Latest news with #NormSeckold
News.com.au
06-08-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
New Zealand's mining dream isn't over, it's back in the race for gold
New Zealand's government led by the business-friendly National Party is keen to boost mining investment Mining friendly policies and the country's prospectivity have increased its attractiveness Gold plays dominate with Uvre the newest company in the country New Zealand may not be the first port of call for resource companies looking for the next big project, but this does not detract from the fact that the country has a rich mineral bounty. The victory of the conservative and business friendly National Party during the November 2023 election has also led to a marked improvement in business sentiment. This is best illustrated in the latest edition of the Fraser Institute's Annual Survey of Mining Companies, which ranked New Zealand as the twelfth most attractive mining jurisdiction in the world, beating out previous power houses such as Western Australia at number 17. Respondents to the survey expressed decreased concerns over uncertainty concerning what areas will be protected, uncertainty over regulation enforcement and uncertainty regarding environmental regulations. New Zealand has flagged interest in doubling its mining exports to NZ$3bn by 2035 and has introduced measures such as the 'Fast Track' legislation, which accelerates permitting processes dramatically by introducing a one-stop shop for permitting. A legend speaks Mining legend Norm Seckold, who was recently appointed as a director of Uvre (ASX:UVA) following the acquisition of his company Octagold and its portfolio of gold projects in the country, believes New Zealand now has all the right ingredients that make it a tasty mining destination. Speaking to Stockhead, he said one reason was the overtly pro-mining stance of the current government and Minister for Resources Shane Jones in particular with the other being its remarkable prospectivity. 'It's relatively underexplored compared to, for example Western Australia where there are lots of new discoveries but it is a very active and competitive exploration market,' he added. 'You've got this highly efficient, very capable exploration industry in West Perth with lots of very smart guys and a whole lot of companies competing for projects. 'But that just hasn't been applied to New Zealand and I just think the opportunity has been overlooked and it shouldn't be because of projects such as the 8Moz Macraes mine in the South Island that has been in production for over 30 years.' Along with the 10Moz endowment on the North Island, it points to the country having serious deposits. 'It's not a little half-million-ounce thing that you hope you can grow a bit, they tend to have scale,' Seckold said. All this matches up closely with his philosophy to exploration which ranks the project first, the location second and the politics in equal second or third place. 'The project, geology and prospectivity has to be number one. And New Zealand is extraordinarily prospective,' he added. The same prospectivity also led Seckold to break one of the tenets of his (admittedly ad hoc) philosophy, which is to focus on the important part. Octagold, which was originally formed by a couple of his former colleagues that then successfully enticed him to become the largest shareholder, had pegged out large tracts of ground over four granted projects, another that is under application and yet another that is being looked over. 'It's a little bit against my religion. I'm a great believer in focus,' Seckold said jokingly about the large landholdings that Uvre now owns. 'I think the whole point is, I can see the rush coming, so despite my beliefs, here's an opportunity and we don't want to just sit there and watch other people pick up the good projects.' Attractive projects As for why he decided to get involved with Octagold, Seckold said the best indicator of where a gold mine could be found was where the old timers had been mining and pointed to Santana Minerals' Rise and Shine discovery as a classic example. 'That's the old Bendigo Goldfield, which was a high grade, low tonnage mine a hundred years ago, or less,' he noted. 'But what happens is you apply more modern geoscience and you find a multi-million ounce deposit. He added that the rising gold price had meant that economically viable open pit mines could now extend to depths of 300m or more compared to between 60m and 70m in the early 1980s. Lower grade finds are also viable and both factors create opportunities. 'The other thing is, there are very good public records in New Zealand and good ore libraries like there are here (in Australia), and you can just see the data,' Seckold added. 'You can see very high-grade assays in the Waitekauri project on the bottom level, they just didn't keep drilling far enough.' The brownfields Waitekauri project is the flagship asset that Uvre acquired and is just 8km west of OceanaGold Corporation's 10Moz Waihi gold mine and along trend from three other +1Moz gold deposits in WKP, Golden Cross and New Talisman Gold's Karangahake. One of the three main prospects, Jubilee, has historical production of 260,000oz of gold and silver and is believed to be a potential extension of Karangahake, Recent rock chip sampling has shown grades as high as 18.4g/t gold while early field mapping revealed a much broader area of post-mineral welded ignimbrite than previously recognised, something earlier explorers hadn't fully understood. Other projects include the 1104 hectare Lottin project east of Rotorua on the North Island, a potential VMS system considered similar in style to Australia's Golden Grove and Rosebery, along with the Roaring Meg, Oturehua and Invincible gold projects, all near Macraes and RAS on New Zealand's South Island. Invincible is also known to boast tungsten, which like gold sits on NZ's critical minerals list. Other ASX players While Uvre is now a significant player in New Zealand, it is still a relative newcomer to the country. New Age Exploration (ASX:NAE) operates the 265km2 Lammerlaw gold and antimony project in Otago that's believed to host Macraes-style mineralisation with 1km gold anomalies, bearing similarities to the gold mine which has produced more than 5Moz since opening in 1990. Lammerlaw also contains the historically mined Bella Lode, where gold was mined during the late 1800s with an average grade of 15g/t before the mine closed in 1901. Previous antimony-targeted exploration has also revealed three mineralised trends with rock chip samples of >30% antimony. The company's belief in Lammerlaw having Macraes-style mineralisation received a shot in the arm after its phase 1 drilling intersected mineralisation textures, pathfinder geochemistry and host rock type that's all consistent with early-stage Macraes-style mineralisation. Of the five holes drilled, four returned gold mineralisation with a top result of 2m at 1.05g/t along with elevated tungsten of up to 1750ppm, up to 680ppm arsenic and antimony. Company executive director Joshua Wellischs said the company would now seek to build on these results by targeting potential higher-grade shoots and drill towards a maiden resource. Also engaged in the gold game on the South Island is Siren Gold (ASX:SNG), which is advancing the Sams Creek project – a gold mineralised porphyry dyke that is up to 50m thick, extends for 7km along strike and has a vertical extent of at least 1km. Sams Creek has a resource of 953,000oz at an average grade of 2.4g/t that is contained within the Main Zone fold, one of several gentle northeast plunging folds the Sams Creek Dyke has been folded into. To date, 21,500m of drilling has been completed on the project with 90% focused on the Main Zone. However, similar folds have been interpreted at Riordans, Western Outcrops, Anvil and Barrons Flat along with Doyles and Main Zone extensions. These have the potential to significantly increase the current resource. Additional resources discovered in the Main Zone, Doyles, Western Outcrops and Anvil folds could be accessed from the potential Main Zone underground mine and hauled to the proposed SE Traverse processing facility. Siren expects a decision to be made on its mining permit application by the end of 2025. It then plans to complete infill drilling on the SE Traverse, Carapace and Main Zone by the end of Q2 2026 so the majority of the inferred resource can be upgraded to the higher confidence indicated category. This will be followed by updates to the resource and scoping study. Santana Minerals (ASX:SMI) has been progressing the Rise and Shine deposit within its Bendigo-Ophir project in the Central Otago Goldfields on New Zealand's South Island. Recent drilling has extended the high-grade domain (HG1) beyond the March 2025 indicated resource boundary by confirming mineralised continuity to the north and strengthening the case for future reserve growth. The drilling had targeted down-plunge extensions of Rise and Shine to improve definition of the inferred resource in the northern extent of the deposit with a view to upgrading it to the indicated category for potential inclusion in the mine plan. Notable results include 31.9m at 5.3g/t gold from 303.1m and 11.1m at 9.6g/t from 296.9m. Bendigo-Ophir has a contained resource of 2.34Moz at an average grade of 2.1g/t gold with Rise and Shine hosting the bulk of this at 2.08Moz grading 2.4g/t gold. It benefits from proximity to Queenstown and existing infrastructure including transportation, clean water, green hydropower and low cost power.
News.com.au
18-07-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
Barry FitzGerald: At Sky Metals you buy one tin project, get one free
'Garimpeiro' columnist Barry FitzGerald has covered the resources industry for 35 years. Now he's sharing the benefits of his experience with Stockhead readers. There's been a known massive slug of tin-dominant polymetallic mineralisation sitting out the back of Bourke in north-west NSW crying out for some attention for more than 50 years. That and a metallurgical breakthrough. It's called Doradilla and its owner since 2019, the Norm Seckold-chaired Sky Metals (ASX:SKY), looks to have cracked the code to unlocking the project's big-time potential thanks to current day tin flotation processing technology. Garimpeiro last took a look at Sky in August last year when it was a 3.2c stock for a market cap of $18.8 million. It has since moved up to 7c for a market cap of $49.7 million, a valuation comfortably underpinned by its advanced Tallebung tin project in central NSW. Sky is coming to an end of a four-month drilling program at Tallebung and results to date suggest there will be a big increase in the last inferred and indicated resource estimate of 15.6Mt grading 0.15% tin for 23,000t contained, once all the data is in. It shouldn't take long after that to give the market a feel for its production capability. Given Tallebung is particularly amendable to ore sorting to bump its grade by a factor of five times, the project is likely to be shown to be capable of making Sky's current market many times over in years to come. It's early days at Doradilla in comparison but Sky's metallurgical breakthrough could well see it emerge as a multi-decade tin producer, possibly with rare earths and other metals as part of deal. The lowdown on Doradilla Sitting in semi-arid goat country, Doradilla was first drilled in the 1970s. It's part of a 17km linear skarn which hosts the Doradilla, Midway and 3KEL deposits – the famous (in exploration circles) DMK Line. Big name tin miners past and present (including Renison, Aberfoyle, North Ltd and YTC Resources) had a crack at unlocking the DMK Line but had basically packed up and left by the 1980s when it was realised that simple gravity separation would not work. Sky managing director Ollie Davies takes up the story: 'We've always been aware of the potential for the Doradilla project to host an extensive tin system, however our ability to progress this asset has been hindered by our ability to unlock the tin through a viable metallurgical processing route.' 'Now, through the application of a combination of conventional gravity, magnetic and new flotation process steps, we have achieved economic recoveries of up to 78% tin.' 'This is an exciting and very significant breakthrough which transforms the potential and outlook for this project. While our primary focus remains squarely on the Tallebung tin Project, where we are in the midst of a major resource expansion drilling campaign, Doradilla is clearly shaping up as a sizeable and very attractive pipeline development asset.' Drawing on Doradilla's historical database and its own work, and in light of the metallurgical success, Sky has been able to report a compliant 'Exploration Target' of 10-15 million tonnes grading 0.32-0.42% tin for 32,000-63,000t of contained metal. The target is based on a 2.5km section of Doradilla and there is another 2.5km of strike length on either side. So potentially at least, an already big exploration target could eventually be tripled. The Doradilla breakthrough comes as the tin market remains as strong as you like. The metal was last quoted on LME at $US33,312/t (three month). So it remains more than three times the copper price. The price jumps around depending on production news from operations in, shall we say, fraught locations around the world. Demand is super strong thanks to growing uses in solar panels and all the circuitry that needs to be connected to deliver AI. New mine developments in desirable locations are few and far between and like other critical metals, China has what could be a called an unhealthy grip on the market. Sky's share price did not move on Monday when the metallurgical breakthrough was revealed. Fair enough, the market is being cautious. But given Garimpeiro's suggestion that the company's market cap is more than covered by the Tallebung project, it seems likely it won't be long before the market begins to reward Sky for unlocking Doradilla.
The Australian
27-06-2025
- Business
- The Australian
UVA unveils high-grade gold at Waitekauri
Uvre fields strong assays from reconnaissance rock chip sampling at its flagship Waitekauri gold project Rock chips include abundant visible gold with assays of up to 18.4g/t Au Waitekauri is located 8km west of OceanaGold Corporation's Waihi gold mine (10Moz) An eight-hole drill program is planned to take place in the September quarter once the Otagold acquisition is complete Special report: Rock chip sampling at the brownfields Waitekauri gold project, which Uvre is in the process of acquiring, has shown grades as high as 18.4g/t gold, clearing the way for the company's first drilling program in New Zealand. Waitekauri is the flagship asset currently being acquired by Uvre (ASX:UVA) as part of its transaction with Norm Seckold's Otagold in May, which includes three exploration permits, one prospecting permit and one prospecting permit application in New Zealand's North and South Islands. Recent sampling work has confirmed the presence of high-grade gold mineralisation at Waitekauri, with some samples containing abundant visible gold in greyish porous blebs enclosed in massive white epithermal quartz. Waitekauri is located 8km west of OceanaGold Corporation's Waihi gold mine (10Moz) and sits in the centre of a mineralised corridor hosting three other +1Moz Au deposits. South of the Scotia prospect at Waitekauri, early field mapping revealed a much broader area of post-mineral welded ignimbrite than previously recognised, something earlier explorers hadn't fully understood. UVA says it may cover potential southern extensions of the mineralised system, thereby preventing detection of the system in soil geochemistry surveys. Rock chips at the Oturehua goldfield on the South Island also returned promising assays of up to 9.3g/t gold. A map of the projects on New Zealand's North and South islands. Pic: UVA Drilling to start in September quarter UVA executive chairman Brett Mitchell said the company has known from historical mining and exploration that Waitekauri hosts high-grade mineralisation. 'These rock chips assays confirm the project's excellent potential and set us up for our first drilling program there,' Mitchell said. 'We will now assess the results and devise our maiden drilling program with the aim of drill testing our priority exploration targets at Waitekauri in the September quarter.' Background on Waitekauri Waitekauri sits near the historical Golden Cross and Karangahake mines, along the trend of a recent +2 Moz discovery at WKP by OceanaGold. It displays the hallmarks of a major goldfield in a region with a compelling mineral resource endowment and a 18km mineralised corridor hosting multiple targets and historical workings, as well as three main prospects for exploration – Scotia, Sovereign and Jubilee. Waitekauri also lies adjacent to three other gold deposits, each more than 1Moz, and has historically produced gold and silver at an average grade of 48g/t Au+Ag. What's next? An eight-hole drill program has been designed to explore several of the prospects within the Waitekauri project area and test for geological and structural similarities to the 10Moz Waihi gold mine, 8km to the west. UVA is aiming to zero in on bonanza-style gold-silver low sulphidation veins, with the goal of uncovering a multi-million-ounce resource. The program will get underway after the acquisition goes through, which is up for approval by Uvre shareholders at today's meeting. This article was developed in collaboration with Uvre, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing. This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.
