Latest news with #KristieBatten
Mercury
4 days ago
- Business
- Mercury
AZ9 builds on Mongolian copper-nickel discovery
One of Australia's top mining journalists, Kristie Batten, writes for Stockhead every week in her regular column placing a watchful eye on the movers and shakers of the small cap resources scene. Asian Battery Metals (ASX:AZ9) believes it may have made a significant copper-nickel-platinum group element discovery at its Oval project in Mongolia. AZ9, which listed on the ASX last year, was previously focused on its more advanced graphite and lithium projects in Mongolia, though Oval was selected to be part of BHP's Xplor exploration accelerator in 2023. The company used the US$500,000 of funding provided by the program to drill Oval. In October 2024, AZ9 reported a hit of 8.8m at 6.08% copper, 3.19% nickel, 1.63 grams per tonne platinum, palladium and gold (E3) and 0.11% cobalt, or 12.57% copper equivalent from 107.2m. Since then, the company has been focused on expanding the scale of the discovery. Earlier this month, AZ9 reported an intersection of 8.7m at 2.44% copper, 1.52% nickel, 1.4g/t E3 and 0.06% cobalt from 112.8m, including 2m at 3.72% copper, 3.82% nickel, 1.65g/t E3 and 0.16% cobalt, 130m down-dip of a previous intercept. The results suggest semi-continuous mineralisation extends over 800m, including North Oval and the Oval gabbroic intrusion. Planning underway The recent focus for AZ9 has been electromagnetics to define targets for the next round of drilling. 'Electromagnetic is the go-to tool for this type of mineralisation, so we brought Gap Geophysics, the Australian company, to the field, and they are working currently,' AZ9 managing director Gan-Ochir Zunduisuren told Stockhead. 'Based on that work, we're hoping that we'll have multiple targets to drill on top of whatever we have from our ground EM work.' On Friday, AZ9 announced that the ground-based fixed loop electromagnetic survey at Oval was halfway through but had already resulted in 29 conductive plates being modelled across four target zones. Six priority one plates have been identified with strong geophysical responses. The focus of the remainder of the program is the deeper zones and step-out targets, including MS1, MS2 and Quartz Hill targets. Zunduisuren said the program to date had delivered the results the company were hoping for. 'I think the next stage of drilling is going to be quite instrumental for us,' he said. Drilling is set to resume in early August, while the first round of metallurgical test work results will also be released this quarter. 'The strategy for this year is to really show the size and the extent of the mineralisation to get the feeling of how large the potential is, and if we can get that by the end of the year, next year we're going to drill for a resource,' Zunduisuren said. 'We have very limited historic information. This is a brand new area, even in Mongolia, in the southwest part where we are working. 'I don't think there have been any historic magmatic mafic intrusion-related copper and nickel sulphide systems before, so this is brand new in this sense, so we really have to do everything from ground up. 'That's why we certainly believe that there is definitely a potential for camp-scale or clusters of orebodies within a few kilometres or a few tens of kilometres from each other.' Mongolia still emerging Despite Mongolia being home to Rio Tinto's massive Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold mine, Zunduisuren said it was still misunderstood as a destination. 'The last round of real investor interest was in the early 2000s,' he said. 'That's when we had a big flow of investment from Australia and Canada, especially in the gold space in Mongolia, and then the copper space. 'Knowing all the moving parts there, I think Mongolia will probably become quite interesting for investors over the next few years.' Zunduisuren said Mongolia was a mature mining destination with the right regulatory frameworks in place to support the industry. 'Infrastructure wise, it's vastly improved over the last 15 years,' he said. 'Just based on that, it's way better positioned to attract investment than 15 years ago.' The ASX's only other Mongolia-focused copper player, Xanadu Mines, is set to disappear shortly after accepting a $180 million takeover offer. Xanadu accepted the 8c per share offer – a 57% premium – and the acquirer Bastion Mining moved to compulsory acquisition on Friday. It will result in one less copper developer on the ASX, a space which is already reasonably thin. 'I think the key for larger institutional investors or corporates, they're definitely looking, of course, and observing how we progressing further,' Zunduisuren said. 'To really make their minds up, there's two things that need to be there. One is a quantity. The other is quantity. 'With our current results, we have shown there's definitely a quality of the product there, but we need to show the quantity and that's the whole strategy of this year's exploration.' At Stockhead we tell it like it is. While Asian Battery Metals is a Stockhead advertiser at the time of writing, it did not sponsor this article. Originally published as Kristie Batten: Asian Battery Metals eyes scale-up of copper-nickel discovery
News.com.au
4 days ago
- Business
- News.com.au
Kristie Batten: Asian Battery Metals eyes scale-up of copper-nickel discovery
One of Australia's top mining journalists, Kristie Batten, writes for Stockhead every week in her regular column placing a watchful eye on the movers and shakers of the small cap resources scene. Asian Battery Metals (ASX:AZ9) believes it may have made a significant copper-nickel-platinum group element discovery at its Oval project in Mongolia. AZ9, which listed on the ASX last year, was previously focused on its more advanced graphite and lithium projects in Mongolia, though Oval was selected to be part of BHP's Xplor exploration accelerator in 2023. The company used the US$500,000 of funding provided by the program to drill Oval. In October 2024, AZ9 reported a hit of 8.8m at 6.08% copper, 3.19% nickel, 1.63 grams per tonne platinum, palladium and gold (E3) and 0.11% cobalt, or 12.57% copper equivalent from 107.2m. Since then, the company has been focused on expanding the scale of the discovery. Earlier this month, AZ9 reported an intersection of 8.7m at 2.44% copper, 1.52% nickel, 1.4g/t E3 and 0.06% cobalt from 112.8m, including 2m at 3.72% copper, 3.82% nickel, 1.65g/t E3 and 0.16% cobalt, 130m down-dip of a previous intercept. The results suggest semi-continuous mineralisation extends over 800m, including North Oval and the Oval gabbroic intrusion. Planning underway The recent focus for AZ9 has been electromagnetics to define targets for the next round of drilling. 'Electromagnetic is the go-to tool for this type of mineralisation, so we brought Gap Geophysics, the Australian company, to the field, and they are working currently,' AZ9 managing director Gan-Ochir Zunduisuren told Stockhead. 'Based on that work, we're hoping that we'll have multiple targets to drill on top of whatever we have from our ground EM work.' On Friday, AZ9 announced that the ground-based fixed loop electromagnetic survey at Oval was halfway through but had already resulted in 29 conductive plates being modelled across four target zones. Six priority one plates have been identified with strong geophysical responses. The focus of the remainder of the program is the deeper zones and step-out targets, including MS1, MS2 and Quartz Hill targets. Zunduisuren said the program to date had delivered the results the company were hoping for. 'I think the next stage of drilling is going to be quite instrumental for us,' he said. Drilling is set to resume in early August, while the first round of metallurgical test work results will also be released this quarter. 'The strategy for this year is to really show the size and the extent of the mineralisation to get the feeling of how large the potential is, and if we can get that by the end of the year, next year we're going to drill for a resource,' Zunduisuren said. 'We have very limited historic information. This is a brand new area, even in Mongolia, in the southwest part where we are working. 'I don't think there have been any historic magmatic mafic intrusion-related copper and nickel sulphide systems before, so this is brand new in this sense, so we really have to do everything from ground up. 'That's why we certainly believe that there is definitely a potential for camp-scale or clusters of orebodies within a few kilometres or a few tens of kilometres from each other.' Mongolia still emerging Despite Mongolia being home to Rio Tinto's massive Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold mine, Zunduisuren said it was still misunderstood as a destination. 'The last round of real investor interest was in the early 2000s,' he said. 'That's when we had a big flow of investment from Australia and Canada, especially in the gold space in Mongolia, and then the copper space. 'Knowing all the moving parts there, I think Mongolia will probably become quite interesting for investors over the next few years.' Zunduisuren said Mongolia was a mature mining destination with the right regulatory frameworks in place to support the industry. 'Infrastructure wise, it's vastly improved over the last 15 years,' he said. 'Just based on that, it's way better positioned to attract investment than 15 years ago.' The ASX's only other Mongolia-focused copper player, Xanadu Mines, is set to disappear shortly after accepting a $180 million takeover offer. Xanadu accepted the 8c per share offer – a 57% premium – and the acquirer Bastion Mining moved to compulsory acquisition on Friday. It will result in one less copper developer on the ASX, a space which is already reasonably thin. 'I think the key for larger institutional investors or corporates, they're definitely looking, of course, and observing how we progressing further,' Zunduisuren said. 'To really make their minds up, there's two things that need to be there. One is a quantity. The other is quantity. 'With our current results, we have shown there's definitely a quality of the product there, but we need to show the quantity and that's the whole strategy of this year's exploration.'
News.com.au
13-07-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
Kristie Batten: Theta moves towards gold production in South Africa
One of Australia's top mining journalists, Kristie Batten, writes for Stockhead every week in her regular column placing a watchful eye on the movers and shakers of the small cap resources scene. June was an important month for Theta Gold Mines (ASX:TGM), as it put all the pieces in place to build South Africa's next gold operation. Theta owns 74% of the 6.1 million ounce TGME brownfields project, 370km northeast of Johannesburg, which is where South Africa's gold mining industry began almost 130 years ago. The company ticked off a number of milestones last month on its path to production. It received a credit-approved loan facility agreement and indicative funding terms for up to US$35 million from the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa, which will form part of the funding for the TGME underground mine. Specialist South African firm Moore Debt Advisory has been appointed to support the company through the process to secure commercial co-lenders. Theta also made a decision to mine and raised US$4 million via a private placement to existing shareholder Hong Kong Ruihua Green Development, which will allow early works. A report released by RaaS Research Group earlier this month pointed out that Theta traded below the average and median on an enterprise value per ounce basis when measured against 22 ASX developer peers. 'This suggests that the market capitalisation of Theta can materially re-rate should the company successfully enter production,' it said. Also this month, veteran analyst Warwick Grigor, of Far East Capital, suggested Theta represented 'sound value'. 'Better and better' Theta released a feasibility study for TGME in 2022 and an update is due in the current quarter. It's unusual for a company to make a decision to mine before the release of the feasibility study, but Theta chairman Bill Guy told Stockhead the project was profitable at a much lower gold price than today. The 2022 study covered the first four mines, Beta, CDM, Frankfort and Rietfontein, for a 12.9-year mine life to produce 1.24 million ounces of gold. The peak funding requirement was forecast at US$77 million. The 2022 study used a gold price of US$1642 an ounce and returned a pre-tax net present value of US$324 million and internal rate of return of 65%. 'Basically, we expect most of those numbers to improve by between 50% and 100%,' Guy said. 'We probably expect the all-in costs to go up a little bit, because South Africa has a sliding scale for royalties, and the peak capex will probably go up over US$80 million. 'There's no issue with profitability. It's just gotten better and better, so the project's very profitable. It has strong cashflow. Even at US$1642 it's going to make, over US$500 million in free cash, post-tax. We know that's even higher now.' Site work underway 'We've just finished decommissioning the old plant site, getting ready for our bulk earthworks and civil, so we really want to start that next couple of weeks,' Guy said. Equipment has been delivered to site and the quoting process for the engineering work and plant is underway. Guy expects the earthworks to be completed by the end of the year. 'Once we've done that, then we're really only 12 months away from a gold bar,' he said. Guy described the full-scale development process as 'plug and play'. 'Everything is built in the factory, inspected, dismantled and put back on the truck and trucked to site, so we don't have a big civil camp. We don't have all those extra costs,' he said. Being a brownfields site, the existing infrastructure including roads, power and water, keeps capital costs down. 'Roads are incredibly expensive. Tailings dams are incredibly expensive,' Guy said. 'We have no office administration buildings. We have housing.' Licence to operate Last month, the company locked in a 13-year renewal of Mining Right 83 through to 2038, accounting for more than three quarters of the mine schedule under the 2022 study. As per South Africa's Mining Charter, 26% of the project is owned by Black Economic Empowerment entities, comprising local community trusts, an employee trust and a strategic entrepreneurial partner. 'We spend a lot of time and energy on that social licence in the community – the community are our shareholders. They are part of the project as well,' Guy said. 'I think what Theta has done, which is quite unique, it really has built that social licence from the ground up, and that's how we really fight through the paperwork and everything else.' The company quickly got the support of the provincial government. 'Because the community went out and asked for the mine. They signed petitions for the mine,' Guys said. 'They call it their mine, because they will actually benefit … so I think that's made a big difference.'
News.com.au
06-07-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
Kristie Batten: Brightstar maps path to 200,000ozpa of gold
One of Australia's top mining journalists, Kristie Batten, writes for Stockhead every week in her regular column placing a watchful eye on the movers and shakers of the small cap resources scene. It's been a busy couple of weeks for Brightstar Resources (ASX:BTR) as ticks off milestones on the road to its goal of becoming a 200,000 ounce per annum gold producer by 2029. The up-and-comer is already ramping up to become a 35,000-40,000ozpa gold producer from its Second Fortune and Fish underground mines via an ore processing agreement with Genesis Minerals. But the company has bigger aspirations of becoming a gold producer in its own right and in the process, becoming a major player in the Eastern Goldfields. A week ago, Brightstar released a definitive feasibility study for the staged development of its Menzies and Laverton gold projects. Based on a maiden open pit reserve of 210,500oz at 1.63 grams per tonne gold, the project would produce 338,528oz, or an average of 70,000ozpa, over five years at all-in sustaining costs of $2991 an ounce. Using a base case gold price of $4500/oz, the project returned a pre-tax net present value of $203 million and an internal rate of return of 48%. Increasing the gold price to around $5000/oz, which is closer to spot, increases the NPV to $316 million and IRR increases to 73%. The company has signed a memorandum of understanding to process Menzies ore through the Paddington mill for up to two years while the Laverton plant is being built. Total project peak funding requirements for the Menzies and Laverton projects is $120 million, while payback from the commissioning of the plant, expected in early 2027, is one year. Brightstar has received letters of intent or term sheets from multiple domestic and offshore commercial banks, as well as interest from non-bank lenders for debt financing of up to 70% of the capital requirements. The company has also received a non-binding term sheet from an offshore precious metals specialist investment company for a funding package comprising a gold doré offtake and equity financing at a premium for A$120 million. Brightstar managing director Alex Rovira described Laverton and Menzies as 'a really financeable project with great return on investment'. The bigger prize A prefeasibility study is also underway for Brightstar's larger Sandstone project, due for completion next year. Sandstone hosts shallow resources of 1.5Moz at 1.5g/t gold and Brightstar has 80,000m of drilling planned across the project this year. The PFS will consider a 3-5 million tonne per annum open pit development. The company is aiming to move straight into a DFS on Sandstone next year, with the aim of making a final investment decision in early 2027, coinciding with first gold from Laverton and Menzies. Brightstar is aiming to self-fund at least part of the Sandstone development from its other operations. 'We see Sandstone as the flagship, tier one asset within our portfolio and the ability to fund that from existing and near-term operations is important,' Rovira said. Canaccord Genuity analyst Tim McCormack is modelling a $250 million, 3Mpta operation which would pour first gold in the June quarter of 2029. 'We expect the project to support production of around 130,000ozpa at an AISC of $2655/oz for six years,' he said. McCormack maintained a speculative buy rating and $1.50 price target for Brightstar, which is more than three times its Friday closing price of 46c. Deal brewing Brightstar has been one of the more acquisitive juniors in the gold space. Over the past two years, Brightstar has merged with Kingwest Resources, acquired unlisted Linden Alliance, merged with Alto Metals and bought Gateway Mining's Montague project. In October last year, Brightstar revealed it had made an offer to Sandstone neighbour Aurumin (ASX:AUN) over a potential joint venture. Last week, the two companies announced they were in merger talks, which would create a larger Sandstone project with a resource of 2.4Moz. Under the proposed deal, Brightstar would offer one share for every 4.6 Aurumin shares held, implying a value of 11.7c per Aurumin share, a 17% premium to the previous close. The companies are carrying out mutual due diligence. 'For context, Aurumin's ground is encapsulated entirely within our portfolio,' Rovira said. 'They have 900,000 ounces of resources, and importantly, the old mill site where Troy Resources mined and operated, so a potential transaction here delivers some great open pit resources that would be perfect to go through any mill in the district, but also key licences, permits and infrastructure.' Rovira pointed out that there were no major mills within 100km of Sandstone, but there were a handful of other junior companies with resources in that radius. 'We think ultimately there's a lot more consolidation that should happen in Sandstone that will be for the betterment of all sets of shareholders and the market in general,' he said. 'I'd love to have a business here in Sandstone that's underpinned by 3-4 million ounces of resources, on mining leases, that is near-term development. 'That opportunity, in my view, doesn't exist anywhere else in the Eastern Goldfields of WA. 'That would underpin a significant valuation for this business in the future, but also probably importantly, it would be a very opportune target for the mid-tier sector, which is looking for growth opportunities, so we're excited about the opportunity that we can build out here in Sandstone.'
News.com.au
25-05-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
Kristie Batten: Trigg surfs antimony wave amid demand swell
One of Australia's top mining journalists, Kristie Batten writes for Stockhead every week in her regular column placing a watchful eye on the movers and shakers of the small cap resources scene. Trigg Minerals (ASX:TMG) is building momentum in its aim to become a major player in the emerging antimony scene. The antimony price reportedly cracked US$60,000 per tonne last week, continuing an extraordinary run spurred by Chinese export restrictions. This month alone, Trigg has welcomed antimony experts Andre Booyzen as managing director and Wiehann Kleynhans as vice president, US downstream operations and acquired a new project in the US. Trigg executive chairman Timothy Morrison said Booyzen had made 'an immediate contribution to the team'. Boozyen was formerly vice president of Mandalay Resources Corp, the operator of Australia's only antimony mine, Costerfield in Victoria. 'We're going to do some great things over the next year or two,' he said on a webinar on Thursday. US footprint secured Last week, Trigg signed an agreement with EV Resources to acquire the Antimony Canyon project in Utah for $225,000 cash, $225,000 in shares and deferred consideration of $450,000 in cash or shares. The project, comprising 49 unpatented lode mining claims, sits 11 km east of the Antimony township. 'What other place do you want to be other than a town called antimony?' Boozyen said. Antimony Canyon has a non-JORC resource of 12.7 million tonnes grading 0.79% antimony for 100,300 tonnes of contained antimony, though that figure has not been updated since 1949. The project also hosts at least nine known historical mines, including the Emma-Albion mine, the largest historical antimony producer in the district. Trigg chief geologist Jonathan King said despite historical production, much of the original mineralisation remained in place. 'We love the prospectivity,' he said. 'We think there's an easy opportunity to grow this resource.' The company will begin fieldwork in the next week and hopes to be drilling by the end of the year or early next year. 'In terms of what is known about this area, it's just in its infancy,' King said. Boozyen said Trigg was hopeful of fast permitting given US President Donald Trump's emphasis on domestic production. He added that it was a good time to be in the US given that it was the largest consumer of antimony in the Western world and the company would look to build on its position over the next 6-12 months. Highest-grade resource Until last week, Trigg's main focus has been the Achilles project in New South Wales. According to Trigg, Achille's Wild Cattle Creek is Australia's highest grade primary antimony resource at 1.52Mt at 1.97% antimony containing 29,902 tonnes of antimony. The company claims it is also Australia's widest antimony resource with average mineralised width of 20m, exceeding typical narrow vein-hosted antimony deposits in the region, which also includes Larvotto Resources' Hillgrove. A recent review of historical sampling returned grades of up to 27.6% antimony outside the resource. Trigg is planning to update the resource. The NSW government recently approved the transfer of the Wild Cattle Creek tenement to Trigg, allowing for field work to get underway. During the March quarter, Trigg also acquired the Nundle, Upper Hunter, and Cobark/Copeland projects, which hosts chip samples of up to 61% antimony and 1045 grams per tonne gold, with over 60 historical gold occurrences and total historical production of more than 300,000 ounces of gold. Shares in Trigg rose by more than 50% last week on the positive momentum. On Thursday, East Coast Research analyst Michael Jarvis lifted its price target for Trigg by 18% to 19.2c, which is still more than three times the current share price. 'This re-rating reflects Trigg Minerals' achievement of key milestones, including compelling MRE upgrades for the Wild Cattle Creek deposit, strategic new high-grade antimony and gold deposit acquisitions in the New England Orogen, and positive corporate changes such as the appointment of a seasoned managing director,' he said. 'These advancements significantly de-risk the company's growth trajectory and enhance its value proposition in the strengthening critical minerals market.'
