Latest news with #TimGoyder-chaired
West Australian
14-05-2025
- Business
- West Australian
Tim Goyder's Minerals 260 tears into unlocking huge gold potential hidden under woodlands of Bullabulling
The woodlands hiding a big gold resource south-west of Coolgardie are silent no more, with drill rigs now ripping into the earth so Minerals 260 can churn out the data to transform the Bullabulling project into a cash cow. The Tim Goyder-chaired company snapped up the 127sqkm project in January from Norton Gold Fields in a deal worth $156.5 million in cash and $10m in scrip, and has wasted no time since — raising $220m and getting the one diamond and three reverse circulation rigs on site on April 15. Bullabulling was mined in the late 1990s and early 2000s — when the gold price was much lower than the current $5000/oz — but has been largely a scene of inactivity since 2014 when Chinese company Norton bought the project. Now Liontown spin-off Minerals 260 has started an 80,000m drilling campaign focused on multiple resource extension targets at depth and along strike, and also infill drilling of the existing resource to upgrade classifications. The company said the 2.3-million-ounce mineral resource estimate was based on extensive historical drilling of 12,000 holes for 530,000m. The overall grade is 1.2g per tonne, with 60 per cent — 39Mt at 1.1g/t for 1.4Moz — being in the indicated category, and 40 per cent — 21Mt at 1.3g/t for 890,000t — inferred. At an investors and analysts site visit on Monday, managing director Luke McFadyen said the company was now undertaking its own studies to expand the resource, and believed there was another '1.6Moz still in the ground'. Bullabulling has several deposits that are the focus of Mineral 260's exploration — Dicksons, Phoenix, Bacchus, Kraken and Gibraltar, with Bacchus and Kraken rated the highest priority for grade and mineralisation. The distance from Dicksons in the north to Kraken in the south is 8.5km. The Phoenix MRE is mostly indicated — 25Mt at 1.1g/t for 850,000t out of a total 27Mt at 1.1g/t for 930,000t. Bacchas has a total MRE of 22Mt at 1.3g/t for 890,000t, with 8.5Mt at 1.2g/t for 330,000t being indicated. Dicksons has 7.7Mt at 0.9g/t for 220,000t and Kraken 2.8Mt at 1.7g/t for 160,000t, all of which is inferred. The company said drilling at Phoenix and Dicksons would focus on depth extensions, and infill drilling would take place at Phoenix. It said the resource was open at depth in multiple locations, and Bacchus remains open along strike to the south. Minerals 260 said there was no MRE as yet for Gibraltar — which is to the east of Kraken — but drilling would soon take place to test depth and strike extensions. The company is aiming to update the project's total mineral resource estimate in the December quarter to a 'reasonable prospects for economic extraction' pit shells standard. It estimates its studies of Bullabulling will take 15 months, with eyes on production in about three years. The operation would be a conventional carbon-in-leach process. Mr McFadyen said Minerals 260 acquired Bullabulling because the company saw a significant opportunity not only in the existing resource but also in the immense exploration potential. 'Our exploration strategy is designed to systematically test the targets we've identified both down-dip and along strike from known mineralisation,' he said. 'Drilling commenced a few weeks ago and we are continuing to ramp-up activity. 'It's an exciting phase for the company as we begin generating a steady flow of drilling results and have concurrently commenced the pre-feasibility study.' And Minerals 260 has added another 450sqkm to the project since picking up Bullabulling, the latest being last week's Belararox option agreement for 26 tenements across 50sqkm. It said the two-year agreement gave it the option of exploring the wider area in a phased approach after the Bullabulling drilling program.
Herald Sun
25-04-2025
- Business
- Herald Sun
Minerals 260 aims to be next gold star
Don't miss out on the headlines from Stockhead. Followed categories will be added to My News. 'Garimpeiro' columnist Barry FitzGerald has covered the resources industry for 35 years. Now he's sharing the benefits of his experience with Stockhead readers. The drill bit is turning again at the Bullabulling gold project near Coolgardie as the new owner of the 2.3 million ounce resource – Minerals 260 (ASX:MI6) – sets out to become a $1 billion-plus company in a hurry. Last mined by Resolute Mining (ASX:RSG) back in 1998, when the gold price averaged less than $A500/oz, Bullabulling was acquired by MI6 earlier this year for $156.5m plus $10 million in MI6 shares from Zijin subsidiary Norton Gold Fields. It was a remarkable deal given the Tim Goyder-chaired MI6 was a $30 million explorer at the time. But the scale and quality of the Bullabulling opportunity – along with a rampant gold price –meant MI6 had no problems raising $220m in equity at 12c a share to settle the deal. It has been left with about $50m to fund the 80,000m drilling program that has just kicked off (expect strong newsflow in coming months) in an initial push to return Bullabulling to production in the second half of 2028. On its expanded capital base, MI6 is now a $280m company on Thursday's market price of 13c a share. So it has a long way to go to get in to the $1 billion-plus producers club. There is no guidance yet on Bullabulling's production capability but analysts point to 120,000-140,000 ounces a year being possible. That would put MI6 and the Bullabulling project in 'Capricorn' territory. That is a reference to Capricorn Metals (ASX:CMM) – now a $3.6 billion company on the strength of its (expanding) 120,000 ounce a year Karlawinda mine in the Pilbara and its Mr Gibson gold project. Development work on Karlawinda got going in 2019 and first production was achieved in 2021. In the intervening period, Capricorn's market cap grew from $85m to more than a $1 billion. Gold's move to record levels since, the expansion of Karlawinda, and the production to come from Mt Gibson, has helped to more than triple Capricorn's market since. But the point is made – passing through the $1 billion-plus threshold for Capricorn was on the back of it achieving 120,000 ounce a year production of ow-cost production at Karlawinda. Eveything to play for So MI6 has everything to play for at Bullabulling, one of the biggest undeveloped gold deposits in Australia. Ahead of what comes from the drilling program – a resource update is expected in December – things have got off to a good start. M16 paid $72 an ounce for Bullabulling's gold when the gold price was $A4309/oz. The last time Garimpeiro looked, gold was fetching $A5240/oz – an increase of 21%. The thing is MI6 is confident the current resource of 2.3 million ounces is only the start of the story, given 60% of the holes drilled at the property in the past are only 50m deep or less. Bridge Street Capital analyst Chris Baker said significant value could be added by the current 80,000m drilling program. 'If the MI6 geologists can expand the Bullabulling resource to over 3Moz, converting say 60% to reserves, an ultimate production target of 150-200kozpa could be envisaged,' he said. He noted that there are few deposits in the Eastern Goldfields which offer that sort of the opportunity. 'At this size, it will certainly attract the attention of WA's acquisitive mid-cap gold producers,' Baker said. Argonaut has initiated coverage of the stock, setting a 30c price target. Analyst Hayden Bairstow said the firm's assessment was that a development at Bullabulling could underpin an open pit operation producing about 140,000 a year. 'There is also significant scope for MI6 to materially expand the resource base, both at depth and along strike and this presents upside risk to our base case.' Originally published as Barry FitzGerald: Why Tim Goyder's Minerals 260 could be the ASX gold market's next Capricorn
News.com.au
25-04-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
Barry FitzGerald: Why Tim Goyder's Minerals 260 could be the ASX gold market's next Capricorn
'Garimpeiro' columnist Barry FitzGerald has covered the resources industry for 35 years. Now he's sharing the benefits of his experience with Stockhead readers. The drill bit is turning again at the Bullabulling gold project near Coolgardie as the new owner of the 2.3 million ounce resource – Minerals 260 (ASX:MI6) – sets out to become a $1 billion-plus company in a hurry. Last mined by Resolute Mining (ASX:RSG) back in 1998, when the gold price averaged less than $A500/oz, Bullabulling was acquired by MI6 earlier this year for $156.5m plus $10 million in MI6 shares from Zijin subsidiary Norton Gold Fields. It was a remarkable deal given the Tim Goyder-chaired MI6 was a $30 million explorer at the time. But the scale and quality of the Bullabulling opportunity – along with a rampant gold price –meant MI6 had no problems raising $220m in equity at 12c a share to settle the deal. It has been left with about $50m to fund the 80,000m drilling program that has just kicked off (expect strong newsflow in coming months) in an initial push to return Bullabulling to production in the second half of 2028. On its expanded capital base, MI6 is now a $280m company on Thursday's market price of 13c a share. So it has a long way to go to get in to the $1 billion-plus producers club. There is no guidance yet on Bullabulling's production capability but analysts point to 120,000-140,000 ounces a year being possible. That would put MI6 and the Bullabulling project in 'Capricorn' territory. That is a reference to Capricorn Metals (ASX:CMM) – now a $3.6 billion company on the strength of its (expanding) 120,000 ounce a year Karlawinda mine in the Pilbara and its Mr Gibson gold project. Development work on Karlawinda got going in 2019 and first production was achieved in 2021. In the intervening period, Capricorn's market cap grew from $85m to more than a $1 billion. Gold's move to record levels since, the expansion of Karlawinda, and the production to come from Mt Gibson, has helped to more than triple Capricorn's market since. But the point is made – passing through the $1 billion-plus threshold for Capricorn was on the back of it achieving 120,000 ounce a year production of ow-cost production at Karlawinda. Eveything to play for So MI6 has everything to play for at Bullabulling, one of the biggest undeveloped gold deposits in Australia. Ahead of what comes from the drilling program – a resource update is expected in December – things have got off to a good start. M16 paid $72 an ounce for Bullabulling's gold when the gold price was $A4309/oz. The last time Garimpeiro looked, gold was fetching $A5240/oz – an increase of 21%. The thing is MI6 is confident the current resource of 2.3 million ounces is only the start of the story, given 60% of the holes drilled at the property in the past are only 50m deep or less. Bridge Street Capital analyst Chris Baker said significant value could be added by the current 80,000m drilling program. 'If the MI6 geologists can expand the Bullabulling resource to over 3Moz, converting say 60% to reserves, an ultimate production target of 150-200kozpa could be envisaged,' he said. He noted that there are few deposits in the Eastern Goldfields which offer that sort of the opportunity. 'At this size, it will certainly attract the attention of WA's acquisitive mid-cap gold producers,' Baker said. Argonaut has initiated coverage of the stock, setting a 30c price target. Analyst Hayden Bairstow said the firm's assessment was that a development at Bullabulling could underpin an open pit operation producing about 140,000 a year. 'There is also significant scope for MI6 to materially expand the resource base, both at depth and along strike and this presents upside risk to our base case.'
