Latest news with #JohnDickie
BBC News
5 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
London's housing crisis 'should be priority in Spending Review'
Investing in housing, transport and people should be the top priorities for the capital, business leaders have said ahead of next week's government Spending Dickie, chief executive of Business LDN, an organisation that represents a number of employers in the city, said Transport for London (TfL) needed a long-term financial settlement so it could "plan with confidence".He also said the housing crisis needed to be addressed, which in turn would help reduce lack of affordable homes in the city was "not just a social issue", he said, but was holding back the economy. Mr Dickie said London currently had the highest unemployment rate in the country, and Londoners should be given the skills they need to get into work."It means investing in people and in the jobs of the future. Perhaps most importantly, we need investment into housing."Housing is not just a social crisis in London, it's also holding back the economy. It's harder for businesses to keep and then retain their staff."The sheer cost of getting a house - whether renting or trying to get on the housing ladder - makes it hard for businesses to attract and retain the talent they need."He said "a bit more imagination, a bit more innovation" was needed. "There are multiple impacts - the most obvious is the cost and how it makes it harder to attract and retain talent, but also the stress that employees face from uncertain or precarious rental arrangements." Rental prices in London are still rising, according to Matt Hutchinson, from the flat-share site SpareRoom."We never see sustained decreases taking rents down to affordable levels," he said."While there are more people searching for somewhere to live than rooms available, rents will keep heading north – along with renters."He said a March 2025 survey indicated 28% of renters were spending more than half their take-home pay on rent, while 80% were spending more than 30%. He added that workers were moving out of the capital to the "relative affordability" of the suburbs."It might be fine for knowledge workers who can do their jobs from their laptops, but for service workers and those who work shifts and antisocial hours, and who need to be close to their places of work, this is a huge problem." One of those people who felt forced to leave is Jason Phillips, who lived in Crouch End for a decade before moving to Stevenage in 60-year-old said his London home had been sold by the owner and he looked for a new place to rent for more than a year, viewing about 40 said property agencies told him everyone attending their viewings "was in a bidding war and that the only way to win was either to offer more than the advertised rent or to offer to be tied into multi-year contracts. "One agent suggested both was the best tactic."Mr Phillips said a two-bed flat in Crouch End on the market for £1,800 a month eventually went to a tenant willing to pay £2,500 a month on a 30-month rental now lives in a three-bedroom house with a monthly rent of £2,075. Ian McDermott, CEO of the Peabody housing association and the chair of the G15 - a group of housing associations in London - said rent certainty was the most important issue that should be addressed in the Spending said the government should consider housing to be core infrastructure for the country, and that housing should be viewed "not as debt but as an asset"."The situation is utterly dire - one in 21 children in London will go to sleep tonight in temporary accommodation."The scale of the of the temporary housing is astronomical and threatens the financial viability of councils across London."
Otago Daily Times
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Crop competition aids charities
PHOTO: SUPPLIED Pauline and Peter Dodd won the Crop That Caught The Judges' Eye award at the Waianakarua and Waiareka Valley Lions Clubs Winter Crop Competition awards evening last week. The competition went off with a bang, organisers said. It was held for for the first time since 2023 and attracted about 100 entries. Farmers entered either their swedes, fodder beets, kale or winter rape crops for judging. The awards dinner was held at the Loan & Merc last Friday, with 240 people attending. Former All Black Richard Loe was the guest speaker and alongside the winners being announced, there was also an auction. The competition raised $54,000 which will be split between Otago Southland Helicopter Trust and the Network Waitaki Event Centre Trust. Waiareka Valley Lions Club administrator Murray Linwood said the clubs were thrilled with how it went. "[It was] a lot of work by a very good team, but a very satisfying outcome." He was very grateful for all the support they received. Waianakarua and Waiareka Valley Lions Clubs Winter Crop Competition results.— Winter rape, dry: John Dickie 1, Tim Craig 2, Murray Rodger 3. Swede: Peter & Pauline Dodd 1, Ian Carter 2, Neville Caldwell 3. Dry kale: Joe & Becky Laming 1, E G Ludemann Twaddle Farm 2, John Dickie 3. Irrigated kale: Matt & Jackie Dalziel 1, Otto Dogterom 2, Jeff Thompson 3. Dry beet: Jimmy Hunter 1, Carl Sinclair 2, Dave McCabe 3. Irrigated beet: Jeff Thompson 1, Matt & Jackie Dalziel 2, Matthew & Kylie Bennett 3. Crop that caught the judges' eye: Peter & Pauline Dodd (swedes).
West Australian
21-05-2025
- Business
- West Australian
Why are Argonaut, RCF and Acorn small cap funds all punting Pacgold?
Pacgold Limited is onto a Hemi style intrusive gold system in Queensland showing surface and geophysical signs that stretch for kilometres and has attracted some of the smartest small cap exploration investors in the room. When it comes to investing in small cap listed exploration companies, Acorn Capital, Resource Capital Funds (RCF) and mid-tier broker Argonaut's global gold fund are considered to be amongst the glitterati of high risk high reward investment funds………and curiously, all have taken big positions in Pacgold, underlining the potential of its intrusive style Alice River gold project in northern Queensland. Hemi style 'intrusive' gold mineralisation gained a massive following when DeGrey Mining discovered the Hemi deposit in WA back in 2019. Hemi would eventually go on to give up a massive 9.5m ounces of gold. Intrusive deposits involve gold that has disseminated into granite that then 'intruded' into older host or country rock. This differs from the much better-known Archean greenstone-hosted gold deposits that dominate much of Western Australia's historic production. Intrusive's tend to be big, lower grade bulk tonnage operations that like Hemi, can throw up biblical scale gold deposits and at first blush, Pacgold's massive target rich intrusive environment that hugs the Alice River fault in northern Queensland for 30kms, just might end up fitting the bill. Over decades Australian geologists have walked away from granites, preferring instead to focus on greenstones, however Hemi changed all that and Pacgold is now in the vanguard of seasoned players looking to for the company to replicate DeGrey's success with Hemi gold in granite. At Alice River Pacgold recently kicked off a 10,000m reverse circulation (RC) drilling blitz to target that 30-kilometre-long corridor packed with gold hits, geophysical anomalies and historical production. The project lies about 450 kilometres northwest of Cairns and already boasts a colourful past. Gold was first discovered there in 1903 by prospector John Dickie. Between 1903 and 1917, small-scale underground mining operations produced approximately 3,000 ounces of gold from about 2,420 tonnes of ore, with an average grade of just under an ounce to the tonne gold. In the late 1980s, open-pit mining operations extracted about 30,000 ounces of gold at an average grade of 5.6 g/t. However, it's what's beneath and beyond the old workings that has Pacgold fired up. Since hitting the boards in 2021, Pacgold has punched out more than 27,000 metres of drilling across its sprawling 377 square kilometre Alice River holding, which has resulted in a handsome payoff. Around 90 per cent of those holes have hit anomalous gold, pointing to a potentially rich district-scale system. When managing director, Matt Boyes took the reins in September last year his first move was to orchestrate a $4 million placement to recapitalise the company. Boyes has enjoyed a 25-year career in exploration and mining, having served stints at Solis Minerals – a spin out of Latin Resources, Red Dirt Metals and Warriedar Resources. With the saddlebags full of cash, the veteran geologist immediately launched a two-month drilling assault in October last year ahead of the wet season. 7,000m of air core and 3,000m of track-mounted RC drilling was plunged into high priority zones to test for extensions of known mineralisation at the Central target area and to test regional targets Posie, Jerry Dodds and Southern Target areas not previously drilled. By December early results were pointing to a big expanded system that remains fertile and far from tapped out. Compelling evidence of new mineralisation was uncovered on the western flank of the Alice River Fault zone close to Posie in the northern end of the leases. Just 300m away, similarities with the nearby Shadows prospect suggest a broader structural trend may be emerging. The company has now marked out an initial large-scale target zone of more than 1.4km in strike that is open at both ends at the new location. Notably, the high-grade air core results have only been gathered from the shallow oxide and haven't yet touched the fresh material below. With that in mind, the RC rigs are back on the ground and turning hard, with another 10,000 metres set to go deeper. Supported by solid geology, geophysics and previous air core success, in addition to surface geochemical hints, Pacgold's latest drill blitz is designed to reach depths of 150m or more at its most promising targets including Jerry Dodds, the Southern Target, Victoria and The Shadows prospects. The program will also conduct extensional and infill drilling at the company's Posie and Central Area prospects. Early assays from the first 1118m of drilling across eight holes are due back in shortly, while another 3,000m of diamond drilling and 3,000 to 5,000m of follow-up air core are also in the pipeline. There is evidence at the project of mineralised repeats with folding and stacked vein systems - a style known for spawning tier-one deposits like Mount Leyshon, which pumped out over 3.5 million ounces. In fact, one of Pacgold's highest-priority targets, White Lion, carries eerie geophysical similarities to Mount Leyshon's famed pressure pipe model. IP surveys at the company's White Lion prospect at the southern end of its tenements are already lighting up, with a circular chargeability anomaly - similar to Mount Leyshon - growing in strength. That doughnut-shaped signal has tongues wagging and management lining up permits to punch RC holes straight into the heart of it. Meanwhile, the company's Central Area prospect - home to the original old open pit mine - has come up golden with intercepts up to a ridiculously long 170m at 1g/t. The prospect is now shaping up as the first cab off the rank for development after Pacgold posted a maiden indicated resource a few days ago of 4.7 million tonnes grading 1.5 grams per tonne for 229,000 ounces of gold. The deposit also includes a high-grade underground component of 45,000 ounces running at 1.7g/t gold. Zooming out, the numbers across the broader Alice River project are stacking up well. When all prospects are factored in, Pacgold is now sitting on a combined indicated and inferred resource of 12.2 million tonnes at 1.2g/t for 474,000 ounces of gold using a 0.5g/t cut-off. However, without a cutoff, the company's global mineral inventory now tips the scales at a hefty 26.7 million tonnes at 1.01g/t for a total 854,000 ounces. By focusing on leveraging high-impact exploration to define a gold inventory with proven scale, continuity and grade, the company says it is gunning for a 2 to 4-million-ounce prize across the greater system. No doubt, with a project that size, management would be aware that it could also light up the radar for potential M&A action. With a tight 130 million shares on issue, $2 million in the bank and plenty of drilling lined up over the next six months, Pacgold could be knocking on the door of the million-ounce club sooner rather than later and that would only represent a tiny portion of its huge landholdings along the Alice River fault. The intrusive nature of the geology at Alice River provides huge potential upside for a discovery of scale but for now, Pacgold appears to be hitting its straps with the drill bit and only time will tell as to just how big it could end up. One thing seems certain however, Acorn, Argonaut and RCF don't tend to punt projects for small outcomes – and certainly not collectively. Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact:
The Age
19-05-2025
- Business
- The Age
Why are Argonaut, RCF and Acorn small-cap funds all punting Pacgold?
Pacgold Resources is onto a Hemi-style intrusive gold system in Queensland, showing surface and geophysical signs that stretch for kilometres, which has attracted some of the smartest small-cap exploration investors in the room. When it comes to investing in small cap listed exploration companies, Acorn Capital, Resource Capital Funds (RCF) and mid-tier broker Argonaut's global gold fund are considered to be among the glitterati of high-risk, high-reward investment funds… and curiously, all have taken big positions in Pacgold, underlining the potential of its intrusive-style Alice River gold project in northern Queensland. Hemi-style 'intrusive' gold mineralisation gained a massive following when DeGrey Mining discovered the Hemi deposit in WA in 2019. Hemi would eventually go on to give up a massive 9.5 million ounces of gold. Intrusive deposits involve gold that has disseminated into granite that 'intruded' into older host or country rock. This differs from better-known Archean greenstone-hosted gold deposits that dominate much of WA's historic production. Intrusives tend to be big, lower-grade bulk tonnage operations that, like Hemi, can throw up biblical-scale gold deposits. At first blush, Pacgold's massive target-rich intrusive environment, which hugs the Alice River fault in northern Queensland for 30km, might end up fitting the bill. Over decades, Australian geologists have walked away from granites, preferring instead to focus on greenstones. Hemi changed that and Pacgold is now in the vanguard of seasoned players looking to replicate DeGrey's success with Hemi gold in granite. At Alice River, Pacgold recently kicked off a 10,000-metre reverse circulation (RC) drilling blitz to target that 30km corridor, which is packed with gold hits, geophysical anomalies and historical production. The project lies about 450km northwest of Cairns and already boasts a colourful past. Gold was discovered there in 1903 by prospector John Dickie. Between 1903 and 1917, small-scale underground mining operations produced about 3000 ounces of gold from about 2420 tonnes of ore, with an average grade of just under an ounce to the tonne gold.
Sydney Morning Herald
19-05-2025
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
Why are Argonaut, RCF and Acorn small-cap funds all punting Pacgold?
Pacgold Resources is onto a Hemi-style intrusive gold system in Queensland, showing surface and geophysical signs that stretch for kilometres, which has attracted some of the smartest small-cap exploration investors in the room. When it comes to investing in small cap listed exploration companies, Acorn Capital, Resource Capital Funds (RCF) and mid-tier broker Argonaut's global gold fund are considered to be among the glitterati of high-risk, high-reward investment funds… and curiously, all have taken big positions in Pacgold, underlining the potential of its intrusive-style Alice River gold project in northern Queensland. Hemi-style 'intrusive' gold mineralisation gained a massive following when DeGrey Mining discovered the Hemi deposit in WA in 2019. Hemi would eventually go on to give up a massive 9.5 million ounces of gold. Intrusive deposits involve gold that has disseminated into granite that 'intruded' into older host or country rock. This differs from better-known Archean greenstone-hosted gold deposits that dominate much of WA's historic production. Intrusives tend to be big, lower-grade bulk tonnage operations that, like Hemi, can throw up biblical-scale gold deposits. At first blush, Pacgold's massive target-rich intrusive environment, which hugs the Alice River fault in northern Queensland for 30km, might end up fitting the bill. Over decades, Australian geologists have walked away from granites, preferring instead to focus on greenstones. Hemi changed that and Pacgold is now in the vanguard of seasoned players looking to replicate DeGrey's success with Hemi gold in granite. At Alice River, Pacgold recently kicked off a 10,000-metre reverse circulation (RC) drilling blitz to target that 30km corridor, which is packed with gold hits, geophysical anomalies and historical production. The project lies about 450km northwest of Cairns and already boasts a colourful past. Gold was discovered there in 1903 by prospector John Dickie. Between 1903 and 1917, small-scale underground mining operations produced about 3000 ounces of gold from about 2420 tonnes of ore, with an average grade of just under an ounce to the tonne gold.
