Plenty of news from around the gold space today, as Westgold Resources and Pantoro both raise some capital to fund work at their WA projects and there are some positive results for De Grey Mining.
…………
Local miner / explorer Westgold Resources (ASX: WGX) has raised $100 million via a placement of 48 million shares at $2.10 each (a 13.9% discount to the March 9 close) to fund the production of an extra 400,000 ounces of gold a year from the 2024 financial year.
Funds from the raising will be spent expanding output from Westgold’s Murchison and Bryah operations in Western Australia.
At the Bluebird underground expansion project at Murchison, Westgold wants to boost annual gold output by 50% over the next three years to around 600,000 tonnes a year at 3 grams of gold to the tonne (g/t).
Westgold’s Fender ground project at Murchison will target lifting output to 300,000 – 420,000 tonnes of ore a year with an average grade of at 2.8g/t gold.
Westgold will also advance its Tuckabianna and Day Dawn development projects within Murchison and Bryah, as the company looks for new deposits within its portfolio.
“The scale of market support of this placement strongly endorses Westgold’s growth plans and speaks to the growing momentum and the evolution of our business,” Westgold executive director Wayne Bramwell said.
“Westgold will systematically deploy these funds to expand gold production in FY23 and FY24 from Bluebird, Fender and the Tuckabianna trend, underpinning the expansion of our processing hubs.
“Concurrently, and with a view to FY24 onwards, we will rapidly advance the strategic and iconic high-grade Great Fingall and Golden Crown mines.
“This placement heralds a new phase of corporate development at Westgold. Operationally we are sharply focused on cost management and profitability of the business at its current scale and can now launch the next stage of growth for our shareholders from a position of increasing strength,” he said.
Lower global gold prices Monday saw the Westgold shares lose 6.5% to close Tuesday’s ASX session at $1.99.
…………
Meanwhile Pantoro Ltd (ASX: PNR) also took advantage of the recent run in gold prices past the $US1,900 level to raise $45 million via an institutional placement at 29 cents a share and will use it to make an early start of mining at its 50% owned Norseman gold project in Western Australia, according to a Monday news release.
Proceeds will be also be used for stepping up platinum group elements project exploration at the Halls Creek project in northern Western Australia and for general working capital.
The placement came a week after Pantoro provided a solid update for its current exploration efforts at Norseman which revealed some high-grade drill results from its Scotia Deeps, Green Lantern and Scotia North prospects.
At Scotia Deeps, the gold miner said it made wide and high-grade intercepts up to 500 metres below surface, further extending the underground potential of the Scotia orebody.
Notable results at Scotia Deeps included hits of 9 metres at 15.66 grams a tonne (g/t) gold from 403 metres, 15.6 metres at 12.15g/t from 476 metres, 5.2 metres at 17.72g/t from 493.4 metres and 4.2metres from 18.16g/t from 367 metres.
At its Green Lantern deposit Pantoro reported 20 metres at 3.2g/t from 96 metres, 12 metres at 5.37g/t from 21 metres and 3 metres at 20.08g/t from 57 metres from drill holes.
The company also said it had been working to extend Scotia’s potential to the north of the open pit, with drilling outlining mineralisation both at surface and at depth.
The results will form part of a mineral resource and ore reserve update to be released in the March quarter of 2022 in April.
Pantoro managing director Paul Cmrlec said in the statement to the ASX that Scotia continues to be a stand-out performer for the company.
“The Scotia mining centre was picked as Pantoro’s priority target at the time that we acquired our interest in the Norseman gold project,” he said. “Results from the area have been nothing short of spectacular since drilling commenced back in 2019.”
Pantoro commenced the current drilling program following the release of Green Lantern’s maiden mineral resource and ore reserve in September 2021 and has been focussed on extending mineralisation across the Norseman project.
Pantoro bought a 50% stake in Norseman, which is located in the Eastern Goldfields of WA in 2019. Tulla resources plc owns the other 50%. Pantoro raised $50 a year ago to help finance the construction of processing facilities at Norseman.
Pantoro is targeting first gold at the project in August 2022. The shares ended steady at 30 cents.
…………
And finally, De Grey Mining (ASX: DEG) slipped out an encouraging update on its Hemi prospect within the Mallina gold project in WA’s {Pilbara.
De Grey’s said its latest drilling results reveal the continuity of gold mineralisation at the proposed Brolga stage one starter pit at Hemi.
The company has reported the latest infill drilling results from the Brolga zone, where drilling is being conducted as part of the pre-feasibility study of Mallina.
Results from the drilling include 193 metres at 1.7 grams to the tonne of gold (g/t) from 40 metres, 123 metres at 1.9g/t gold and 140.2 metres at 1.3g/t.
Brolga was revealed, along with nearby deposits called Diucon and Falcon, in the scoping study from De Grey for the project last October.
De Grey says it is now carrying out resource extension drilling to the southwest of the proposed Brolga starter pit is underway.
“These new resource definition drilling results at Brolga, including 193 metres at 1.7g/t gold in diamond drill hole HEDD218, successfully demonstrate the continuity of mineralisation within the proposed Brolga stage one starter pit and reduce project risk associated with early production,” De Grey General Exploration Manager Phil Tornatora said in the filing with the ASX.
“Exploration drilling continues across both Greater Hemi and Regional areas. Resource definition drilling is nearing completion and rigs will then be targeting further resource extensional and discovery drilling within the Greater Hemi region.”
The shares eased 3.6% to $1.34 as the gold price lost more than $US32 an ounce.
