Member Info for schlemiel

Mason believes a maiden resource for Winu will hopefully refocus the market on the development opportunity Rio Tinto has in front of it, which companies have acreage nearby and a quality exploration package.

Aside from Citadel, Antipa holds another 4,400 square kilometers that is not in the joint venture, so Mason said "there's a fair amount of corporate tension in the province with Rio trying to get its development pathway lined-up and future additional feed identified."

Mason said Newcrest Mining Ltd. to the south, with a 25-million-tonne-per-annum mill at Telfer that runs out of ore reserves in just three years, is "very keen" to extend that mine life, as "no one wants to close a mine that's been operating for 40 years … there's a fair amount of liability associated with that."

While Greatland Gold PLC's Havieron deposit will go part way to helping Newcrest in this regard, Mason said Antipa is "very much the meat in the sandwich between Rio Tinto and Newcrest" in terms of the quality ground that the junior holds.

As the more deeply covered part of Antipa's package, Mason said joint venturing Citadel made sense as the company was making big discoveries in a remote area and was not getting any particular market traction.

The rest of Antipa's non-joint ventured ground is more proximal to Telfer and other related infrastructure and with shallower cover, so the junior believes it will get better market traction and cheaper exploration and development opportunities.

"Rio Tinto and Newcrest are somewhat equally motivated in their respective ambitions in wanting their particular aspirations achieved — to build a new mine in Rio's case and extend Telfer's mine life for Newcrest," Mason said.

An informal note issued by Australian broker Hartleys to clients the day after Rio's Winu discovery announcement said that if Winu was just 1 km long, it would be a 700-million-tonne deposit, implying the potential for 4.5 million tonnes of copper equivalent or 22 Moz of gold equivalent.

Considering Newcrest's Cadia mine in New South Wales, which is a "good analogy" in terms of grade, a likely similar mining style and processing comparable grades through a large plant, Hartleys said "a potential economic deposit at Winu seems possible."

end

https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/blog/mining-exploration-insights-december

21 Feb, 2020

Maiden resource nears for Rio Tinto's Winu amid 'corporate tension' in Paterson

Rio Tinto's Citadel junior joint venture partner Antipa Minerals Ltd.'s Managing Director Roger Mason says the major will unveil a maiden resource during the current quarter on the Winu copper discovery in Western Australia's Paterson Province, where he says "corporate tension" exists.

Mason told the RIU Explorers Conference in Fremantle, Australia, on Feb. 20 that Rio Tinto has amassed 13,000 square kilometers in the Paterson since discovering Winu, and in 2019 spent A$80 million on it, drilling out a deposit footprint of over 3 km by 1.6 km.

He told S&P Global Market Intelligence on the conference sidelines that Rio Tinto has done "what appears to be the vast majority of required drilling at Winu to get the resource out, which could be over the next month or so."

SNL ImageThe Citadel joint venture project between Rio Tinto and Antipa Minerals in Western Australia.
Source: Antipa Minerals

Rio Tinto's exploration license expenditure report — filed under the Western Australia Mining Act and accessed by S&P Global Market Intelligence — revealed Rio Tinto spent about A$79.7 million in total on what it called a copper-lead-zinc tenement during the 12 months preceding Oct. 12, 2019.

This year, Rio Tinto wants to understand the satellite opportunities, and Mason said a "significant component" of that opportunity is at Citadel, which the major formed with Antipa in 2015. Citadel hosts expandable resources of 1.6 million ounces of gold and 130,000 tonnes of copper, located 45 km from Winu.

In 2019, the joint venture completed a large-scale electrical geophysical survey and an airborne gravity survey across most of the 1,300-square-kilometer Citadel project.

Drill programs delivered intersections such as 310 meters at 0.6 grams per metric tonne of gold and 0.06% copper, beneath just 80 meters of cover at the Calibre deposit, which Antipa discovered in 2012 and is what attracted Rio Tinto to the region, Mason said.

This year's program includes further evaluation of the Calibre deposit and the broader Magnum Dome to "satisfy Rio Tinto's need to understand the Citadel project's immediate resource growth potential and Winu development synergies," he said.

The two resources that Antipa has at Calibre and Magnum are open in all directions. Calibre, a 1.3-Moz gold deposit with 70,000 tonnes of copper, has horizontal widths of up to 400 meters, is about 1.4 km long and has been drilled down to about 500 meters below the cover.

There is potential to materially increase those Citadel resources, plus higher grade zones also exist within that resource, which Mason said is important as "anyone who is developing a project wants the most valuable ore possible going through their mill as soon as possible to provide a quicker payback on their capital investment."

cont........

No questions asked about Beetaloo so Calabria's opening reference to Beetaloo is your lot

''In relation to Beetaloo, obviously, a key growth prospect for us in Origin, and in particular, in the Integrated Gas business, the Kyalla shale liquids-rich gas play. We've drilled the vertical section successfully. We communicated in January, we had some operational issues with the initial horizontal section. We've now completed the second horizontal section that was drilled in February. You can see the meter depth and length there were down a depth of 3,800 meters and also now nearly a 1,600-meter lateral section. Look, the results to date are promising, and we continue to be excited by the prospect. And we expect results from a production test of this well to be over this last quarter of this financial year and then into the first quarter of next financial year.

We have environmental approvals to drill the Velkerri shale liquids play and also to frac that well, we expect to be able to commence that in Q4 2020. Remember, the Stage 2 objective of these is to flow liquids-rich gas to the service during the production test. So good progress there, and we're all excited to see how that plays out.''

on Seeking Alpha. Can't post link for some reason

quotes on Thurs-Friday reveals their mindset. Like cats on many hit tin roofs. Fidgeting around looking a nervous teenager before he becomes a fully fledged male.

Friday PM's spike to 5p should come as no surprise considering the buying presence. A pity it was hit with selling but profit-taking on a Friday afternoon is hardly a new phenomena, it's a well worn pattern

I watched the MM's jump to the bid mid-afternoon looking for stock. I reckon some were covering short positions and balancing their books (speculation on my part) which is pleasing as it suggests they are filling buying requests they do not have stock for. That's a great support base for future price strength. Slack from selling is slowly being tightened

The German was oddly distant. When he shifts his bid the price always bursts into life, either way! He's the AX to watch as we all are now aware thanks to my tedious repetitions on the actions of this specific order book player

' Mergers and acquisitions may shift from majors to smaller players amid expectations that the Australian-dollar gold price's decade-long bull run will continue, which augurs well for Middle Island Resources Ltd. to resurrect its Western Australia consolidation play.'

Maiden resource nears for Rio Tinto's Winu amid 'corporate tension' in Paterson

Rio Tinto's Citadel junior joint venture partner Antipa Minerals Ltd.'s Managing Director Roger Mason says the major will unveil a maiden resource during the current quarter on the Winu copper discovery in Western Australia's Paterson Province, where he says "corporate tension" exists. Mason told S&P Global Market Intelligence on the conference sidelines that Rio Tinto has done "what appears to be the vast majority of required drilling at Winu to get the resource out, which could be over the next month or so."

https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/latest-news-headlines/vale-swings-to-q4-fy-19-losses-newmont-s-q4-fy-19-profits-soar-57210586

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I've never heard the term 'corporate tension' before but I could hazard a guess that it involves a scrap for valuable resources and prospective tenements...

Whenever I wobble with this stock I always reread Paddy and Reddirt and that instantly restores and elevates my faith even further. That Reddirt poster knows his onions

“We retain the view that Greatland Gold is one of the most exciting exploration projects globally.”.......

Is this hyperbole or a serious and genuine affirmation of the prospects of GGP? It's a pretty bold statement to make especially for a blue-chip natural resource broker with the reputation that Numis possesses...

They know better than us lot I suppose. It's exciting stuff nonetheless

thanks for the link PaddyGall

are we on for a Friday PM surge or will she falter into the close?

nm

If we knew the cost/day of each rig then we would know if the brought forward figure for exploration spending by Newcrest indicated an increase or not

we just need the German to get his fat arse into gear

hotting up more

there's always a seller when we are about to get some steam up...gggrrr

hotting up on the order book

Yes, motoring now..1642

Delayed or real time?

LOL. That's very good if a tad macabre !