COMMODITY CAPERS: For some, gold seems to have lost its traditional lustre, however there are still exploration plays out there proving there is life in the world’s oldest currency yet.
Punters completing laps of the exhibition floor at the recent RIU Explorers Conference would be forgiven for reaching the conclusion that the exploration sector has lithium and rare earths squarely in its sights.
The race to accumulate the future facing metals that are set to launch us into a digital lifestyle first presented to us by The Jetsons so many years ago does have wide-eyed and wide-walleted investors filled with FOMO scrambling to get their slice of the electrified pie.
Although it probably wasn’t around as long ago to be squirrelled away by The Flintstones, gold has been the favoured metal for those seeking a ‘safe haven’ asset for thousands of years.
For centuries it has provided an inflationary hedge during times of severe economic stress, and in real terms, 2023 is shaping up to maintain this rule.
The bean counters at the World Gold Council determined that 2022 was a good year for gold with global central banks buying some 1,136 tonnes of gold worth $70 billion, which is the most since records began in 1950.
In its December 2022 Resources and Energy Quarterly, the Department of Industry, Science and Resources reminded us that gold prices averaged US$1,728 an ounce in the September quarter 2022 dues to pressure from increasing bond yields and the strong US dollar.
“A rebound to above US$1,750 an ounce in mid-November followed lower-than-expected US inflation data, which lowered market expectations for further interest rate increases,” DISR said.
According to the report, Australian gold mine production in the September quarter 2022 was 5.4 per cent higher year-on-year at 78 tonnes with production forecast to increase to 329 tonnes in 2023–24, as new projects and expansions of existing projects come on line.
So, let’s follow the yellow brick road for a moment to see what some gold-focused companies have been up to in just the two weeks since the RIU Explorers Conference.
In the lead up to the RIU Explorers Conference, Black Cat Syndicate (ASX: BC8) released an updated JORC 2012 Mineral Resource at Paulsens Underground, part of the company’s 100 per cent-owned Paulsens gold operation in Western Australia.
Total gold Resources at the Paulsens gold operation increased 73 per cent to 401,000 ounces at 3.3 grams per tonne gold, including an increase to total Measured and Indicated Resources of 65 per cent to 163,000 ounces at 8g/t gold.
The Paulsens Underground Resource increased to 258,000 ounces at 10.8g/t gold.
This week, Black Cat reported assays from an additional 15 diamond holes recently undertaken targeting underground Gabbro Veins and shear-hosted mineralisation it declared had continued to demonstrate immediate upside to the high-grade Paulsens Underground Resource.
Results included:
22PGRD038
2 metres at 39.9g/t gold from 18.75m and 1.03m at 17.8g/t gold from 51.12m; and
22PGRD004
1.23m at 14.84g/t gold from 28.68m and 1.55m at 6.14g/t gold from 60.68m and 0.86m at 58.5g/t gold from 102.14m.
“The Gabbro Veins continue to deliver impressive grades often with multiple veins intersected in each hole,” Black Cat Syndicate managing director Gareth Solly said in the company’s ASX announcement.
“A second rig will arrive this week as we ramp up drilling in the lead up to a restart decision.
“The Gabbro Veins represent a potential new mining front and host one third of the underground Resource.
“Along with Coyote Central this is one of Australia’s highest grade gold deposits.
“A further two months of drilling has been completed since then and will continue throughout 2023, focussed on Resource growth and discoveries around existing underground infrastructure.
“The next Resource update is planned for May 2023.”
Musgrave Minerals (ASX: MGV) was another to arrive at Explorers with news to tell following the release of assay results from reverse circulation (RC) drilling across multiple prospects, on the company’s 100 per cent-owned ground at the Cue gold project in WA.
The assay results came from drilling completed in December 2022 at the Amarillo, Big Sky, Big Sky North and East Numbers prospects.
Final assays from this drilling were released this week that Musgrave declared to have identified a potential new high-grade lode around 50m north of the Break of Day deposit.
Drilling including a single RC drill hole testing a new target zone that intersected:
22MORC413
4m at 8.2g/t gold from 50m within 14m at 2.8g/t gold from 50m.
“The intersection north of Break of Day may represent a new, untested high-grade lode and demonstrates the ongoing discovery opportunity within this system,” Musgrave Minerals managing director Rob Waugh said in the company’s ASX announcement.
“This is a positive result as it bodes well for further discovery upside within the favourable Break of Day stratigraphic package.
“More drill testing is required to confirm the strike and dip extent of this new lode.
“In addition, further results from White Heat-Mosaic, White Light and the new Waratah zone all have the potential to add to our resource base as we continue to advance the Cue gold project.”
