Latest news with #JustinChan
Herald Sun
17-07-2025
- Business
- Herald Sun
Reward outweighs risk for these West African gold miners
Don't miss out on the headlines from Stockhead. Followed categories will be added to My News. West Africa has been the best place to explore for gold in the past 15 years And if you can handle the risk, the rewards remain rich according to SCP Resource Finance Many Peaks among the smallest stocks to catch SCP's eye Despite a higher sovereign risk profile, the West African gold space punches well above its weight in terms of discovery and corporate activity. ASX 200 producers Perseus Mining (ASX:PRU) and West African Resources (ASX:WAF) have established themselves among the lowest cost and most consistent gold miners on the ASX, paving the way for others to follow. A new report from SCP Resource Finance analyst Justin Chan described West Africa as the most dynamic region over the past 15 years for gold discoveries, new mine builds, M&A and the emergence of new mid-tier miners. 'What makes West Africa special is the combination of geology, year-round exploration/construction, fast permitting, and 'low-hanging fruit' that enables companies to find and build a mine within one gold price cycle, enabling investors to avoid the 'washing machine cycle' of projects stalling in bad markets or waiting for permits,' he said. 'Moreover, while Africa has its challenges, the silver lining is we think the executives and operators in Africa are serious and driven to achieve a discovery, build a mine, or transact quickly; Africa is no place for 'lifestyle' companies.' Punching above its discovery weight Unlike more mature jurisdictions, Chan pointed out that it was still possible for explorers to find open-pittable deposits with attractive grades, metallurgy and low capital intensity in West Africa. 'The numbers speak for themselves: more than 70 million ounces have been discovered in West Africa from 2010-2024 versus 37Moz in Canada, 30Moz in Australia and 30Moz in the USA over the same period per S&P Market Intelligence,' he said. That's despite West Africa attracting a third of the spend of those other jurisdictions. Major discoveries in recent years include Predictive Discovery's (ASX:PDI) 5.5Moz Bankan in Guinea and Montage Gold's 6Moz Koné project in Côte d'Ivoire, the latter of which is in construction. Last year, Turaco Gold (ASX:TCG) reported an initial resource of 2.5Moz for its Afema project in Côte d'Ivoire just five months after completing the acquisition. The resource has since increased to 3.6Moz. Rapid builds SCP said despite the high rate of discoveries, mine builds had outpaced them over the past 10 years. New builds in the past five years have included West African's Sanbrado in Burkina Faso, Perseus' Yaoure in Côte d'Ivoire, Orezone's Bomboré in Burkina Faso, Tietto Minerals' Abujar in Côte d'Ivoire, Fortuna Mining Corp's Séguéla in Côte d'Ivoire, and Endeavour Mining's Lafigué in Côte d'Ivoire and Sabodala-Massawa in Senegal. Just over two weeks ago, West African confirmed it had poured first gold at its Kiaka mine in Burkina Faso, ahead of schedule and under budget and just 3.5 years after acquiring the project from B2Gold. SCP said the builds had cleared 'two generations' of projects from the development pipeline. 'We think projects that can start building in the 2026-2028 window are in the sweet spot: we think nearly all the Africa focused producers will be or are actively looking for projects within this window, and nearly all of them have built mines recently, thus are not afraid of a buy and build,' Chan said. Deals flowing M&A has also progressed at a frenetic rate. In the past five years, Perseus Mining acquired Orca Gold and Orecorp, Cardinal Resources was swallowed by Shandong Gold, Azumah Minerals was consumed by Ibaera Capital, Oklo Resources was picked up by B2Gold, Chesser Resources annexed by Fortuna and Tietto mopper up by Zhaojin Capital. And that's just on the ASX. In Toronto, SEMAFO merged with Endeavour, Fortuna collected Roxgold, Chifeng Jilong took over Golden Star Resources and AngloGold Ashanti made away with Centamin. SCP expects Perseus to be an active acquirer with its 17.8% stake in Predictive Discovery in focus. Chan also sees West African as a natural acquirer that would benefit from jurisdictional diversification now that its second mine build is done. SCP's other top candidates to be potential predators were Allied Gold Corporation, Robex Resources Inc (ASX:RXR) and Montage, but considered Resolute Mining (ASX:RSG), Orezone, Galiano Gold, Fortuna and the Chinese miners as other potentially active players. Montage, backed by Lundin and Zijin, has recently been busy building stakes in Côte d'Ivoire explorers Aurum Resources (ASX:AUE), African Gold (ASX:A1G) and Sanu Gold. Robex recently listed on the ASX and Orezone last week lodged a prospectus for a $75 million ASX listing, which would loosen its paper to pick up Aussie companies. The next generation 'We think the window is wide open for West African gold explorers, with the gold price consolidating above US$3000/oz, risk capital available for high quality management teams, and a competitive M&A environment for build-ready projects,' Chan said. In the report, Chan initiated coverage on Turaco, with a buy rating and $1.20 price target, and already covers Canada's Newcore Gold, which is advancing the Enchi project in Ghana. SCP expects that Turaco could become one of the next 150,000-200,000oz per annum producers in the region with a resource of 4-5Moz and permits and a final investment decision in hand by the end of next year. 'We also highlight our top picks of the explorers – Sanu in Guinea; Aurum, Awalé and Many Peaks in northern Côte d'Ivoire; and African Gold and Kobo in central Côte d'Ivoire,' Chan said. 'We think these companies have the right combination of ground, quality management and attractive locations to potentially make a discovery and move to production this cycle.' No resource? No worries Many Peaks Minerals (ASX:MPK) has the smallest market cap of the ASX-listed companies mentioned in the report and is the only one yet to report a resource. However, the company has been making rapid progress since acquiring the Ferké gold project from Turaco last year, which has caught the attention of SCP. Chan said the mineralisation at Many Peaks' Ouarigue target is hosted in a tonalite intrusive unit, which is a similar host setting to the multimillion-ounce Bankan and Fekola deposits. 'We like what we've seen so far for two reasons,' he said, pointing to the consistency of the tonalite mineralisation and the high-grade zone. On Tuesday, Many Peaks reported that drilling had extended mineralisation along strike and at depth, with increasing widths of the mineralised zones intersected reinforcing the potential for a bulk tonnage target. New results included 87m at 1.67g/t gold from 221m, including 29m at 3.46g/t gold; and 84m at 1.53g/t gold from 58m, including 2m at 18.1g/t gold and 8m at 2.11g/t gold, including 2m at 7.43g/t gold. On Wednesday, Many Peaks raised $13.5 million in a heavily supported private placement at 72c per share, a 5% premium to the company's 15-day volume-weighted average price. The funds will be used to complete drilling and studies for the preparation of an initial resource estimate. SCP forecasts an initial resource of 300,000-700,000oz of gold at 1-2g/t gold. 'That doesn't include the higher-grade zone – thus we think circa 500,000oz is a good target for an initial MRE at Ouarigue South with potential to expand along strike to the north and south.' At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While Many Peaks Minerals is a Stockhead advertiser, it did not sponsor this article. Originally published as West Africa can't be ignored for investors looking to play the gold boom
The Independent
28-05-2025
- Health
- The Independent
Man charged in Connecticut mall shooting that wounded 5 as lawyer claims self-defense
A 19-year-old man was charged with assault and weapons crimes after he allegedly shot five people at a Connecticut mall during a dispute, authorities said Wednesday. Tajuan Washington, who was free on $20,000 bail on unrelated motor vehicle charges, drove to police headquarters while officers were surveilling him and surrendered following Tuesday's shooting at the Brass Mill Center in Waterbury, city Police Chief Fernando Spagnolo said during a news conference. The injuries were not life-threatening, officials said. The shooting shortly after 4:30 p.m. sent mall patrons scrambling for safety. Dozens of law enforcement officers responded and searched the mall for hours. Police identified Washington on security video, seeing him leave the mall and drive away, then surveilled his home, Spagnolo said. Washington was ordered detained on $2 million bond as he was arraigned in court Wednesday on charges including first-degree assault, criminal use of a weapon, illegal discharge of a firearm and risk of injury to children. His lawyer, public defender Justin Chan, said he believed Washington was defending himself and added Washington had been traumatized by losing a relative to gun violence. Chan also said there were no convictions on Washington's record. Lawrence Adler, a lawyer for Washington on the motor vehicle charges that include interfering with police, said Washington denies those allegations and called the case insignificant. He said he did not know much about the mall shooting. 'There's nothing about his past to lead anyone to say this kid's on a path to hurting people,' Adler said. Waterbury Mayor Paul Pernerewski Jr. said three people have been discharged from the hospital and two were still being treated. The person most seriously injured, a woman who was shot in the spine, had regained some feeling in her extremities, and officials were hoping she isn't permanently paralyzed, he said. Washington and a man who was with four young women got into a dispute, and Washington pulled a pistol, Pernerewski said. 'It was in effect two young men who knew each other, had a history and a past,' the mayor said. The city was shaken but not broken, Pernerewski said. 'This is a strong city, and we are very much standing together in times of crisis," he said. "We support and we care for one another.' Spagnolo did not release details of the dispute, saying it was not entirely clear but police had some idea what it was about. Spagnolo said evidence indicated the shooter used a .40-caliber handgun, which had not been found. Police with a search warrant seized two rifles and found ammunition at Washington's home that matched ammunition at the mall, Spagnolo said. Police surveilling Washington's home followed him as he drove to police headquarters to report he had been involved in the dispute, Spagnolo said. It was shocking that a dispute that might have just been a fistfight became a shooting instead, Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont said at the news conference. 'Someone pulls out a semiautomatic and shoots seven rounds and badly wounds five people like that — just like that,' Lamont said. Police and witnesses described the chaos of people crying and running, others locking themselves inside areas of the mall, and swarms of police searching for the shooter. Jayvon Turner told WFSB-TV that one of the victims was bleeding heavily. 'It was crazy, and I tried to tell everybody to get out of there," he said. Court records show Washington was accepted into a probation program earlier this year for another set of charges, which have been sealed from public view under the state law for that program, which is generally for first-time offenders. In October, local media reported that Washington was arrested by state police on allegations of driving more than 100 mph (160 kph) on Interstate 84 in Southington. State police said Washington sped away from a trooper who tried to pull him over, and the trooper ended the pursuit for safety reasons. He was later arrested when police traced the speeding car's registration to his home, troopers said. The Brass Mill Center is off Interstate 84 in Waterbury, about 30 miles (about 50 kilometers) southwest of Hartford, the state capital. Spagnolo said police have used the mall for active shooter drills in the past, and that practice helped officers during the response.
