquired the Mt Piper gold project from Coda Minerals in September. Located 30km from Fosterville, the Mt Piper gold project spans 1609 square kilometres and boosts Kalamazoo’s

total Victorian landholding to 2006 square kilometres.

Kalamazoo’s exploration manager Luke Mortimer said there had been an absence of exploration in the project area surrounding Mt Piper.

“With the Costerfield gold project at the northern end and the Sunday Creek gold project at the southern end (of Mt Piper), there’s a lot of farmland in between,” he told Australian Resources & Investment.

“And when you look at the exploration history and you go through the reports, you can see that not a lot of exploration has been done in this particular area.”

Mortimer said the proximity of Costerfield and Sunday Creek, owned by Mandalay Resources and Southern Cross Gold, respectively, means there must be some continuity between these projects.

“Costerfield has a head grade of 22 grams of gold per tonne – one of the highest headgrade gold mines in the world – and there’s an exciting new discovery to the south,” he said. “This shows us the potential in between has been open which is why we were keen to grab this project.

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GOLD

Falcon Metals’ Pyramid Hill project in Victoria was first staked in 2017.

“We’re also excited about Mt Piper’s mineralisation style, which is akin to a Fosterville style with disseminated gold and an antimony association.

“Antimony is featured on the US Geological Survey’s 2022 list of critical minerals and the Costerfield mine produces an antimony concentrate alongside gold.”

Antimony is also featured on Australia’s list of critical minerals, alongside other highprofile commodities such as lithium, cobalt and vanadium.

Prior to Kalamazoo acquiring Mt Piper, Coda Minerals had already established the project’s potential, highlighted by a headline prospect.

“Coda Minerals had already identified a significant target at the Goldie prospect,” Mortimer said.

“There they’ve found gold mineralisation over a strike of a few hundred metres, and rock chip samples are going at more than an ounce of gold per tonne.

“So there’s been extremely high-grade rock chip results already identified at one prospect and that’s obviously an area that we’ll focus on initially while we do the target generation elsewhere.”

– 24 –

Mortimer said given Mt Piper is largely farmland, Kalamazoo will need to gain land access before exploration can commence on previously untouched areas.

“We generally don’t have any problems working in Victoria, it just takes a bit of time, ongoing communication, and patience,” he said. “You have to progress through the welldefined stages of land access and permitting, but once those things are in place, we’ll be good to go.”

To assist with land access, Kalamazoo has a community liaison representative who engages with local communities to ensure they are aware of the company’s activities.

Mortimer said building community awareness and trust is critical to achieving relevant permitting and approvals to conduct mineral exploration.

Victoria hasn’t always been the easiest state for land access, but the success of Fosterville mine has opened doors.

“Working in Victoria has its challenges and it’s a high-risk, high-reward scenario.

It’s very easy to go out and explore Western Australia, but the economics of those deposits don’t stack up in comparison to a mine such as Fosterville,” Mortimer said.

“But at Kalamazoo, we play both hands.

We have gold projects in the Pilbara and we have gold projects in central Victoria. These are two great areas for gold and we can be working on one while we’re waiting for the field season to commence on the other side of the country.

“We don’t have all our eggs in central Victoria, but we have a great portfolio of projects in the region and are here to stay for a long time.”

Fosterville, which is owned by Canadian mining company Agnico Eagle, produced 81,801 ounces of gold in the third quarter of 2022 at an industry-leading cash cost of $US435 ($644) per ounce.

SOUTHERN CROSS GOLD Southern Cross Gold has intersected high grades aplenty at Sunday Creek as it develops one of Victoria’s most exciting gold projects.

The company added a third drill rig at Sunday Creek in November, enabling it to target each of the Golden Dyke, Rising Sun and Apollo prospects. Of particular interest has been drill hole SDDSC050, designed to drill the Rising Sun shoot in a previously untested west to east orientation.

AUSTRALIAN RESOURCES & INVESTMENT

Prior results indicated the Rising Sun shoot was intersected around 350m deep with multiple zones of gold mineralisation occurring from 393–763m.

Southern Cross Gold said this was the thickest intersection of mineralisation seen to date at Sunday Creek.

As of early November, SDDSC050 was the deepest drill hole on the project by 251m (previous deepest being MDDSC026 at 519.2m).

Southern Cross Gold announced in October it had intersected 48.9m at 3g/t gold equivalent (AuEq) from 182m at SDDSC049, which drilled below old workings at the Golden Dyke prospect for the first time.

Just days before, the junior announced significant results from SDDSC045 at the Apollo prospect, with the drill hole intersecting 0.4m at 52.4g/t from 174.7m and 3.8m at 28.9g/t from 183m, including 0.3m at 362.5g/t.

Sunday Creek is an epizonal gold project, meaning it is associated with high levels of antimony.

WHITE ROCK MINERALS White Rock Minerals delivered first gold from its Morning Star gold mine in October, following an aggressive drilling campaign to restart the historic gold project.

Before being decommissioned in 1963, Morning Star produced 883,000 ounces of gold at an average grade of 26.5g/t.

The mine is located near Woods Point in eastern Victoria.

The company treated 445 tonnes of ore at a feed grade of 10.7g/t from its first weekly processing campaign at Morning Star, which it said puts it among the top five high-grade gold mines in Australia.

“A lot of work has gone into the re-start of this famous Morning Star underground gold mine,” White Rock managing director and chief executive officer Matt Gill said in a press statement.

“White Rock has conducted more than 7000m of drilling since acquisition in August last year.

“Morning Star’s existing infrastructure – shaft, headframe and winder, dewatering system and off-shaft development – and a functional gold processing plant has provided White Rock a rapid pathway to gold production.

“This has allowed the company to leapfrog many of the issues associated with the transition from explorer to producer – the time to achieve the necessary approvals and permits, supply-chain challenges, ordering

Falcon Metals has gotten off to a positive start at Pyramid Hill.

and delivering long lead times and cost inflation and construction risks.”

Gold production was initially focused on the McNally Reef and Dickensen Reef at Morning Star, with the Exhibition Reef and Stacpoole Reef to also become gold sources as development advances.

Production is expected to ramp up into 2023 as more reefs come online.

K AISER REEF Kaiser Reef achieved record gold production of 3512 ounces at 12.1g/t from its A1 mine in the September quarter of 2022. This led to $8.83 million of revenue across the three months.

The A1 mine is located 23km from Jamieson and just north of White Rock’s Morning Star gold mine. Kaiser Reef is exploring opportunities to further uplift

A1’s production, which includes the implementation of a major high-voltage power upgrade to cost $1.5 million.

The company said that as A1 gets deeper, it is achieving higher grades that could enhance the production profile. Kaiser Reef achieved an estimated 18g/t at A1 during August, which is approaching its long-term target grade.

Kaiser Reef is also exploring the possibility of bringing a second gold mine online, the Union Hill mine at Maldon, which has historically produced 2.1 million ounces of gold at 28g/t.

Other ASX-listed companies advancing gold projects in Victoria include Catalyst Metals, Navarre Minerals, Nagambie Resources, Stavely Minerals and Dart Mining, demonstrating a bright future for Victoria’s gold industry.

– 25 –

GOLD

The Lachlan Fold Belt: A Legacy of exploration Legacy Minerals holds six wholly owned tenements in NSW, but one project in the Lachlan Fold Belt presents the most compelling value-creation opportunity.

T

he Lachlan Fold Belt is home to Australia’s largest underground gold mine – Newcrest Mining’s 50-million-ounce (Moz) Cadia Ridgeway operation – as well as Evolution Mining’s 15Moz Cowal gold project, and the New South Wales region continues to demonstrate its endowment with recent exploration successes including Alkane Resources’ 5.21-million-ounce Boda gold project.

Legacy Minerals holds one of the largest under-explored tenures in the Lachlan Fold Belt, a foothold it has gradually cultivated since the company’s genesis in 2017.

Seeing significant untapped potential in the region, Legacy’s founders, Christopher Byrne and Thomas Wall, went to work entrepreneurially and built a portfolio before the rush.

“In 2017, there was a lot of open ground, and we’ve acquired all of our projects through pegging licences,” Byrne told Australian Resources & Investment.

“This involved looking at public, precompetitive data made available by the Geological Survey of NSW, examining legacy projects and reinterpreting them with a modern-day view.”

In the years since, the Lachlan Fold Belt has become a hive for mineral exploration as companies came to understand the potential of the region.

“We built up a critical mass in the Lachlan Fold Belt and then saw a rush of exploration in the region, and we were left with a really strong position in the district as a result,” Byrne said.

“That includes spaces out at Cobar, some good porphyry ground in central New South Wales and our most exciting project at the moment, Bauloora, where we’ve essentially

– 26 –

From left: Legacy Minerals non-executive director Matthew Wall, managing director Christopher Byrne, technical director Thomas Wall, and nonexecutive director Doug Menzies.

pegged a district-scale control over a large epithermal system.”

Legacy Minerals considers Bauloora to be the largest under-explored lowsulphidation epithermal gold system in NSW, which gives the project significant discovery potential.

“Low-sulphidation epithermal mines are operated across the world and make up a significant portion of the gold resource globally,” Byrne said. “What makes these systems so attractive is, if the system is preserved, they’re shallowly emplaced and gold mineralisation is on the surface.

“This can lead to a bulk-tonnage, relatively high-grade system where it can essentially be mined at a very cheap all-in sustaining cost.”

Legacy Minerals is advancing an accelerated exploration program to further understand Bauloora.

In early November, the company announced promising geophysical results

from Bauloora, where analysis of ASTER (advanced spaceborne thermal emission) data identified nine new ‘lookalike’ hydrothermal alteration anomalies.

These are interpreted to be consistent with known gold-silver bearing lowsulphidation epithermal veins mapped elsewhere at Bauloora.

“This is the first time satellite spectral data has been acquired and interpreted over Bauloora and we are greatly impressed with the results,” Legacy Minerals technical director Thomas Wall said in a press statement.

“Legacy Minerals has employed modern ‘smarter’ exploration techniques across its tenure to screen the whole project systematically for unidentified opportunities and to focus on the key targets, reducing time and expenditure.

“The results from the ASTER data have supported the interpretation of the Bauloora epithermal project’s potential

AUSTRALIAN RESOURCES & INVESTMENT

to host significant gold-silver epithermal deposits.”

Other ‘smarter’ exploration techniques conducted at Bauloora include petrographic examination, which has determined the presence of sinter-related lithology over 5.6km of the project.

Sinter is a sedimentary rock primarily composed of silica that is precipitated at or near the surface from hot waters at the vents of hot springs and geysers. The presence of sinter is synonymous with other operating epithermal gold mines.

Identifying sinter preservation, Byrne said, further bolstered Legacy’s confidence in Bauloora.

“This is the first-time petrography has been completed on these prospects and the results, along with the high-grade gold found in previous rock chip sampling, have strongly reinforced our belief that we are sitting on a large, preserved epithermal gold system,” he said.

Legacy Minerals has been exploring Bauloora from various angles to not only expedite the process but also enhance the analysis. Given so much of the tenure is under-tested, there is still so much to discover.

“We’re looking across an area of geochemical gold mineralisation which is about 14 square kilometres, where one drill hole has been completed every 72 hectares,” Byrne said.

“From more than 100 Bauloora targets, we’re looking to select the best prospects and essentially make them into drill campaigns, targeting areas that haven’t been tested before.”

Legacy Minerals holds one of the largest underexplored exploration tenures in the Lachlan Fold Belt.

Byrne said the drill campaigns would then feed Legacy Minerals’ geological work and system modelling to create robust datasets and analysis of Bauloora’s seldomexplored tenure.

“People don’t understand how this district was formed, or understand what happened geologically,” Byrne said. “This is where a new frontier mindset needs to come in.

“We’re trying to balance getting those discovery holes in with building a broader picture of the project, and by early next year we hope to have completed at least one diamond campaign.”

The expansive nature of epithermal systems, where there is often kilometres of strike and many potential prospects, means

Legacy Minerals is advancing an accelerated exploration program to further understand its Bauloora project.

Legacy Minerals will need to be discerning about the targets it hits.

But if the success of early geophysical and petrographic analysis is anything to go by, Legacy Minerals has a fascinating journey ahead of it.

“You consider some of the companies that have explored this region – such as Shell, BHP etcetera in the 1980s – and spend the time looking through the old reports, look through their exploration programs, you start to see some pretty glaring holes,” Byrne said.

“There are some pieces of the puzzle they couldn’t find, so you start devising a strategy around where they didn’t look and build it from there.

“We’re picking up rocks in prospects that no one’s been to before. It almost feels like we’re in remote Papua New Guinea, but instead we’re in central New South Wales, 15 minutes outside of a regional town.

“So we have a pretty amazing opportunity to explore an area which has been tightly held for 40 years.”

Legacy Minerals is completing largescale soil sampling and reconnaissance rock chip sampling campaigns to accompany its drilling ambitions.

The company has also engaged Cobre Nuevo Consulting to complete a thirdparty report on Bauloora’s exploration potential and strategy.

By the end of 2023, when Legacy hopes to have several drill campaigns under its belt, the company will have an even stronger picture of the burgeoning project.

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GOLD

GOLD247: A VISION FOR THE GOLD MARKET The world has never been better placed to bring the global gold industry into the digital era.

Digitalisation is transforming the financial services industry, and the gold market is not immune, writes Andrew Naylor, World Gold Council regional chief executive officer APAC (ex China) and public policy.

I

n order to optimise and enhance our industry, it is essential that we reap the full benefits of digitalisation. Gold247 – the World Gold Council’s vision for the gold industry – is underpinned by digitalisation and comprises three overarching objectives.

First, the gold industry should operate with the highest integrity and proven provenance. Today’s consumers and investors demand to know where their gold comes from, who produced it, and whether it has been responsibly and sustainably sourced.

Gold needs to have unimpeachable credentials, as maintaining the trust and confidence of consumers, investors and regulators is key to broadening participation and unlocking latent demand.

Second, physical gold has to be fully accessible, so everyone can benefit from its wealth-enhancing, risk-mitigating and stabilising role as a financial asset.

This includes gold being traded 24 hours a day and being fully accessible through contemporary channels such as digital investment accounts or simply your iPhone.

Third, we want to ensure gold is fully fungible, which means we should be working to harmonise regional silos, reduce market fragmentation, and ensure

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local and regional gold markets are fully interoperable.

A major focus is gold bar integrity, and the World Gold Council has been working in partnership with the LBMA on a gold bar integrity program. Using distributed ledger technology, the aim is to expand the trusted, closed-loop ecosystem that currently exists for the 400oz gold bar market to also incorporate smaller bars, including kilobars. Over time, this will help consumers, investors and market participants to have further confidence that their gold is authentic and has been responsibly produced and sourced.

Earlier in 2022, the World Gold Council and LBMA convened representatives from the global gold supply chain to pilot using distributed ledger blockchain technology by implementing a secure, confidential, digital supply chain solution for the gold industry.

Tracking gold bars throughout the chain will ensure responsible gold sourcing and product integrity, which will improve trust in the asset class.

Our research shows trust in gold is a barrier to investment. We believe greater transparency and integrity will ensure gold continues to play a major role in the financial system, and will encourage new

investors to allocate to gold. The Gold Bar Integrity Programme is the critical foundation needed for further market reform and digitalisation.

Digitalisation will also expand access to gold, in the retail and institutional markets. In Singapore, for example, there are many ways to buy gold, many of which are anchored on digital technology. One of the country’s leading retail banks offers gold investment accounts, a gold certificate program, and a retail and buyback facility for gold bars and coins.

There are many non-bank financial institutions offering digital gold products.

Consumers can buy physical gold with ease through a digital channel, even in small denominations as low as a gram.

So while there are many digital gold products out there, including gold tokens, the market is somewhat fragmented.

The World Gold Council vision is that digitalisation can transform the market ecosystem globally.

We’re not talking about “paper gold”, but physical gold traded digitally or on digital platforms. But for this to be truly transformative, the industry has to come together to avoid fragmentation, develop a common taxonomy, and deploy interoperable solutions.

AUSTRALIAN RESOURCES & INVESTMENT

If we’re able to combine our efforts on this agreed future vision, I’m confident that gold will remain as relevant as ever in the 21st century.

Andrew Naylor The digitalisation of the gold market – at its essence creating an interoperable and internationally accepted digital twin of gold bars – will ensure the integration of FinTech, the future banking system, and the gold market, expanding access to physical gold as an asset class. Consumers will have choice on how to invest in gold, and greater choice will lead to greater demand.

With the technology now at our disposal everyday, we’ve never been better placed to bring the global gold industry into the digital era. If we’re able to combine our efforts on this agreed future vision, I’m confident that gold will remain as relevant as ever in the 21st century.

Australia is included in the World Gold Council’s Gold Demand Trends report. At almost 30 tonnes of annual demand, it is one of the largest markets in the world on a per-capita-gold-consumption basis.

When we think of Australia and gold we almost always think of our role as among largest (sometimes the largest) producers. Australia is also a major consumer market for gold, but there is still room to grow.

As the market starts to fully embrace digitalisation, new products will ensure that new generations of Australians will continue to benefit from gold’s financial properties – its potential to protect wealth, as a portfolio diversifier, as a hedge against inflation, and as a large and liquid asset class. .

Andrew joined the World Gold Council in 2016 and since 2020 has led our regional office in Singapore. Originally part of the central banks and public policy team, Andrew was responsible for our Islamic finance initiative, culminating in the launch of the AAOIFI Shari’ah Standard on Gold.

Andrew started his career at international consultancy firm Cicero Group advising financial institutions on foreign investment and trade policy in Asia, and the global regulatory reform agenda. In this role, he provided economic and political commentary for global broadcasters including the BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC and China Central TV.

Tracking bars throughout the supply chain will ensure responsible gold sourcing and product integrity.

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E N E R G Y N AT I O N A L I S M

The age of energy nationalism Given its precarious energy situation, many have called on Germany to reevaluate its nuclear exit.

What can we learn from the current state of the world, and why are some countries more compromised than others?

T

he growing influence of rational actors, such as Russia and China, in the transition to a sustainable future has posed a threat to global economic stability.

This influence is borne from the exploitation of the control of supply and politicisation of energy resources, used as a weapon to spur national security panic within countries dependent on those resources.

Along the transitory path to renewable energy, what can we learn, and why are some countries more compromised than others?

C O M P L AC E N C Y A N D A B S E N C E O F F O R WA R D P L A N N I N G In an effort to achieve sustainability targets, we have witnessed instances of minimal planning and consideration to future national security threats in the transition to a lowcarbon economy.

For example, in response to nuclear incidents such as the 1979 Three Mile Island partial nuclear meltdown in the US, the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine, and the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan, Germany adopted a nuclear phase out, with the intent to shut all nuclear reactors by the end of 2022.

However, it’s important to note that fewer people have been affected (per kilowatt of energy produced) from these three nuclear incidents combined than from rooftop solar incidents. To close the

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energy gap from nuclear sources, Germany has instead planned to turn to renewable energy in an effort to achieve its 2045 climate neutrality target.

But critics believe this was a premature decision for two reasons: first, renewable energy sources such as wind and solar PV are not sufficient in scale to support Germany’s electricity needs; second, as global energy prices rise and the Russia–Ukraine conflict continues to pose a threat to Russian gas deliveries, many have called on Germany to re-evaluate its nuclear exit.

In response to geopolitical threats, Germany has since kicked off deals with the world’s top liquified natural gas (LNG) exporter, Qatar, to substitute for lost Russian gas supplies. But while Germany is one of the world’s biggest gas importers (sourcing 95 per cent of its consumption from abroad), the country never planned a perceived longterm economic case for direct LNG imports given its interconnectedness to pipelines from neighbouring countries and because European LNG import capacities were heavily underutilised.

As a result, no up-front investment in infrastructure for a domestic LNG terminal was made and Germany now doesn’t have its own port to receive LNG directly.

This has left the country in a vulnerable position, rushing the development of two domestic import terminals to govern

energy supply on its state territory and guarantee sovereignty. To speed up the construction process in the wake of sanctions on Russia, the German Government has an LNG Acceleration Act, allowing licensing authorities conditions to temporarily waive some procedural requirements under certain.

In addition to one or more fixed onshore terminals, the German Government is supporting the investment in leasing shortterm floating storage and regasification units (FSRU), two of which could be installed as early as the winter 2022–23.

However, critics of Germany’s LNG import terminal developments argue they will further the energy crisis and harm the climate, as they will only be used to import fossil natural gas. The plan will therefore not contribute to the energy transition, but rather cement the country’s dependence on climate-damaging fuels for decades to come.

The east coast of Australia faces a similar position – New South Wales is facing steep hikes in the cost of power and impending supply shortages in the absence of a domestic gas policy. In response, the state is also scrambling to quickly build LNG terminals (eg the $250 million LNG import terminal at Port Kembla, set to be ready to import gas in early 2023).

While Western Australia reserves 15 per cent of gas for domestic use, any move to ship

AUSTRALIAN RESOURCES & INVESTMENT

the state’s gas east would also require the construction of more LNG receival facilities.

ECONOMIC DEPENDENCE O N T R A D I N G PA R T N E R S In an era in which China is prioritising selfsufficiency and reduced dependence on foreign raw materials, Australia’s economic stability is exposed.

China is Australia’s sixth largest trading partner, fifth biggest supplier of imports, and its 10th biggest customer for exports. In fact, 25 per cent of Australia’s manufactured goods are currently imported from China.

While China is economically critical for Australia, the reverse is less true.

For example, 70 per cent of Australia’s exports are resources for which there are alternative suppliers.

An instance where this economic dependency is exploited sits within China’s wider strategy to achieve 45 per cent iron ore self-sufficiency by 2025. This demonstrates China’s determination to wean itself off Australia’s iron ore in an effort to boost domestic iron ore production by 30 per cent, increase investments in overseas mines, and strengthen scrap steel recycling.

Australia’s iron ore profits are now further exacerbated with the recent development of the China Mineral Resources Group (CMRG), set to act as the country’s central iron ore purchaser. This central purchasing power is designed to control iron ore demand and enhance Chinese steel producers’ negotiating power over prices.

An additional critical factor threatening Australia’s iron ore profits is China’s sluggish gross domestic product (GDP), growing just 0.4 per cent in the second quarter of 2022.

While there has been a small rebound in activity amid easing lockdowns, the economy will need to grow by 8.5 per cent in the second half of the 2022 calendar year to reach the nation’s 2022 GDP target of 5.5 per cent – a highly unlikely outcome.

If Australia had not built a dependency on China as a source of export revenue, particularly in WA, and planned to diversify supply chain co-dependence, the economic wellbeing of the state would not be at such threat.

INEFFECTIVE ECONOMIC POLICY RESPONSES Supply chains affected by the COVID pandemic and Russia–Ukraine conflict represented one the greatest global economic shocks in the 15 years since the global financial crisis (GFC).

China’s changing priorities could spell danger for the Australian iron ore industry.

Reduced supplies of energy, metals and agricultural commodities, paired with a stronger-than-expected rebound in demand from the pandemic, placed an upward pressure on output prices for commodities and commodity derivatives in all countries, including Australia.

As a result of surging global energy prices, countries have scrambled to implement policy measures to alleviate inflationary pressures which are now affecting global economic prosperity.

In response, Australia, among other countries, adopted an aggressive and delayed monetary-tightening approach. Since May 2022, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) increased the cash rate by 275 basis points to a peak of 2.85 per cent at the time of writing in November 2022.

However, this economic policy response has been questioned by critics due to the fact inflation has not been driven as much by domestic Australian demand as it has by global supply-chain disruptions. As a result, these cash rate hikes have not had the desired effect to make a material impact on global commodity prices and broader inflationary pressures.

In addition, economic and wage growth has remained mild and employment growth has been sluggish, while inflation persists. This is now materialising the risk of ‘stagflation’, whereby wage growth isn’t enough to warrant inflationary pressures.

And given wages have not followed suit with price growth, the rise in the cost of living has placed a greater-than-desired impact on economic growth. It should be noted that this situation is not unique to Australia.

Due to a lack of forward planning, critical economic dependence on trading partners, and ineffective economic policy over the last 12–18 months, opportunities to minimise exploitation over the control of supply and politicisation of demand for energy resources have been disregarded – and this may well be our undoing.

Alexandra Colalillo is an economist and manager at a multinational professional services firm in Western Australia. A key part of Alexandra’s role involves assisting global and mid-tier mining companies respond to risk, fluctuating economic conditions and building strategies to minimise financial and operational uncertainty. She also hosts her own economics podcast, The Shady Economist, designed to break down topical Australian economics and geopolitics. Alexandra writes about the local, national, regional, and international economy as it relates to the mining and oil and gas sectors.

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IRON ORE

Hawsons Iron weathers the storm I

We chat to Hawsons Iron managing director Bryan Granzien about the company’s renewed focus as it conducts a review and restrategises its namesake iron ore project.

n October, Hawsons Iron made the prudent decision to slow activity on the bankable feasibility study (BFS) for its namesake magnetite project in New South Wales.

As Hawsons non-executive chair Dave Woodall put it at the company’s annual general meeting (AGM) in midNovember, a “perfect storm” of current and emerging economic factors necessitated quick action.

“The inflationary impact of the pandemic, combined with interest rate policy responses of central banks around the world, and the world’s geopolitical turbulence have generated strong market headwinds,” he said.

“In short, the cost of steel is up, the Aussie dollar is down significantly, the cost of energy is up, supply chains are more costly – if they are working at all – and lead times have blown out.

“On top of that, raising capital at this time is extremely difficult and options are limited.

“It’s a perfect storm of current and emerging economic factors that will pass and is not uncommon in the mining industry.”

No company is being spared from the economic turbulence, and those that are proactively responding and re-strategising will be best positioned to weather the storm.

Having slowed its BFS activity, Hawsons Iron is conducting a strategic review to evaluate the best pathways for the project.

It will also conceptually consider a multistage mining operation with a lower base production rate to “right-size” the project before eventually scaling up towards the development of the preferred 20-milliontonne-per-annum (Mtpa) operation.

This could involve using existing rail and port infrastructure to reduce upfront capital costs before the possibility of an underground slurry pipeline is considered.

The production phases would range from a minimum of 5Mtpa before achieving the ultimate goal of 20Mtpa. Whatever the revised operation looks like, the critical outcome for Hawsons Iron is to find the capital “sweet spot”.

“There will be a sweet spot based on the volume, capital cost and opex (operational expenditure) – all of those factors need to be considered,” Hawsons Iron managing director Bryan Granzien told Australian Resources & Investment.

“So what we’re saying is, let’s minimise the capital upfront cost wherever we can by using existing infrastructure, but let’s not lose sight of what we’d like to achieve in the long term.

“Most people we’re talking to – whether it’s consultants or banks – can see that this is sensible and probably the only decision in this current climate. And we’re not the only company that’s doing exactly that.”

While activity on Hawsons Iron’s BFS has slowed, it remains the key priority.

The company has already completed a significant amount of work on the BFS and has an advanced understanding of what will be required to elevate the Hawsons Iron project into production.

Granzien said the company “has done a lot of analysis” but more is needed, understanding that the BFS is an important linchpin to Hawsons Iron’s next objective – a capital raise to fund the project’s construction.

“The main trigger (for the project) is raising the capital, but to do that we need a compelling BFS,” Granzien said.

“A BFS is a study, as Dave (Woodall) articulated at the AGM. Studies look at all the details, such that you can answer any

Activity on the bankable feasibility study may have slowed, but it remains the key priority for Hawsons Iron.

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AUSTRALIAN RESOURCES & INVESTMENT

Hawsons Iron is taking proactive steps to weather the current economic storm.

questions from investors when the time comes to raise the capital.”

Just prior to its AGM, Hawsons Iron announced it had signed a binding agreement with Flinders Ports for the potential development and operation of a greenfield port at Myponie Point in South Australia.

It comes after a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MoU) was established between the two in June, with the binding agreement expanded to include the evaluation of lower tonnage options using existing rail and port infrastructure and possibly scaling production and export options over time.

Granzien said for Hawsons to formalise its partnership with an organisation of Flinders Ports’ stature was a significant milestone.

“Flinders Ports understands the Australian maritime environment, as they’re the main operator in South Australia,” Granzien said. “And they’ve got plans to expand, which includes building a multicommodity deepwater port. That’s what’s common between us.

“Flinders Ports has committed their support, knowledge and strong desire to work with us to achieve what we both want to achieve. The agreement is now clear, that given we do raise capital to build the

mine, then they’ll be building, owning and operating that port on our behalf.”

The agreement includes options to use construction of initial port infrastructure to support a barging operation at Myponie Point during the first stage of the project’s development.

There would then be scope to incorporate the direct-to-port underground slurry pipeline as the project expands.

“This approach at Myponie Point could deliver the best of both worlds through a lower output start-up operation at a lower capital cost and a clear pathway forward to expand production to 20Mtpa using the direct-to-port underground slurry pipeline,” Granzien said.

“The strategic review will determine the optimum port and production scale-up over time.”

Given the natural undulations of equities and economies, it’s rare for a mining project to follow a straight line, and it’s how a company responds to its challenges that can best set it up for success.

Hawsons Iron is positioning itself for the long term to create lasting value for its shareholders.

Over the last 12 months, leading global companies have signed letters of intent with Hawsons Iron for offtake of approximately

50Mtpa of its Hawsons Supergrade product (70 per cent iron).

Wood Mackenzie (WoodMac) has identified Hawsons Iron as one of Australia’s most important iron ore projects. In its September report, ‘Pedal to the metal’, which contemplates iron and steel’s $US1.4 trillion shot at decarbonisation, WoodMac said Hawsons Iron would be critical for Australia to “compete in a 1.5°C world”.

WoodMac’s 1.5°C accelerated energy transition scenario (AET-1.5) is a scenario in which global temperatures since preindustrial times are limited to 1.5°C by the end of this century and the world reaches net-zero by 2050.

Without projects like Hawsons Iron coming online, Australia and the world risk not having access to the resources needed to reduce the climate impact of steel manufacturing, which is responsible for around 7 per cent of carbon emissions annually.

The business case for the Hawsons Iron project is clear and the company is adamant a no momentary downturn is not going to deter it from its clear vision to develop the mine.

Because it’s not just in the interests of Hawsons Iron and its shareholders, it’s in the interests of a decarbonised world.

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PROFILE

Larvotto carves out multi-commodity future With its Mt Isa, Eyre and Ohakuri projects, Larvotto Resources holds significant ground in Tier 1 jurisdictions. Australian Resources & Investment sat down with managing director Ron Heeks to discuss the company’s strategy.

Drilling takes place at Larvotto’s Mt Isa project in Queensland.

I

t’s an exciting time to be a Larvotto Resources shareholder, with the company making notable progress at its trio of exploration projects in recent months.

Larvotto’s Eyre project in Western Australia, an early-stage exploration opportunity with the potential for gold, copper, nickel, lithium, rare earths and platinum group elements (PGEs) discoveries, has captured the limelight.

A lithium geochemistry campaign completed at Eyre’s Merivale prospect in early 2022 defined a lithium anomaly across 4km with a high-grade centre over 1km. The maximum grade identified was 126 parts per million (ppm) lithium.

Larvotto said the anomaly bears comparisons to Liontown Resources’ Buldania lithium deposit of 14.9 million tonnes (Mt) at 0.97 per cent lithium oxide and 44ppm

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tantalum oxide located immediately north of Eyre.

Following the success of the geochemistry program, Larvotto in October announced a $3.4 million cornerstone investment from Canadian institutional fund Lithium Royalty Corp. (LRC) and Waratah Capital through its Electrification and Decarbonisation Fund (E&D Fund).

The three-tiered royalty, equity and offtake (REO) agreement comprises a $700,000 cash payment to be made by LRC for a 1 per cent gross revenue royalty over lithium and all other pegmatite materials from the Eyre project.

LRC will also make a $700,000 cash payment for 20 per cent of Eyre’s life-ofmine offtake for any lithium materials (including lithium ore, concentrates, sulphates and chemicals).

Larvotto managing director Ron Heeks said for LRC and Waratah to approach Larvotto at such an early stage of Eyre’s development reflects not only the project’s potential, but also the strength of the broader lithium market.

“LRC and Waratah approached us, and it was about a four-month process between us first speaking to them (and signing the REO agreement),” Heeks told Australian Resources & Investment. “I found them very easy to work with and any issues that popped up were solved on a phone call.”

Heeks said the investment enables Larvotto to follow up the lithium anomaly, with a reverse circulation (RC) drill campaign to commence once the company has received the relevant approvals.

Shortly after signing the REO agreement, Larvotto raised $2 million in an equity

AUSTRALIAN RESOURCES & INVESTMENT

placement, which was well supported by existing shareholders. More than 11 million shares were issued at $0.18 per share.

Heeks said the placement was oversubscribed nearly four times.

The funds from the placement will be used to support exploration activities at the company’s Mt Isa copper project in Queensland and the Ohakuri gold project in New Zealand, along with working capital purposes.

The Mt Isa project spans approximately 900 square kilometres and is located in one of Australia’s – if not the world’s – most prospective regions for copper, gold and cobalt.

Given its size, proximity to Glencore’s Mt Isa Mines (MIM) operation – one of Australia’s largest copper producers – and the fact it is still largely unexplored, Mt Isa presents a compelling opportunity for Larvotto and its shareholders.

Larvotto defined a high-priority drill target at the Blue Star copper, gold and cobalt prospect within Mt Isa in May, and commenced a drill campaign aimed at Blue Star and the Gospel and Portal Creek targets in August.

“The Blue Star and Gospel area forms a particularly interesting target as it is identified below the historic workings, which have previously returned numerous significant results,” Heeks said in a statement.

“Our recent geophysics program identified a conductive zone that commences beneath these workings and plunges to the south.

“The zone is slightly offset from the old working and has not been drilled previously and may form the extension to the zones identified near surface.”

Epithermal surface gold mineralisation from the Ohakuri project in NZ.

Larvotto’s Mt Eyre project in WA.

Heeks said that while drilling at Mt Isa had been affected by wet weather in 2022, Larvotto has the cash reserves to be patient, with continued exploration planned for the rest of the year and throughout 2023.

Given its proximity to the Mt Isa township, the project also has logistical advantages, which Heeks highlighted at NWR Communications’ Aussie Explorers Conference in September.

“When it (the nearby Barbara copper operation) was in production, the workforce lived in Mt Isa and bused out every day,” he said. “They have no facilities on-site, and they process through the Glencore operation.

“So if you find something out in this part of the world, you don’t have to sit around for a couple of years and raise another two or three hundred million dollars to build a production facility and a camp and everything else, which in the current climate we know is very difficult.”

The Barbara operation has been in care and maintenance since January 2021. The project was acquired by Aeris Resources after the company acquired previous owner Round Oak Minerals in July.

With copper shortages forecast amid the strengthening decarbonisation narrative, Heeks believes smaller copper mines will be critical to plugging the gap.

“The great thing about Mt Isa is that with the copper shortage that we’ve already got, and which will become more evident over the next 18 months or so, if you’re going to supply the amount of copper that’s needed in the short term, it needs to come from the smaller 50–100,000-tonne operations that you can bring online around Mt Isa very quickly,” he said.

Larvotto’s Ohakuri gold project has scale on its side. Heeks has more than 35 years’ experience in the mining industry – much of which has been in the gold and copper sector

– but said he has never seen an epithermal system of this size.

There’s been 10,000m of drilling completed by previous holders of the tenure, but much of this has targeted the wrong area.

“There’s a spectacular amount of gold in the system, with very wide lower grade mineralisation over a wide area, but nobody’s been able to identify the feeder zones,” Heeks said.

“There was some geochemical prospecting completed at Ohakuri, which had to be done in creeks because most of the tenement is covered by a 5m layer of very recent ash – only a few hundred years old – from a nearby volcano.”

Heeks said company after company completed drilling to follow up the creek findings, but it was not until geophysical surveys were undertaken that it was determined previous drilling had been orientated in the wrong direction.

Larvotto completed a detailed geophysical program at Ohakuri in late October, giving the company greater direction before undertaking its next drill campaign.

“We know we’ve got a deep source and the geophysics tell us that, but we need to target these high-resistivity areas which should be quartz-rich and hopefully gold-mineralised,” Heeks said. “The Glass Earth survey, which was across a very wide space, told us the source is there but it’s too broad a target to just throw a rig on, so we are undertaking some detailed infill.”

Larvotto hopes to have a drill rig turning at Ohakuri before the end of 2022.

With three projects in Tier 1 jurisdictions, Larvotto has the assets to make a splash in the coming years. And the recent cornerstone investment and equity placement have further solidified Larvotto’s bottom line.

You can expect to hear plenty more from this emerging junior in 2023 and beyond.

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R E N E WA B L E S

Powering up for renewable energy at mine sites A look at the renewable energy possibilities for the mining sector as it heads towards net-zero emissions.

Solar has an important role to play in the mining industry’s renewable energy transition.

L

udovic Rollin recalls analysing the cost of installing fixed solar panels in a large renewable project to power a ferronickel processing plant.

Within two years, the same supplier was able to provide superior pivoting solar panels that follow the sun and provide greater power – for the same price as fixed panels.

For Rollin, a senior environmental consultant with SRK Consulting, the solar panel prices highlighted the immense pace of change in renewables.

“Everything in renewables is moving quickly,” he told Australian Resources & Investment.

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“Mining companies must be openminded to the potential of using 100 per cent renewables to power more mines and processing plants. The long-term benefits for companies, communities and the environment are compelling.”

Having just completed a two-year project on using renewable energy to power the furnaces at a ferronickel smelter, Rollin has a timely view on renewables. The processing plant requires 180 megawatts (MW) of energy.

The project team considered solar and energy storage solutions (such as batteries and pumped hydropower storage) and natural gas for a new power plant to replace the existing one. The natural gas was more expensive due

to the cost of liquified natural gas and the capital expenditure of implementing such power plant.

The proposed solution for the ferronickel smelter was a 1000MW solar farm over approximately 1000 hectares. The farm would be supported by a large network of continuous battery storage (2400MWh) that powers the plant at night.

Pumped hydro storage required a higher capital expenditure and a longer construction timeline.

For context, the world’s largest battery storage is located in California (Monterey County) and comes in at 1200MWh – half the size of the battery for the ferronickel

AUSTRALIAN RESOURCES & INVESTMENT

Hydropower is another renewable energy option for miners.

processing plant. This storage capacity was built and operational in under a year.

The world’s largest solar farms include the Bhadla Solar Parl in Rajasthan, India (2245MW), the Huanghe Hydropower Hainan Solar Park in China (2200MW) and the Pavagada Solar Park in Karnataka, India (2050MW).

Rollin said the solar-farm solution will enable the ferronickel processing plant to source 100 per cent renewable energy within 20 years. The project is current in the feasibility-study stage.

“Our analysis showed that renewables were a cheaper energy source for the ferronickel processing plant than fossil fuels,” Rollin said. “The long-term economics of renewables are attractive.”

Excess renewable energy from the solar farm is another benefit.

“Renewable projects are designed to produce more energy than the required capacity,” Rollin said. “This surplus power can help local communities and create other opportunities for mines.”

Rollin believes renewables can change how mining companies engage with communities.

“In addition to environmental benefits, large renewable projects generate jobs and a clean-energy industry for communities,” he said.

“A solar farm, for example, can change the dynamics of mine closure and leave a positive legacy for the community.”

“They can’t see how solar, wind or hydro could power the mine. Or they incorporate a small proportion of renewables in the energy mix, when they could get to 100 per cent.”

Rollin believes this approach is partly due to a lack of understanding of potential options.

“There can be resistance to change from people who have designed plants for many years using only fossil fuels,” he said. “Renewables technology is a fast-moving space that requires specialist expertise. The key is getting good advice on what’s available.”

Another obstacle is capital. Nickel and other mines require a large amount of energy to power their smelters 24–7, and that requires an even larger amount of renewable energy to be captured and the installation of costly battery energy-storage solutions.

Rollin said mining companies should investigate financial support.

“There’s a lot of funding available today from industry and government to encourage decarbonisation,” he said. “Attractive

rates from lenders for renewables projects and government incentives can help decrease the capital-expenditure cost.”

Community opposition can be another issue. Solar farms require lots of space that can eat into community land; wind farms can have noise issues and affect bird life; pumped hydro requires dams and complex environmental approvals and planning.

“Communities understand the long-term environmental, economic and energysecurity benefits of replacing fossil fuels with renewables at mines,” Rollin said. “But large renewable projects can still generate considerable community and political opposition. Mining companies need strong, early community engagement on renewables.”

M I T I G AT I N G R I S K , M A X I M I S I N G OPPORTUNIT Y Rollin believes mining companies that do not consider renewable energy to power mines – particularly for new projects – face greater risks in the future.

Miners must be open to the potential of using 100 per cent renewables to power their mine sites

OV E R C O M I N G O B S TAC L E S The biggest complication to developing 100 per cent renewable energy at mines is outdated thinking, according to Rollin.

“Some companies are set in their ways with plant design,” he said.

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R E N E WA B L E S

As more countries commit to net-zero, miners will be under greater pressure to decarbonise their operations.

He gave the example of a company that is designing a processing plant for a new mine and will sign a 25-year power purchasing agreement.

“By the time the mine gets through the feasibility-study stage and is built, it could still be using fossil fuels as its main energy sources in 2050,” he said. “That would be a significant risk.”

As more countries commit to a net-zero emissions target, miners will be under greater pressure to decarbonise their operations.

Resource companies that lag on the transition to decarbonisation will have higher emissions throughout their supply chain.

That could mean higher capital costs and less support from institutional investors who

Nine tips for good practice in renewable energy planning 1. Start early: Renewable energy should be a larger part of mine-planning discussions from day one of a project.

2. A im for 100 per cent renewable energy: It might not be possible for a particular mine, but aiming for full renewable energy makes sense. This approach is more effective than trying to incorporate a small proportion of renewables into the mine’s energy mix and building from there.

– 38 –

assess a company’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance.

Energy security, Rollin said, is another potential issue.

“The price of fossil-fuel energies could be volatile as the temperature warms and the incidence of natural disasters increases,” he said. “Greater climate variability could also threaten fossil-fuel supplies. Creating renewable energy at the mine, with back-up generators that use fossil fuels, improves the mine’s energy security and its capacity to operate continuously.”

The key may be in examining possibilities for renewables from exploration phase.

“When designing power sources for a mine, companies need to think at least 20–30

years ahead and where the world is heading on renewables,” Rollin said. “Most of all, mining companies need to think outside the box with renewables.

“Clean energy can take mining companies and communities in new directions that create sustainable economic and social wealth.”

renewable technology at mines requires expert skills and planning. Ensure your organisation has sufficient internal skills with renewable energy and/or access to external consultants with substantial expertise in the field.

will the renewable project create for the local community during and after construction? How many local businesses can the project support? How many local homes could the mine power? What are other potential uses for the mine’s excess renewable energy?

5. Financiers: Understand the approach of current or potential financiers for the mining project. How do they view renewables in mining? How does implementing renewable energy at the mine affect the project’s cost of capital?

3. Be open-minded: Recognise that renewable-energy technology is changing rapidly. Understand that cost assumptions for renewables could change as the project is planned, making capital expenditure more feasible at the mine.

6. Government support: Determine if there are federal, state or local government incentives that can help decrease capital expenditure for a renewable project. Understand how governments view the potential of introducing renewables at a mine, and what it means for the local community.

4. Ensure you have the right internal people/external support: Assessment of

7. Build a long-term case for renewables, beyond the mine: How many jobs

SRK Consulting is a leading, independent international consultancy that advises clients mainly in the earth and water resource industries. Its mining services range from exploration to mine closure. SRK experts are leaders in fields such as due diligence, technical studies, mine waste and water management, permitting, and mine rehabilitation. To learn more about SRK Consulting, visit www.srk.com.

8. C onsider renewables as part of mine closure: Discussions on renewables are important at all stages of the mine, and particularly for mine closure. How could renewables help the nearby community when the mine eventually closes?

9. Engage early: Renewable projects require significant support from communities, nearby industry and different levels of government.

Consider what it means for the project to have and maintain a sustainable development licence to operate, and the importance of community engagement within that process.

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MINE CLOSURE

The art of mine closure and rehabilitation

Mining companies must be engaged with local communities to understand post-mining land uses.

Closing a mine is not a simple exercise, but mining companies who take a proactive stance to the undertaking are likely to be best off. We take a closer look at the best strategies for mine closure and rehabilitation.

T

he International Mining and Resources Conference (IMARC), which was held in Sydney in early November, offered a veritable smorgasbord of insightful panel discussions and presentations.

On the second day of the three-day event, representatives from Rio Tinto, OceanaGold, MinterEllison and more came together to discuss the importance of improving post-mining legacies.

The panel combined the expertise of miners, service providers, industry bodies and lawyers to provide a holistic perspective of a practice that remains a work in progress.

Mine closure continues to be a significant industry challenge that necessitates proactive planning and substantial financial outlay to manage associated social, safety and environmental risks. According to the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM), there are few examples of mines that have received closure certificates and where the site has been transferred to government or a third party.

When OceanaGold head of health, safety and environment Greg Scanlan was asked

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what his company is doing differently to address this concern, he said there’s been a greater effort to boost the dialogue around closure criteria.

“It’s probably not so much different to people that have been closing mines or have tried to close mines for a long time now, but what we’re doing better … is (facilitating) more dialogue and more clarity around the closure criteria,” he said.

Scanlan said situations could change during the course of a mine’s life, such as nearby towns growing closer to site, with more land uses that need to be considered for alternative closure use. There could even be opportunities to capitalise on existing on-site infrastructure that could be used as an amended closure asset post-mining.

To better understand and facilitate these changes, clarity around closure criteria is critical. “(So) what we are doing differently or what we need to do differently is really nail down the closure criteria and be flexible as you work towards closure,” Scanlan said.

“And have a lot of dialogue with people to understand what the real closure criteria are in the mine life.”

Rio Tinto general manager closure – strategy and optimisation Melanie Stutsel said there were two things the major miner, which is actively closing 10 operations globally, is doing differently in mine closure now than it has in the past.

“The first is we’re looking at how we consider all of the options for our fixed and local plant, and how that can be used more effectively to deliver retained social, economic or cultural value for communities in a post-mining sense,” she said.

“So (we’re) working with our local communities to identify what their aspirations are for that location, which of our assets can provide a beneficial use, and which of those are at risk of being a ‘white elephant’, for want of a better term.”

Stutsel said Rio Tinto was placing an emphasis on ensuring it doesn’t leave communities with stranded assets that come with significant postmining management costs.

The miner is also being more transparent in its processes.

“It’s a different kind of conversation we’re having with our local communities where we’re certainly being more upfront,” Stutsel said.

AUSTRALIAN RESOURCES & INVESTMENT

It is important for companies to integrate closure and rehabilitation activities into mine planning practices.

Stutsel used the example of a highwall, which Rio may not be able to safely return to its prior state during mine closure, and the importance of being clear and open about these risks so the company and local communities are on the same page.

This is also the case with regulators, where Stutsel said it was important to encourage a change in regulatory expectations so there is more flexibility around mine closure and returning infrastructure, such as a highwall, to their prior state is not the singular goal.

According to CRC TiME, a collaboration of more than 70 leading mining entities addressing the challenges underpinning mine closure and relinquishment, there are very few examples of successful mine closure and relinquishment, with it becoming an “increasingly adversarial and complex area”.

One of the key challenges encumbering successful closure, CRC TiME believes, is inflexible policies and frameworks that have been agreed sometimes decades earlier and no longer serve all interests.

MinterEllison partner Simon Ball, a lawyer who has supported numerous Tier 1 mining companies through environmental and planning approvals, said it was quite common for legal frameworks to become outdated.

“I think a lot of the legal frameworks are designed to establish new mines, and they lock in an outcome very early on in the planning process,” Ball said during the panel discussion.

“Whereas when you get to closure, it involves a lot more stakeholders within government with views, and it’s only at that time that the actual studies may come to light that may demonstrate that outcomes are not achievable, or that the community has moved on, or expectations have moved on.”

Ball said this can often mean that the outcomes that were identified years before, when the operation was opened, are no longer what’s desired when mine closure occurs.

He said governments could also be “more nimble”.

“This isn’t to be critical of the government – I think it’s a really difficult issue – but they could be more nimble sometimes,” Ball said.

Miners need development consents to carry out on-site developments, which may need to be processed and approved by government. This can include repurposing exercises during mine closure. But opportunities can quickly come and go.

“The market windows for some of those repurposing outcomes close very quickly and sometimes the planning system can’t process the outcome quick enough to allow that outcome to be taken advantage of,” Ball said.

Ball used the example of brownfield mines that can be repurposed into renewable energy hubs, but again highlighted the short window of opportunity that comes with this situation; the business opening could close.

The Kidston pumped storage project is one repurposing success story. The Kidston gold mine in far north Queensland was once home to Australia’s largest open-cut

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MINE CLOSURE

gold mine until the project closed in 2001 after 90 years of operation.

Genex, an ASX-listed power company, is now transforming the site into a cleanenergy hub by combining solar, wind and pumped-storage hydropower.

The project essentially turns the mine’s massive open pits into a giant battery by pumping water into an upper energy-storage reservoir when energy prices are low. It then releases the water through reversible turbines into the lower reservoir to generate power when energy demand is high.

The facility will store energy from an operational 50 megawatt (MW) solar farm, as well as a planned 150MW wind farm due for completion in 2024.

Another emerging project turning an old mine into a renewable energy precinct is taking place at the Muswellbrook coal mine in the upper region of the Hunter Valley in New South Wales.

In addition to a pumped hydro project, there is potential to add solar, battery storage and green hydrogen facilities to the mix.

SRK Consulting principal consultant – mine closure Danielle Kyan told Australian Resources & Investment in an October editorial that she expects more future mine closures in Australia to involve the construction of renewable infrastructure.

“Some mines suit wind, solar, hydroelectric, geothermal or other

There is the potential to convert old mines into renewable energy hubs, such as hydropower.

– 42 –

renewable assets,” she said. “The mines are typically on large, cleared areas of land, have been used for industrial purposes, and have existing infrastructure and a potential workforce.”

The solution is deemed more suitable given many mining companies already use renewable technologies.

“We see a number of mines in remote areas installing renewable energy grids to power their sites,” Kyan said. “They’re using renewables in an operational capacity to reduce the project’s carbon footprint.

“The next step is exploring renewables in mine-closure planning strategy to create new opportunities.”

Kyan said the opportunity to build renewable energy assets on old mine sites can also improve economic perceptions.

“Mine closure has always been thought of as a cost,” she said. “Renewables can provide an opportunity to develop new income from disused sites.

“That could change how we think about and fund mine closure.”

The cost of running a mine is not insignificant and economic downturns can lead to operations being closed earlier than desired.

Regardless, the legacy of a mine needs to considered no matter when the curtains come down on an operation, and Scanlan said the best preparation is to operate a mine “for closure”.

“Most jurisdictions that we operate in require us to submit a bond or some money as security against mine closure,” he said.

“The main thing (a company) can do is to operate the mine for closure. The cost of closure when you’re operating the mine

AUSTRALIAN RESOURCES & INVESTMENT

Rio Tinto is in the process of closing its Argyle diamond mine in Northern Territory.

poorly are escalated, and it would be much harder to cover those costs.”

But Scanlan said a company would have to be experiencing a significant financial squeeze if it was to foreclose a mine when it had not reached the end of its life, given the commercial opportunities still available.

“Most mines would normally go into a care and maintenance phase rather than a closure phase,” he said.

CRC TiME is also emphasising the importance of mine-closure preparation and proactivity. The body’s risk, evaluation and planning program, which is led by mineral economist and associate professor Bryan Maybee, is focused on promoting the importance of integrating closure

and rehabilitation activities into mine planning practices.

“When we’re creating our original mine plan at CRC TiME, we make sure mine closure and rehabilitation is part of the decision process,” Maybee said during a September panel discussion exploring the importance of technology in mine rehabilitation. “We make sure it’s part of how we strategically build our mindset.

“As part of that, we look at where we can use technology to change the way we think about rehabilitation.”

Maybee said there were two ways technology can support this process.

“We’ve got technology allowing us to plan the closure and rehabilitation Drones can improve the scope of data capture in mine closure activities.

activities as part of that early planning process, in order to get our license, in order to make sure we adhere to whatever regulations there are,” he said.

“Once that’s in place and we start to think about technologies – such as automated components, which allow us to do certain rehabilitation activities progressively in the same location as where mining is taking place – we can start to think differently about the way we plan the mine.

“So now, rather than thinking about closing a mine after it’s done, we can start to think about planning the mine for closure and consider that mining is just one use of that land; there will be another use afterwards.

“How do we transition to that postmining use as part of the initial land use plan we devise right from the start?”

If you got a group of mine closure experts into a room to talk about their vocations, the discussion could last for days, such is the expansiveness of the topic. There is no one right way to close a mine; however, companies that proactively plan and strategise for the end of a mine’s life are likely to be the best off.

Because no company wants to bear the brunt of a nasty mine-closure bill.

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DRILLING TECHNOLOGY

The rise of the Pit Viper Epiroc’s Pit Viper blasthole drill rig has become something of a household product in the global resources industry, underlined by a recent order from CITIC Pacific Mining in Australia.

The PV-351 is the most powerful drill rig in the Pit Viper range.

S

ince the first Pit Viper was deployed to a Chilean mine in 2002, Epiroc has developed eight iterations of the popular blasthole drill rig.

The Pit Viper range now includes the PV-231, 235, 271, 275, 291, 311, 316 and 351 drill rigs.

While the original Pit Viper 351 is still in operation in Chile – highlighting the machine’s durability – other models have shined in their own way.

The PV-271 can operate in almost any surface mining application, whether it is gold, copper, coal, iron ore or silver, and is regarded as the drill that put the Pit Viper on the map.

The drill is available in diesel and electric and is automation-ready, which means automated system upgrades and add-ons can be done without major machine rebuilds.

– 44 –

The PV-271 can be configured with the XC (extra capacity) package, boosting its bit load capacity from 34 to 42.5 tonnes.

In October, Epiroc announced it had won a large equipment order from CITIC Pacific Mining, with a fleet of automated PV-271XC rigs to be used at the Sino Iron open-pit mine in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

“Epiroc delivered Pit Viper rigs to the Sino Iron site in 2019, and we are proud to continue this productive partnership as CITIC Pacific Mining is expanding the mine while optimising productivity and safety,” Epiroc president and chief executive officer Helena Hedblom said.

CITIC Pacific Mining general manager Xianglin Cheng said Epiroc had become a reliable partner in recent years.

“In the last three years, Epiroc has provided satisfactory after-sale services to help the three Pit Viper 351 drill rigs perform to expectation and has also successfully established mutual trust with CITIC Pacific Mining,” he said.

“The confidence and trust are the major reasons for us to choose Epiroc.”

The drills bound for CITIC Pacific Mining will feature Epiroc’s exclusive autonomous drill plan execution (ADPE) technology, a unique feature in that it enables the rigs to complete full drill patterns rather than single rows.

“What ADPE means is that we upload the pattern of the drill, and the drill goes off and executes the whole pattern,” Epiroc business line manager (ADS) Alex Grant told Australian Resources & Investment.

AUSTRALIAN RESOURCES & INVESTMENT

The PV-271 can operate in almost any surface mining application.

“And then if the drill has a problem, it effectively puts its hand up and says it has a problem. But unless there’s a challenge along the way, it will go and drill the whole pattern without any human intervention.”

This system, according to Grant, is something others in the field are “still trying to master”.

“Others have the auto-drill already, they just don’t necessarily have the same intelligent system to predict ground challenges, while our system adjusts automatically without human interaction to enable the most efficient drilling, since that’s most important autonomous feature for a drill rig,” he said.

“The OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) are still battling through the journey that we had to do over several years to make it work.

“We’re still the market leader in automation from an OEM standpoint.”

The PV-271XC drills will also be installed with AutoDrill, a feature which allows for up to 100 per cent of the hole drilling cycle to be in automatic mode.

This is alongside AutoLevel, a feature which minimises the time it takes to level and de-level, enabling more drilling time in the process.

Now in its fifth generation, Epiroc’s Rig Control System (RCS) platform is the foundation of Pit Viper automation, making full automation easier, safer and more productive.

RCS 5 has an enhanced control hub with improved usability, allowing operators to switch seamlessly between screens in a wellorganised and dynamic manner. RCS 5’s new drilling data screen features real-time depth monitoring, while operators can now create and edit drill plans on-board or from a remote location quickly with the drilling plan manager.

Epiroc’s PV-270 series of drill rigs also include the 275 model, which has become a staple for its capability in coal overburden drilling and hard rock applications such as copper and iron ore mining.

The PV-291 single-pass rotary drill was introduced at MINExpo 2021 and has been designed to tackle larger diameter drilling in soft and medium ground conditions.

The PV-311, 316 and 351 offer the highest bit load in the Pit Viper range, delivering more than 50 tonnes of capacity per drill rig.

The original Pit Viper – the PV-351 – offers 56.7 tonnes of bit load capacity, making it the most powerful drill rig in the Pit Viper range. While Epiroc can offer diesel and electric options for the Pit Viper, more and

more customers are opting for the zeroemission route.

There are now 116 electric PVs globally, split between Latin America, Africa, Europe and North America.

Recent orders by Tier 1 mining companies highlight the global reputation of the PV range, and the increased electric push of the drill rigs reflect Epiroc’s broader decarbonisation strategy.

Epiroc has become a market leader in automation, digitalisation and electrification solutions.

“Epiroc has been running electric drills with automation since 2019 – we’ve developed automation with electrification at the same time, so we have a level of the drill being able to run itself with the cable hanging off the back of the drill,” Grant said.

“Most of our competitors are still trying to embark on putting electrification on the drills themselves, but we’ve gone a step further, which does put us quite a number of years ahead.”

And the OEM is always finding new ways to enhance its capability, whether through research and development or acquisitions.

Record revenue and profits in the third quarter of 2022 quantify Epiroc’s success, and it will be fascinating to see where the company takes its ingenuity next.

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DRILLING TECHNOLOGY

Meet Aquatech, the water well drilling specialist Aquatech Drilling has successfully completed drilling projects across Western Australia for more than 30 years, maintaining a proven record of servicing a variety of clients across many sectors.

Aquatech is committed to being at the leading edge of drilling innovation.

A

quatech Drilling is a privately owned and family-run business that, from humble beginnings, has grown to provide cost-effective water well drilling for the resources sector. It offers clients tailored solutions and the capacity to drill to significant depths using powerful machinery.

“The company was started by the previous owner Shane Williams in his backyard in 1988. Over a period of time with machinery upgrades, a focus on operating

– 46 –

efficiently, keeping costs under control and learning about the various types of drilling conditions, it has kept growing and growing,” Aquatech owner Luke Garbelini told Australian Resources & Investment.

Aquatech is committed to being at the leading edge of drilling innovation, and although the company experienced some recent growing pains, Garbelini is focused on leveraging his extensive knowledge and strong work ethic to expand Aquatech’s presence across Western Australia.

The company specialises in water well drilling, utilising mud rotary or air hammer techniques with the scope of work including, production bores, artesian bores, dewatering bores, monitoring bores, down hole hammer, cement grouting, waterbore redevelopment and relines as well as the installation of various steel and stainlesssteel casings.

Garbelini and his team have an intimate understanding of what clients require on-site, ensuring drilling projects are

AUSTRALIAN RESOURCES & INVESTMENT

Used in every part of mining operations, water is critically important to the sector.

conducted efficiently and safely, while always meeting specified deadlines.

“Water is critically important to the mining industry. It’s utilised in every part of mining operations from processing to power generation and dust suppression,” Garbelini said.

“Every client has different requirements when it comes to water; often there is a dewatering requirement that involves drilling bores to stop water from entering mine workings located underground.

“Water can be used for anything, and at Aquatech we are at the forefront of providing solutions for our clients’ requirements, whatever they may be.”

Aquatech is committed to complying with all applicable laws and regulations relating to safety, health and wellbeing, as well as those related to the environment.

A safety-first approach is at the heart of Aquatech’s drilling operations and all team members are well trained and fully committed to ensuring any safety risks are removed. The company also implements a rigorous health, safety, and environment (HSE) management system to ensure performance is always up to standard.

Aquatech is committed to the protection of the environment and undertake significant consultation with clients before drilling, striving to leave the environment in its original condition.

A key current focus for Aquatech is the development of an improved mud cleaning unit, essentially incorporating multiple pieces of equipment into one highly functional machine.

“We are attempting to develop greater efficiencies with our critical mud

cleaning units by improving the ways in which the machinery operates, ensuring multiple components are incorporated into the one unit, leading to efficiency gains,” Garbelini said.

“We are also focused on making significant improvements to out test pumping equipment, focused on making the machinery easier and safer for manual handling.”

Aquatech’s equipment is maintained to the highest standards, further helping to ensure a premium level of safety and productivity.

The Aquatech support truck carries a full complement of hydraulic hoses, pumps, motors, and additional spare parts, enabling significant reductions in downtime.

The company’s short-term focus is on growth and becoming operationally larger and stronger, so it is able to undertake more water well drilling opportunities and projects across Western Australia.

Aquatech is looking to improve on its drilling capacity with new intermediate and large drilling machines, including the full complement of additional equipment, ensuring their units are fully self-sufficient.

“We are seeking to expand our capacity with everything that is required to run multiple highly flexible drilling units,” Garbelini said.

“We want to ensure our clients feel comfortable in the knowledge that if a breakdown occurs Aquatech has another machine ready to go, and just as capable as the original unit.

“Operating multiple machines also ensures our crews gain greater exposure

to different operating environments across multiple projects, driving efficiencies and improving safety outcomes.”

One of Aquatech’s inherent qualities is its flexibility and can-do approach, maintaining an ability to work closely with clients to facilitate their site-specific drilling requirements.

The company has the capability to service a wide cross section of clients from domestic operations to large agricultural, mining and government projects.

Aquatech is a member of the Australia Drilling Industry Association (ADIA), and the company’s drilling teams are Class 1, Class 2, and Class 3 ADIA accredited. This level of certification ensures all work is carried out to the highest of standards.

“Our approach at Aquatech is straightforward: it’s about detailed planning, it’s about reliable and robust machinery, and it’s about our experienced workforce being meticulous when it comes to safety and getting the drilling done with a minimum of fuss,” Garbelini said “We care deeply about our clients and our reputation for undertaking quality drilling is something that we’re very proud of as a company.”

With years of experience, the company’s mission is to produce outstanding results for its clients, ensuring the highest standards of safety and reducing its environmental impact, while achieving significant time and cost efficiencies.

“We ensure that the client has achieved an outcome they are happy with and at a fair price.”

– 47 –

FOLLOW THE LE ADERS

FOLLOW THE LEADERS

THE LATEST EXECUTIVE APPOINTMENTS Keep up to date with the latest executive movements across the mining sector, featuring St Barbara, Hastings Technology Metals and Sandfire Resources.

Craig Jetson has resigned as managing director and chief executive officer (CEO) of St Barbara, with Dan Lougher appointed to the role.

From 2012 to June 2022, Lougher was managing director and CEO of Western Areas, which was recently acquired by IGO. He had been at the successful nickel miner for six years prior to 2012 in general manager and executive director roles.

Lougher managed the construction of Western Areas’ Flying Fox mine and Cosmic Boy concentrator – an operation that is still delivering today, 17 years after being commissioned.

He also led the feasibility activities for the Spotted Quoll open-pit and underground mine, as well as construction of that mine and all associated infrastructure. In 2015, Lougher initiated another growth phase for Western Areas with the strategic acquisition of the Cosmos nickel operations.

“Dan has a distinguished career spanning 40 years and has established industryleading credentials for the development and operation of large-scale mining assets in the base and precious metals sector,” St Barbara non-executive chair Tim Netscher said.

“He has successfully built multiple mines, managed all facets of project development

– 48 –

from resource definition, feasibility studies, project financing, mine construction and the negotiation of offtake contracts.

“An initial important priority for Dan will be to ensure that the agreed FY23 Gwalia business plan and budget are delivered and that the significant value associated with the Leonora Province Plan is unlocked, including potential value accretive corporate activity.”

Alwyn Vorster has been appointed interim CEO of emerging rare earths player Hastings Technology Metals. Vorster was managing director of BCI for more than six years and was also formerly the managing director of Iron Ore Holdings and CEO of API Management.

In addition, he has extensive experience in senior management positions in several mining and resources companies, including Rio Tinto Iron Ore, Aquila Resources, and Kumba Resources.

Following the company’s recent Hastings 2.0 mine-to-magnet strategy, executive chair Charles Lew said it had now reached a pivotal point in its lifecycle.

“The company is approaching the milestone of main construction commencement and at the same time we are positioning it to become a global player

in the downstream market for rare earths magnets,” he said.

“It is therefore essential that we strengthen our management team and organisation structure for this next phase of our development and ensure that we are well prepared to steer the company forward.

“We welcome Alwyn to Hastings in the newly created position of interim CEO. He has extensive technical, commercial and operational leadership capability along with relevant and current experience in project contracting and delivery within the present inflationary environment.

“I will continue leading the company as executive chair, focusing more on mineto-magnet strategy and growth initiatives, while Alwyn will be based in Perth, managing the team on a day-to-day basis with a focus on the delivery and funding of the Yangibana rare earths project in WA.” Sandfire Resources has appointed Brendan Harris as its new managing director and CEO. The news follows a global search process to replace founding CEO Karl Simich, who stepped down from the role at the end of September.

Harris is an experienced exploration geologist and highly regarded equity analyst,

AUSTRALIAN RESOURCES & INVESTMENT

and has served as a senior executive with BHP and South32. He has been a member of South32’s executive management team since its demerger from BHP in 2015 and played a key role in the company’s establishment as its inaugural chief financial officer.

Most recently, he held the role of chief human resources and commercial officer at South32, with responsibility for global commodity marketing, procurement and human resources. He also previously served as BHP’s global head of investor relations.

Sandfire said Harris’ appointment positions the company to execute the next phase of its growth strategy and capitalise on its emerging position as a multi-mine copper producer.

Former Northern Territory Chief Minister Michael Gunner is joining Fortescue Future Industries (FFI) to lead the company’s new northern Australia team, commencing his role in November.

The move marks another important step in the delivery of FFI’s global green energy vision. Gunner will bring a wealth of experience and credibility to FFI as the company explores project opportunities in the NT and WA’s north-west.

Gunner has had a successful political career, serving as Chief Minister of the NT

from 2016 until he stepped down in May. He resigned from politics in July.

Fortescue chair and founder Andrew Forrest said bringing in a person with Gunner’s experience working alongside the people of northern Australia makes him a valuable asset to FFI. “We see enormous potential in the Northern Territory, with abundant wind and solar energy, and a community enthusiastic to embrace renewable energy and the employment intensive industries that come with it,” he said.

“The industry-leading decarbonisation strategy we unveiled in New York in September provided clear evidence that Fortescue is leading the world in its transition to a global, green renewable and resources company.”

BCI Minerals has appointed former Bravus Mining and Resources CEO David Boshoff as its new managing director.

During his time at Bravus, Boshoff led the start-up of the Carmichael coal mine to production. Prior to that, he was general manager at BHP’s Mt Arthur coal and Daunia mines and was a key contributor to the ramp-up of BHP’s Caval Ridge mine.

BCI chair Brian O’Donnell said Boshoff would provide a wealth of experience to

the company.

“David is a trusted, respected and highly qualified chief executive with extensive experience in delivering capital projects,” he said.

“He is the right leader to guide BCI during this stage of Mardie’s development and we look forward to working with him.”

Peter Ravenscroft has resigned as managing director and CEO of Burgundy Diamond Mines.

Kim Truter, appointed as non-executive chair in December 2021, has been appointed as interim CEO, bringing more than 30 years’ mining experience to the role.

Truter has significant diamond experience, providing executive global leadership in Canada, Australia and Africa, most recently with De Beers Canada and previously with Rio Tinto Diamonds.

Non-executive director Michael O’Keefe has been appointed as executive chair, having been managing director of Glencore Australia from 1995 to 2004, and executive chair of Riversdale Mining prior to that company being acquired by Rio Tinto in 2011.

Through its Ellendale diamond project in the West Kimberley region of WA, Burgundy is looking to become Australia’s next diamond producer.

– 49 –

EVENTS

IMINES A ND MONEY ONLINE CONNECT | ONLINE | J A N UA R Y 2 4 –2 6

Mines and Money Online Connect brings together miners, investors, financiers, and industry professionals to network, hear market analysis, compare investment opportunities, share knowledge, discuss, debate and, most importantly, do business, all in a virtual and online format.

The three-day event offers mining companies’ senior management teams the opportunity to connect and meet faceto-face with carefully qualified investors from institutional funds, private equity groups, family offices and private investors to discuss project updates and share presentations virtually.

Wherever you are working from, you will be able to log in online to listen to keynote presentations, panel discussions and pitch battles. You can participate in lucrative video meetings and connect with the leaders of the global mining and investment community without having to leave your home, or your desk.

Previous participating mining companies include Barrick Corporation, Alcoa, 29Metals, Iluka Resources, Galileo Mining, and more.

• minesandmoney.com AU S T M I N E 2 0 2 3 | A D E L A I D E | M AY 9 –1 1

Taking place at the Adelaide Convention Centre in 2023, the Austmine 2023 International Conference and Exhibition showcases the leading technologies, groundbreaking innovations and transformative solutions that are provided by the Australian mining equipment, technology and services (METS) sector.

Held over three days, the event will encompass workshops, plenary sessions, tech talks, the ‘Meet the Miners’ networking event and interactive breakout discussion groups.

There will be networking opportunities aplenty throughout the conference, while the Industry Leaders’ and Awards Dinner will celebrate and recognise achievement of leading innovators in our sector.

With more than 100 exhibitors expected at the event, Austmine 2023 will boast everyone from start-ups to multinationals from pit to port, with displays including the latest in digital, decarbonisation and ESG, and new solutions set to transform our industry.

In partnership with the South Australian Government, the Copper to the World Conference will be held in conjunction with Austmine 2023 bringing a spotlight on this key strategic mineral.

• austmineconference.com.au WO R L D M I N I N G C O N G R E S S | B R I S B A N E | J U N E 2 6 –2 9

Inaugurated in 1958, the World Mining Congress (WMC) is the leading international forum for the global mining and resources sectors.

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The 2023 iteration of WMC will be a unique opportunity for international representatives of the world’s leading resource economies to meet, find new partners, discuss current challenges, and share the latest research, technology, and best practice.

WMC events have set the scene for international agreements and high-level discussions that have influenced mining practices and the resource industry for decades.

Join senior mining industry owners, investors, national and international government representatives, researchers, educators, regulators, suppliers and operators from around the world in Brisbane for this opportunity to demonstrate real leadership and presence on a world stage.

• wmc2023.org D I G G E R S & D E A L E R S | K A L G O O R L I E | AU G U S T 7– 9

Diggers & Dealers combines 70 corporate presentations by listed mining and exploration companies with a large exhibition housing more than 150 exhibitors from the sector.

Delegates include miners, explorers, brokers, bankers, investors, financiers and mining service industries from around the world.

The event provides a unique opportunity for industry professionals to meet and network, visit regional mine sites, engage with media, raise finance, invest in projects, and engage with the resources sector at an executive level.

An entertainment program ensures that delegates experience the best of the style and hospitality of Kalgoorlie, the unofficial gold mining capital of Australia.

• diggersndealers.com.au I N T E R N AT I O N A L M I N I N G A N D R E S O U R C E S C O N F E R E N C E ( I M A R C) | S Y D N E Y | O C T O B E R 3 1– N OV E M B E R 2

IMARC is returning to Sydney from October 31 – November 2 2023 after recently celebrating its first in-person event in three years.

A vivid showcase of all the elements that make the mining industry great, IMARC is where the most influential people in the sector come together to share ideas and inspiration, with groundbreaking technology and world-class content on display.

Learn from more than 450 mining leaders and resource experts throughout six concurrent conferences with a program covering the entire mining value chain.

The likes of BHP, Newcrest Mining, Agnico Eagle and OZ Minerals presented at the 2022 event, along with original equipment manufacturers such as Caterpillar, Epiroc and FLSmidth, so expect another slate of world-class presenters for 2023.

• imarcglobal.com

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Australian Investment Resources & BIG RARE THE NEXT ERS EARTHS PLAY

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R 1

include the best minds in the industry

Commodit ie

16 NUM BER

1 | 202 2

ent

AUSTRALIA’S UNT COMMOD APPED ITY

E 16 N UMBE

around the world. Special feature articles

global team unified by technology a common solutions purpose: to the wor countries. creating adv ld’s Developing anced, sust new technolo water challenges acro conserved, ainable ss more than gies that will and re-used services mov 150 improve the in the futu re is central e, treat, ana way water to our wor is used, lyse public utili , monitor k. Our pro ty, industria and return ducts and l, residential water to the and commer environmen Sustainabil t and in cial building ity is at the services sett core of eve our footprin ings. rything we ts leave a do, and we positive imp community aim to ens act on the as we striv ure environmen e to build Our commitm a healthie t and the r and mor wider ent to wat e water-secu er quality and global re world. is Xylem’s scale, with fore most prio our corporat aiming to rity at bot provide edu e social resp h an organis cation and onsibility support hea ational equitable program lthy lives and access to Watermark help build safe water resilient com and sanitati on to munities arou nd the wor ld.

IRON ORE MINERS BOUNCE BACK

MENT | VOLUM

resource developments in Australia and

We are a

RCES & INVEST

to providing cutting-edge insights into

ENCY

UM IN PL ATIN

SOUR LIAN RE

the country’s premier journal dedicated

A CURR CREATING OF ESG OUT

bright futu Australia’s

AUSTRA

Australian Resources & Investment is

E OF THE MAKING SENS ND US WORLD AROU

OF VANADIU

M