Coffee with Samso Episode 147 is the second episode of the Exploration Discovery Series which is all about mineral exploration discoveries.
It's a cold and damp morning but that doesn't dampen what we are going to tell you about the Havieron discovery by Greatland Gold Plc. in 2018. It was a major success, and it is now a gold and copper mine nearing production stage.
According to the company's website, the project is currently in development under a Joint Venture with Newcrest Mining, Australia’s largest gold producer. Havieron is located just 45km from Newcrest’s Telfer mine. This allows the project to leverage Telfer’s existing infrastructure and processing plant to significantly reduce the project’s capital expenditure and carbon impact for a low cost pathway to development under an ore tolling arrangement.
Figure 1: Location of the Havieron project (Source: Greatland Gold website)
According to the latest presentation from the company, the updated Probable Ore Reserve and Mineral Resource is in Figure 2.
The significance of these numbers is in the manner that the deposit was discovered. In many cases, investors are only looking at the results of a long journey of mineral exploration.
Figure 2: Probable and Mineral Estimate for the Havieron deposit. (Source: Greatland Gold website)
The journey for a discovery is never an overnight process. In reality, discoveries of any mineral deposit has a minimum timeframe of years and development is usually in decades (including exploration and resource development).
The Coffee with Samso - Exploration Discovery Series is aimed at showcasing the discovery and also the more interesting parts of the exploration journeys. The insides of what happened and what did and what could not have happened that led to the discovery, for me is the fun part of the conversation.
The discovery of Havieron is one of the recent success that has come about because management kept the faith and applied the principals of mineral exploration. As an exploration geologist, the discovery of Havieron is one that excites me. The chase for discovery is one of the most satisfying feelings one could experience. The idea of setting up a company to source funding to chase the elephant deposits is high on my bucket list.
This is why I want to bring these stories onto the Samso platform so that the average investor out there can have insights into these journeys.
I hope you enjoy the video and get some sense of the "excitement" that was in the room when Callum and his associates received the results from the drilling.
Chapters
00:00 Start
01:35 Callum Introduction
03:46 Was undercover discovery always the plan?
06:33 Was it a geophysical target?
08:10 Chasing the elephants.
08:56 Chasing broad wide anomalies.
10:34 What were the challenges like for Greatland Gold at that time?
12:28 The magic formula for exploration success.
13:54 The story behind the discovery.
20:29 Was the discovery luck?
21:41 Was the core of the deposit giving a lot of clues?
23:21 How has technology in Geophysics helped mineral exploration?
27:36 Would the new technology today have changed the modelling?
29:09 Big Elephant deposits still exist.
31:03 Potential of discovery.
32:12 What is Callum Baxter doing now?
33:27 Is Callum heading back into the industry?
33:46 What is happening in the market?
37:26 Are there more Elephants in the Patterson Range?
38:50 Conclusion
About Callum Baxter
Former Chief Technical Director of Greatland Gold PLC
Exploration geologist and founding Director of UK based Greatland Gold PLC.
Commenced working in the mineral exploration industry after completing geology undergraduate qualifications in 1991 in Western Australia. Participated in discovery of large gold resources (Jundee/Nimary) before moving into other commodities including base metals and nickel. Member of AusIMM and AIG.
Worked with juniors, mid-tier explorers and major mining companies globally over more than 25 years. Completed an MSc in Ore Deposit Geology in the early 2000s. Co-founded Greatland which listed on AIM in the UK in 2006. Greatland is focussed on discovery of large precious metal and base metal deposits in Australia, in areas that have not been subject to extensive previous exploration.
Greatland has achieved recent success with the discovery of high-grade gold and copper mineralisation at the Havieron deposit, under 400m of cover, in the Paterson Region of Western Australia.
Disclaimer
The information or opinions provided herein do not constitute investment advice, an offer or solicitation to subscribe for, purchase or sell the investment product(s) mentioned herein. It does not take into consideration, nor have any regard to your specific investment objectives, financial situation, risk profile, tax position and particular, or unique needs and constraints. Read full Disclaimer.
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If you find this article informative and useful, please help me share the information. I try and write about topics that are interesting and have the potential to be of investment value. It is not easy to find stories that fit those parameters. If you or your organisation see the benefit of what Samso is trying to achieve and have a need to share your journey, please contact me on noel.ong@samso.com.au.