Tim Goyder's Minerals 260 tears into unlocking huge gold potential hidden under woodlands of Bullabulling
The Tim Goyder-chaired company snapped up the 127sqkm project in January from Norton Gold Fields in a deal worth $156.5 million in cash and $10m in scrip, and has wasted no time since — raising $220m and getting the one diamond and three reverse circulation rigs on site on April 15.
Bullabulling was mined in the late 1990s and early 2000s — when the gold price was much lower than the current $5000/oz — but has been largely a scene of inactivity since 2014 when Chinese company Norton bought the project.
Now Liontown spin-off Minerals 260 has started an 80,000m drilling campaign focused on multiple resource extension targets at depth and along strike, and also infill drilling of the existing resource to upgrade classifications.
The company said the 2.3-million-ounce mineral resource estimate was based on extensive historical drilling of 12,000 holes for 530,000m.
The overall grade is 1.2g per tonne, with 60 per cent — 39Mt at 1.1g/t for 1.4Moz — being in the indicated category, and 40 per cent — 21Mt at 1.3g/t for 890,000t — inferred.
At an investors and analysts site visit on Monday, managing director Luke McFadyen said the company was now undertaking its own studies to expand the resource, and believed there was another '1.6Moz still in the ground'.
Bullabulling has several deposits that are the focus of Mineral 260's exploration — Dicksons, Phoenix, Bacchus, Kraken and Gibraltar, with Bacchus and Kraken rated the highest priority for grade and mineralisation.
The distance from Dicksons in the north to Kraken in the south is 8.5km.
The Phoenix MRE is mostly indicated — 25Mt at 1.1g/t for 850,000t out of a total 27Mt at 1.1g/t for 930,000t.
Bacchas has a total MRE of 22Mt at 1.3g/t for 890,000t, with 8.5Mt at 1.2g/t for 330,000t being indicated.
Dicksons has 7.7Mt at 0.9g/t for 220,000t and Kraken 2.8Mt at 1.7g/t for 160,000t, all of which is inferred.
The company said drilling at Phoenix and Dicksons would focus on depth extensions, and infill drilling would take place at Phoenix.
It said the resource was open at depth in multiple locations, and Bacchus remains open along strike to the south.
Minerals 260 said there was no MRE as yet for Gibraltar — which is to the east of Kraken — but drilling would soon take place to test depth and strike extensions.
The company is aiming to update the project's total mineral resource estimate in the December quarter to a 'reasonable prospects for economic extraction' pit shells standard.
It estimates its studies of Bullabulling will take 15 months, with eyes on production in about three years.
The operation would be a conventional carbon-in-leach process.
Mr McFadyen said Minerals 260 acquired Bullabulling because the company saw a significant opportunity not only in the existing resource but also in the immense exploration potential.
'Our exploration strategy is designed to systematically test the targets we've identified both down-dip and along strike from known mineralisation,' he said.
'Drilling commenced a few weeks ago and we are continuing to ramp-up activity.
'It's an exciting phase for the company as we begin generating a steady flow of drilling results and have concurrently commenced the pre-feasibility study.'
And Minerals 260 has added another 450sqkm to the project since picking up Bullabulling, the latest being last week's Belararox option agreement for 26 tenements across 50sqkm.
It said the two-year agreement gave it the option of exploring the wider area in a phased approach after the Bullabulling drilling program.
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