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News.com.au
13-07-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
The treasure the big boys left behind in NSW's Lachlan Fold Belt
Alkane's Boda find put the Lachlan Fold Belt back on the map in 2019. Today, with better geological models and modern exploration, smart capital is flowing into the region The Macquarie Arc, east of the Lachlan Fold Belt, is Australia's leading porphyry belt and home to major mines It is also home to a new generation of ASX juniors including Magmatic Resources and Waratah Minerals, with many others close by looking for the next major gold-copper discovery Rising copper prices, gold's stellar run and some of the world's most promising geology have created the perfect storm for investors willing to bet on Aussie juniors, proving that sometimes the best opportunities are the ones hiding in your own backyard. Alkane Resources' (ASX:ALK) Boda discovery put NSW's Lachlan Fold Belt on the map a few years ago before the region seemingly slipped back into the shadows. But smart money is returning to the fold, with new technology and geological understanding triggering a fresh wave of companies keen on chasing the region's staggering gold and copper bounty. More than 110Moz of gold discoveries have been made in the area to-date in and around the Central Lachlan and Cobar mineralised districts. To the east of the Lachlan Fold Belt is the Macquarie Arc, which has been described as Australia's foremost porphyry belt, home to powerhouse mines like Evolution Mining's (ASX:EVN) Northparkes and Cowal mines, and Newmont Corporation's (ASX:NEM) Cadia-Ridgeway (the second largest gold mine in Australia after its Boddington operation in WA's South West). The western reaches of the Lachlan Fold Belt host the Cobar Superbasin, where MAC Copper (ASX:MAC) acquired Australia's highest-grade copper mine, the CSA mine, for US$1.1 billion from Glencore and is now selling it for a similar price to South Africa's Harmony Gold. Consolidation and M&A Magmatic Resources (ASX:MAG) acquired its Lachlan Belt portfolio in 2014 from Gold Fields at a time of peak consolidation in the area, when major mining companies were realigning their portfolios in a weak gold price environment. Notable transactions included Rio Tinto's 2013 sale of its 80% stake in the Northparkes copper-gold mine (Sumitomo owned and continue to own 20%) to China Molybdenum for US$820m and Barrick Gold's 2015 divestment of the Cowal gold mine to Evolution Mining for US$550m. Cowal's resource base stood at 3.4Moz when Evolution acquired it. Today that figure has nearly tripled to 9Moz. By 2023, Newmont had acquired Newcrest Mining in a US$16.8 billion deal, drawn largely by the world-class Cadia Valley mine, which contains 17Moz of gold and 3.6Mt of copper in ore reserves. Later that year, Evolution Mining purchased China Molybdenum's 80% interest in the Northparkes copper-gold mine for US$475m. In an interview with Stockhead, MAG managing director David Richardson said Gold Fields had been actively exploring the region in search of tier-1 discoveries, assembling a portfolio of projects that shared key geological features with major nearby mines. As most major players began stepping back from greenfields exploration to concentrate on near-mine development, Barrick offloaded several gold assets in Western Australia to Gold Fields, an opportunity that ultimately enabled Magmatic to secure their Lachlan Fold Belt projects. 'We believed there would be a gold and copper recovery, and if you wanted to find a tier-1 gold-copper project, the East Lachlan offered the greatest potential,' Richardson said. 'Importantly, the Cadia, Northparkes and Cowal mines are all on the region's two volcanic belts, and Gold Fields' portfolio was on these volcanic belts and in close proximity to these mines. 'Gold Fields had spent ~A$14m on exploration including detailed geophysics, geochemical and target generation drilling so we were able to acquire advanced exploration projects with a list of ranked targets,' he added. Peaks and troughs While Magmatic were lucky enough to inherit Gold Fields' exploration office in Orange, Richardson said having a portfolio of tier-1 projects (comprising the Wellington North, Parkes, Myall and Moorefield assets) comes with its challenges as a junior explorer. 'The last 10 years has been difficult for junior explorers to raise money and gain shareholder traction, plus porphyry copper-gold deposits are known for their large size and low grade, making them harder to develop,' he said. 'We knew we had to focus on the two smaller projects, while advancing our larger projects to a stage they would be attractive to majors.' At IPO in May 2017, the company ventured its Parkes project with JOGMEC, the Japanese governments resources agency, which Richardson said largely kept it going during the lean years of 2017-2020. 'As a small company we were nimble and able to pivot our focus on our Wellington North project post Alkane's Boda discovery, and our exploration there has developed multiple exciting prospects,' he added. The company decided to demerge its subsidiary Australian Gold and Copper (ASX:AGC), which contained the Moorefield asset, and acquired two complementary projects before listing AGC on the ASX. It then undertook a major drilling campaign at the Myall project and defined a resource of 293,000t of copper, 237,000oz of gold and 2.8Moz of silver, equating to 354,000t of copper metal equivalent. 'We believed we needed a partner to further develop Myall, so in March 2024 after an expression of interest process we successfully attracted Fortescue subsidiary FMG Resources and agreed a farm-in/joint venture agreement,' Richardson said. 'In the past 12 months we have put over $2m into the ground advancing the project with Magmatic as operator. 'Our approach has been to try and advance all of our projects at the same time, recognising which projects we go alone on and which projects need a partner. 'At all times being nimble enough to put focus on a project given exploration success or other opportunities such as the recovery in the copper price.' That conviction has certainly paid off, with historically strong gold, silver and copper prices all boding well for Myall's future development. Other ASX explorers in the hood Waratah Minerals (ASX:WTM) is another explorer in the area, focusing its exploration work along the margins of a major intrusive complex which hadn't been focused on at the Spur project, despite it being an important setting of major deposits in the Lachlan Fold Belt. Spur sits within 5km of Newmont's Cadia Valley gold and copper operations and, according to Waratah, is a perfect example of both epithermal and porphyry styles of mineralisation. 'Often in districts around the Macquarie Arc you'll see one or the other dominating, here we see evidence for both, and the hypothesis is that there is a connection genetically and spatially between the two styles of mineralisation,' Waratah MD Peter Duerden previously told Stockhead. A three-rig drilling campaign, backed by an $8.4m capital raise in May, is currently underway focusing on the Spur gold corridor where epithermal gold mineralisation has been mapped 1km along strike. Additional drilling will also continue to investigate the Breccia West prospect, where the nature of mineralisation host rock and assay intercepts show strong similarities to the nearby Ridgeway deposit. Legacy Minerals Holdings (ASX:LGM) has started drilling at the Glenlogan JV project with S2 Resources (ASX:S2R) in its search for Cadia-style porphyry mineralisation. Glenlogan is less than 55km from the Newmont's Cadia (~50Moz gold, 10Mt copper) and was last explored by Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) in 1996. S2 is now drilling a 600-800m diamond hole to test several coincident geophysical anomalies identified in recent surveys consistent with porphyry style mineralisation. Assays will likely take a further three to four weeks after the completion of the hole. And Koonenberry Gold (ASX:KNB) owns about 1580km2 of granted exploration licences in the region, making it one of the most significant landholders in the belt. At its Prince of Wales project, the company has uncovered a large +2.5km-long gold in soil anomaly at the Back Station Creek prospect. Averaging more than six parts per billion gold with a peak value of 112ppb, the most recent rock chips from the project have outlined large-scale epithermal or porphyry gold and copper targets that have never been drilled. An ~800m by 300m gold-in-soil anomaly above 6ppb with peak gold grades of 349ppb has also been picked up at Sybil, meaning Koonenberry has now defined two separate trends within the landholding. With a cash balance of $10.35m, the company is focused on refining drill targets across multiple projects, including the Junee and Fairholme JVs where the world's biggest gold miner – Newmont – is spending millions on exploration. And the latest mover in the State's Macquarie Arc is 2025 IPO LinQ Minerals (ASX:LNQ), which raised $10m to out towards drilling at the 3.7Moz gold and 1.2Mt copper Gilmore project, home to Gidjinbung, a major epithermal gold deposit near Temora last mined in 1996 when gold prices were ~$460/oz and undrilled since 2001. LinQ appointed drill contractor Drillit to conduct the first stage of drilling focused initially on Gidginbung and the Dam porphyry deposits (combined 1.2Moz gold, 120,000t copper).
News.com.au
20-06-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
Barry FitzGerald: Magmatic adding serious value with WA gold deal
'Garimpeiro' columnist Barry FitzGerald has covered the resources industry for 35 years. Now he's sharing the benefits of his experience with Stockhead readers. One of Garimpeiro's pet peeves is coming across a junior explorer banging away at a single project rather than leveraging off their standing costs as an ASX-listed company by adding a second project to the portfolio. That is particularly so when there has been a tectonic shift in markets like there is now, with gold racing to more than $5200 an ounce in Aussie dollars – up a staggering 44% on 2024's average. So keep the flagship project bubbling along but use the downtime between drilling campaigns to add a gold project to the company's story because the reality is that there has never been a better time to be looking for the yellow stuff. That's just what a well-known explorer for potential tier-1 epithermal/porphyry style deposits in NSW's prolific East Lachlan region, Magmatic Resources (ASX:MAG), has done via the acquisition of the Weebo project on the Yandal greenstone belt in Western Australia. The East Lachlan hunt continues, including a joint venture at the Myall copper/gold project with Andrew Forrest's Fortescue (ASX:FMG), also the company's biggest shareholder. Myall and other prospects in the East Lachlan could well deliver a big discovery in time, and there has been plenty of encouragement on that front. But for pure gold exposure at a time when the market is in a mood to reward gold discoveries handsomely, Magmatic has rolled up its sleeves and added WA gold to its story, powering up its newsflow in the process. Magmatic was trading mid-week at 4.2c a share for a market cap of $18.1 million on issued capital, increased by the share consideration component of the Weebo acquisition. It was a 3.9c stock before the Weebo pick up, so it can be said that the added element of WA gold has attracted the market's interest. But remembering the market cap is still not challenging. Given the quality of the East Lachan interests, it could be suggested that at Wednesday's share price of 4.2c, Weebo comes at this stage comes for free. Value added That's despite Weebo having all the hallmarks of becoming a quick value-add for Magmatic. Located 30km southeast of Leinster, the Weebo ground covers about 50km of the southern Yandal greenstone belt. The ground includes two near surface prospects – Ockerburry and Scone Stone – where previous drilling has yielded some nice hits by a previous owner. They stand as advanced drill prospects and there are a bunch of less advanced prospects. Magmatic has put a local exploration team in place and expects that its maiden drilling program at Weebo will kick off in the September quarter. It is exciting stuff for a company with an $18.1m market cap. What makes Weebo particularly exciting is its location, smack bang in the middle of five gold mines with treatment plants – Vault Minerals' (ASX:VAU) Darlot, Gold Fields' Agnew-Lawlers, Bellevue Gold's (ASX:BGL) namesake operation, Northern Star Resources' (ASX:NST) Bronzewing and Northern Star's Thunderbox. While the hope would be that exploration success at Weebo delivers a standalone operation, the proximity of the regional treatment capacity lends itself to toll treatment opportunities, joint venture development and/or outright sale of ounces that Magmatic pulls together in a mineral resource estimate. Ounces in the ground In a $5200/oz environment ounces-in-the-ground are commanding a high value when there is a clear pathway to the ounces being whacked through a standalone treatment plant or one owned by a third party. By way of example only, Northern Star last year paid $12.5 million for the 177,000 inferred resource ($70 an ounce) at the Hobbes gold project – owned 80% by Solstice Minerals (ASX:SLS) and 20% by a private minority – to feed through its Carosue Dam operation. The year before NST paid Strickland Metals (ASX:STK) $61m in cash and shares for the 346,000oz Millrose deposit near the Jundee gold mine ($176/oz). Gold prices have moved substantially higher still, so smallish deposits have become even more valuable. Where Weebo ends up in terms of its scale remains to be seen. But it certainly delivers exploration excitement when the gold market is running hot. And who knows? That hunt for a tier-1 discovery in NSW could well come up trumps. That's particularly so when Mt York gets juiced up by the additional ounces expected to come from the big exploration push now underway. The views, information, or opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the columnist and do not represent the views of Stockhead. Stockhead does not provide, endorse or otherwise assume responsibility for any financial product advice contained in this article. At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While Magmatic Resources is a Stockhead advertiser, it did not sponsor this article.
News.com.au
16-06-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
Resources Top 5: Magmatic adds western gold arm to Aussie portfolio
Magmatic will pay $50,000 cash and 36 million shares for the Weebo gold project The commercial potential of the Ema rare earths project in Brazil has been enhanced by test results Investors have welcomed two positive recent announcements from Trigg Minerals Your standout resources stocks for Monday, June 16, 2025. Magmatic Resources (ASX:MAG) With gold trending toward the record high of US$3500/oz set in April, having reached $3452 in the past 24 hours aided by escalating tensions in the Middle East, any positive moves by ASX-listed gold players are welcomed by investors. One to benefit is Magmatic Resources (ASX:MAG) which has identified an inexpensive entry-point to stake its claim in one of WA's hottest gold regions with the acquisition of the Weebo gold project. This adds a west coast arm to the company's Australian operations and complements its potential Tier-1 gold and copper prospects in the Lachlan Fold Belt of New South Wales. The deal will see Magmatic pay $50,000 cash and 36 million shares, valued at around $1.47m, with a further 14m shares contingent on milestones for 136km2 of ground at Weebo. This project covers a 50km north-south strike wedged between five of WA's largest gold mines, including Bellevue Gold's (ASX:BGL) namesake operation, Vault Minerals' (ASX:VAU) Darlot, Northern Star's (ASX:NST) Thunderbox and Bronzewing, and Gold Fields' Agnew-Lawlers. That's more than 15Moz of gold resources or historic production surrounding a vast underexplored tract of WA's Northern Goldfields. 'The company is extremely pleased to add to its portfolio of projects with this exciting new gold property superbly located in the heart of WA's Yilgarn Goldfields,' MD David Richardson said. 'The prospectivity of this area is highlighted by the proximity to five large gold mines and we believe the project area is underexplored, offering a great opportunity for new discoveries. 'We have already put a local exploration team in place and expect to commence exploration drilling in the coming quarter.' With heritage clearances in place, drilling is being planned to begin next quarter and there are already significant results to follow up, having been drilled by fellow ASX explorer Midas Minerals (ASX:MM1) when it had an option over the ground in 2021 and 2022. They include the Ockerburry and Scone Stone prospects, the former a mineralised structure defined by drilling over at least 5km. At Scone Stone, drilling outlined an 800m-long northeast trend of potential intrusive origin, wedged between an ultramafic unit to the west and mafic unit to the east. Mineralisation like that has been closely watched in WA since De Grey Mining's discovery of the Hemi gold deposit in the Pilbara in 2020. First-pass drilling is also 'warranted' for the Otto prospect, where lower grade gold has been found in limited wide-spaced drilling around an aero-magnetic target 5.5km north of Northern Star's Otto Bore mine. Over in NSW, Magmatic has strong strategic backing, with Andrew Forrest's Fortescue its major shareholder and farm-in partner on the Myall project in the Lachlan Fold Belt. Work in the East Lachlan Fold Belt is continuing as MAG adds another string to its bow at Weebo. 'Our four projects give shareholders exposure to both the gold and copper markets, with two potential Tier 1 gold-copper projects and now, two near-surface gold projects in the heart of two of Australia's most well endowed mining regions,' Richardson added. Brazilian Critical Minerals (ASX:BCM) The commercial potential of the Ema rare earths project in Brazil has been further enhanced by testing with Brazilian Critical Minerals recording the tracer reagent magnesium sulphate in multiple extraction holes. This work forms part of an in-situ recovery trial and shows the potential value of using the chemical, a much more environmentally friendly alternative to ammonium sulphate, for leaching rare earths. The tests showed that magnesium sulphate had migrated from the injection holes to the extraction holes in the field trial locations. Encouragingly, pH levels were also reduced significantly to at or below pH 4.0 in the extraction solution with the addition of low concentration magnesium sulphate. Not only is the solution at the pH level required to leach REEs into solution via in-situ recovery, solution flows through the clay zones also continue to exceed laboratory estimates with injection and extraction wells showing a steady rise in solution levels over time indicating the basement rock is largely impermeable. Solutions containing REEs have now been extracted from the monitoring holes and are enroute to the laboratory for certified analysis. The testing success reported on June 13 has seen shares climb 40% to 1.4c before closing 20% higher at 1.2c. 'Over the past 10 days, we've successfully applied the same testing protocols to the Ema mineralisation that delivered exceptional laboratory results throughout 2024 and early 2025,' managing director Andrew Reid said. 'Encouragingly, the pilot field trial has confirmed that permeability rates are not only consistent with lab data but, in many cases, even better. 'In recent days, we've also achieved a significant technical milestone — lowering the in-situ pH to levels that demonstrate clear migration of magnesium sulphate through the clay layers to the extraction wells. 'This is a critical step, as it indicates rare earth elements are now at a stage where they can be effectively ionically leached into solution.' He added that the WSP Brazil controlled and supervised independent field trial had further validated the company's confidence in the simplicity and effectiveness of the ISR process. Ema hosts one of the world's largest ionic clay rare earth deposits with a resource of 943Mt at 716 parts per million total rare earth oxides. It includes a starter zone of 341Mt with high-value magnet rare earths, used to make permanent magnets for advanced technology like electric vehicle batteries, wind turbines and particle accelerators. Trigg Minerals (ASX:TMG) (Up on no news) A number of ASX-listed companies are seeking to take advantage of positive sentiment toward critical minerals in the US, including Trigg Minerals, which has reached 8.5c, an increase of 14.9% on the previous close. Investors welcomed two positive announcements from the company last week centred on the Antimony Canyon project in the US. Firstly, the company confirmed multiple zones of massive stibnite mineralisation at the Utah project with initial field mapping pointing to several zones of massive stibnite mineralisation at the Emma and Mammoth deposits. The results highlight the project's potential as one of the highest grade and significant antimony projects in the US and bode well for Trigg as it pursues its strategy to become a key domestic supplier of critical minerals. Antimony is considered a critical mineral by the US government due to its military and industrial applications. It's used in missiles, flame retardants, renewable energy, defence and other high-tech industries. Later in the week, Antimony metallurgist David Fourie joined the Trigg Minerals (ASX:TMG) team as a technical advisor for its net zero antimony strategy, centred on Antimony Canyon. Fourie played a central role in the design and ESG elements of the first 'clean plant' antimony smelter built by SPMP to European environmental standards in Oman. SPMP is the largest antimony roaster outside of China, set to produce 20,000 tonnes of antimony products a year once the smelter reaches full capacity. Resolution Minerals (ASX:RML) Another increasing its focus on the US in line with that country's push to establish a domestic critical minerals supply chain, Resolute Minerals hit a new 12-month high of 5c, climbing 43% on the previous close on volume of more than 131m. The latest move to reach a massive investor base in the US sees the company's intended listing on the OTCQB Markets nearing completion. Resolution expects to increase its visibility, liquidity and accessibility for North American investors and hopes to stoke the interest of an investor base similar to NASDAQ-listed Perpetua Resources. Perpetua's ~A$2 billion Stibnite antimony-gold project with a resource of 4.8Moz gold and 148Mlb antimony shares its western boundary with RML's newly acquired Horse Heaven antimony-gold-tungsten project in Valley County, Idaho. Resolution Minerals (ASX:RML) also expects the dual listing will provide a stronger US presence for potential US Department of Defense funding as antimony is classified as a critical mineral, potential fast-tracking of Horse Heaven and a stepping stone to a potential NASDAQ listing. 'Listing on the OTCQB Market is a strategic move that aligns with our vision of becoming a globally recognised developer of what we believe will become a major antimony, gold and tungsten deposit in the United States,' executive director Aharon Zaetz said. Kairos Minerals (ASX:KAI) (Up on no news) Simon Lill-led Kairos Minerals holds the 1.4Moz Mt York gold deposit, the largest undeveloped, free-milling gold project in the Tier-1 Pilbara region of WA with mineralisation defined over 3km within a large, single optimal pit shell. The company's experienced technical team is confident that the gold deposit, hosted in banded iron formation (BIF), will grow significantly now that Kairos has access to an additional 1,500m of well-mineralised strike extension of the Main Trend geology from neighbours Pilbara Minerals. The company reached a two-year high of 3.2c, an increase of 23.1%. Its had no formal news since May 23 BUT did get a write-up from our mining maestro Barry FitzGerald over the weekend. Check out his Garimpeiro column here. The Mt York resource base of 43.08Mt at 1.0 g/t gold includes a higher-grade component of 14.6Mt at 1.6 g/t for 751,000oz. Plans to make Mt York a super-pit project are underway. The discovery of spodumene-bearing pegmatites at Mt York coupled with a lithium-caesium-rubidium soil anomaly at the Roe Hills project near Manna lithium deposit in the Goldfields, offer further potential significant value drivers. Roe Hills, which is around 120km east of Kalgoorlie, holds rare earth element potential after exploration confirmed a discovery called Black Cat. There is also gold potential undercover at this discovery.
