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Brightstar Resources
Overview
The price of gold is nearing a record high. Earlier this year, it topped $2,041.30 per ounce — the second-highest value in history. And there is every indication the previous metal's value will only continue to climb.
The reason is multifaceted. The world teeters on the brink of a severe recession. Amidst ballooning interest rates, bank failures and falling bond yields, demand for gold continues to rise.
This is to be expected, as bullion almost always becomes a hot commodity during times of economic uncertainty. At this precise moment, gold is simultaneously an excellent portfolio diversifier and a compelling hedge against ongoing inflation — particularly if one invests in the right company.
Brightstar Resources (ASX:BTR) aims to be that company. An emerging mining and development company, Brightstar occupies a strategic land position of roughly 300 square kilometers in the Laverton Tectonic Belt and 140 square kilometers of the Menzies Shear Zone.
The company also owns an existing processing facility that can potentially provide tremendous shareholder value in a low-capital cost restart scenario. In fact, Brightstar has engaged experts for a scoping study to assess the refurbishment of its wholly owned onsite processing plant.
That plant, once fully refurbished and operational, could prove a key differentiator for the company, enabling fast gold production at a low capital cost. This is especially noteworthy given that many other gold companies trading on the ASX are largely focused on greenfield exploration and development. Even once those companies discover a promising resource, mining and processing facilities would still need to be built, undertakings which can incur significant upfront capital costs and take a number of years.
Brightstar also recently finalized a merger agreement with Kingwest Resources (ASX:KWR), under which Brightstar acquired 100 percent of the shares in Kingwest. From a strategic standpoint, this merger has allowed the two companies to consolidate their assets, resulting in combined JORC mineral resources of roughly 1 million ounces, all on granted mining leases.
The strategic merger also allows Brightstar to accelerate development and expansion of its existing mineral resources while also establishing the company as a potential near-term developer.
Brightstar's Laverton Gold Project assets are all centered on a 100%-owned 300-square-kilometer tenure in the Laverton Tectonic Zone and all within 70 kilometers of the Laverton Processing Plant. Additionally, all resources within this zone are open along strike and at depth. Only minor drilling programs have been conducted in recent years, paving the way for significant exploration upside with the potential for further regional and greenfields discoveries.
Brightstar also owns 100% of the Menzies Gold Project, a contiguous land package of granted mining leases over a strike length of roughly 15 kilometers along the Menzies Shear Zone and adjacent to the Goldfields Highway.
Company Highlights
- Brightstar Resources is an emerging ASX-listed mining and development company with more than one million ounces of gold resources and potential on-site processing infrastructure.
- The company has engaged experts to conduct a scoping study of its processing infrastructure with the goal of refurbishing and potentially expanding it.
- Once refurbished, this infrastructure will allow Brightstar to fill a growing investment void for near-term gold developers in Western Australia, producing large quantities of gold at low capital cost.
- Brightstar's mineral assets are situated across roughly 300 square kilometers of 100-percent-owned land in the Laverton Tectonic Zone. Together, they account for a current total JORC Resource of more than a million ounces.
- Brightstar’s Menzies Gold Project is a highly promising asset which has already undergone extensive historic mining and development. The Menzies Gold Project's total current resource estimate is 11.7 Mt @1.33 g/t gold for 505koz gold (40 percent measured and indicated; 60 percent inferred)
- Brightstar plans to continue generating shareholder value through a combination of development and strategic acquisitions along with some exploration.
Key Projects
Brightstar Processing Facility
Situated close to Brightstar's existing mineral assets at Laverton, the Brightstar Processing Plant provides the company with a considerable operational head start over its peers. The 485 kilo-tons per annum carbon-in-leach plant is currently on care and maintenance. Brightstar is assessing a refurbishment and expansion strategy for the plant, building on a 2021 report from Cosmo Engineers.
Highlights:
- Extensive Infrastructure: Current facilities at the plant include two ball mills, a power station and gravity and elution circuits. Other infrastructure includes:
- A tailings storage dam
- An on-site process water pond
- An operational 60-person accommodation camp
- An airstrip at the nearby Cork Tree Well Project
- Vehicles and equipment including a forklift, bobcat, two loaders, multiple light vehicles and a 30-tonne crane.
- A Leg Up Over Competitors: The presence of pre-existing processing infrastructure represents significant time savings compared to greenfields development.
- Low Upfront Capital Cost: A 2021 report from Cosmo Engineers showed that fully refurbishing the plant to a 650-ktpa throughput represents a capital cost of roughly $5.5 million, including $1.9 million in owner's costs and a 30 percent contingency.
- Further Expansion: In June 2023, Brightstar announced that it has engaged a team of independent experts to conduct a scoping study which will assess refurbishment requirements and expansion opportunities.
- Close to Existing Assets: Brightstar's three major development projects — Cork Tree Well, Beta and Alpha — are all in close proximity to the plant.
Cork Tree Well
Cork Tree Well is a former operating mine, producing 45 koz of gold over its lifespan. Located roughly 35 kilometers north of Laverton on Bandya Station Road, the project’s JORC 2012-compliant mineral resource of 5,610 kilotons (kt) at 1.4 g/t for 252 koz of gold has increased by 20 percent to 303 koz, delivering a combined JORC Resource base of 1.02 million ounces gold from the Laverton and Menzies gold projects.
Highlights:
- Promising Drilling Results: Two 6,000-meter drill programs were completed in late 2022, and in the first quarter of 2023 delivered an uplift in tonnages and ounces at a discovery cost of AU$30 per ounce. The JORC 2012 Mineral Resource Estimate increased by 20 percent to 303 koz delivering a combined JORC Resource base of 1.02 million ounces of gold and representing a 65-percent increase to the indicated ounces to 157 koz @ 1.6g/t gold. These results further provide a more robust base for mining scoping studies.
- Upcoming Feasibility Studies: The drilling program will underpin several feasibility studies that Brightstar intends to conduct later this year. At present, Brightstar has defined a resource envelope over a strike length of approximately 1 kilometer and down to 200 meters.
- Area Geology: The Cork Tree deposit is situated along the western limb of the Erlistoun synclical structure, a sequence which includes mafic volcanic lavas, tuffs and tuffaceous sediments alongside minor interflow graphitic shales and banded iron formation. The mine itself consists of chlorite schist-altered high-magnesium basalt footwalls overlain by graphitic shales containing banded iron and chert beds. Gold mineralization is contained within sediments intruded by concordant porphyry sills spanning the length of the mineralized zone.
Menzies Gold Project
Situated 130 kilometers north of the globally significant Kalgoorlie gold deposit, Menzies represents one of Western Australia's leading historic gold fields. The project, fully owned and operated by Kingwest prior to its merger with Brightstar, consists of a contiguous land package of a strike length in excess of 15 kilometers. All deposits are now 100-percent-owned by Brightstar and lie within granted mining leases.
Brightstar intends to leverage its processing infrastructure to monetise the high-grade open pit ounces produced by this mine.
Highlights:
- Significant Historical Production: Menzies has hosted multiple historically mined high-grade gold deposits which together produced a total of over 800,000 ounces at 19 g/t gold. This includes 643,000 oz @ 22.5 g/t gold from underground.
- Profit Sharing: Brightstar and BLM Ventures have a 50/50 profit-sharing joint venture agreement to exploit the Selkirk deposit at Menzies. Under this agreement, Brightstar is responsible for capital costs, mining and haulage. The joint venture also has a toll treating agreement with St Barbara Limited (ASX:SBM) to process ore from Selkirk at Leonora.
- Area Geology: The Menzies Gold Project is hosted along the Menzies Shear Zone in the western margin of the Menzies greenstone belt. It displays a geologic setting similar to the Sand Queen Gold Mine at Comet Vale.
LAVERTON GOLD PROJECT – OTHER RESOURCES
Beta
Located immediately adjacent to the Brightstar Plant, the Beta Project includes a 60-person camp. It contains a combined JORC 2012-compliant mineral resource of 1,882 kt at 1.7 g/t for 102 koz of gold. The deposit occurs along the Eastern Margin of the Laverton Tectonic Zone, notable for hosting multiple major gold occurrences including Granny Smith, Keringal, Red October and Sunrise Dam.
Alpha
Hosting a combined JORC 2012-compliant mineral resource of 1,452 gold at 2.3 g/t for 106 koz, the Alpha Project. Future exploration programs and feasibility studies will seek to potentially capitalize on Alpha's close proximity to Beta.
Management Team
Alex Rovira - Managing Director
Alex Rovira holds a Bachelor of Science (geology) and Bachelor of Commerce (corporate finance) from the University of Western Australia, and for the past nine years has been working as an investment banker at a global financial services company that focused on the metals and mining sector.
Greg Bittar – Non-Executive Chairman
Greg has extensive experience in public and private markets mergers and acquisitions, capital markets and strategic advisory assignments across a range of sectors including general industries, metals and mining, mining services and energy.
Jonathan Downes - Non-executive Director
Jonathan Downes has more than 25 years’ experience in the mining industry and has worked in various geological and corporate capacities. He has worked with nickel, gold and base metals and has also been intimately involved with numerous private and public capital raisings.
Josh Hunt - Non-executive Director
Josh Hunt is an experienced capital markets and M&A lawyer and has extensive experience in all aspects of mining and energy project acquisitions and disposals and general mining legislation compliance throughout Australia. Hunt has advised on numerous IPOs, fundraisings, and acquisitions by both public and private companies on the ASX and internationally. He will assist the Brightstar board with corporate governance, company law and capital market management going forward.
Tony Lau - Non-executive Director
Tony Lau is currently the chief financial officer of Stone Group Holdings based in Hong Kong. Lau has worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers Hong Kong for 12 years. Over the past two decades, he has been advising numerous Chinese companies on IPOs and capital raising in the Hong Kong capital market and investing in the mining industry in Australia.
IND Establishes HPQ Exploration Target at Pippingarra Project
Highlights
- IND’s recent RC drilling program informs a Maiden High Purity Quartz (HPQ) Exploration Target at the Pippingarra Quarry Project.
- Drilling is planned for the exploration target area and to test several quartz occurrences mapped across the wider Mining Lease area.
- IND plans to commence work on a HPQ Mineral Resource Estimate in parallel with metallurgical testwork being conducted by potential offtake partners and third-party mineral processing laboratories.
- A 300kg Pippingarra quartz sample crushed from existing quarry stockpiles sent to China in late 2023 produced a >GG.GG4% SiO2 end product following standard HPQ processing1.
- A further 24 tonne bulk sample comprising crushed quartz rock has been shipped to China for processing, metallurgical test work, and assessment by potential offtake partners.
Figure 1: IND Pippingarra Quarry Project location and infrastructure.
In October 2023, IND announced the agreement of binding terms2 with North West Quarries Pty Ltd (NWQ) for an exclusive option to acquire an 80% interest in the non-construction material mineral rights.
Jeff Sweet, Managing Director of Industrial Minerals, commented:
“Following on from one of our potential offtake partners in China achieving a processed High Purity Ǫuartz product grading >SS.SS4% SiO2, we are extremely positive about the potential to supply Pippingarra quartz into high-end quartz markets.
“The Pippingarra Exploration Target is limited to an area where IND completed RC drilling in late 2023, to the east of the existing open pit. There are several quartz outcrops mapped across the broader Mining Lease area that will also be drilled with the intention to include these untested HPǪ target opportunities in the upcoming Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) for Pippingarra.
“Our motivation to commence work towards a MRE is to leverage our unique position of having an active mining operation at the Pippingarra Ǫuarry. We believe this will give potential offtake partners the confidence to enter into offtake agreements with IND, knowing that we can rapidly advance to be mine ready and have a suitable mine life to support long term supply needs.”
Maiden High Purity Quartz Exploration Target
Table 1: Pippingarra HPQ Exploration Target range.
The potential quantity and grade of the Exploration Target is conceptual in nature, and there has been insufficient exploration to estimate a Mineral Resource and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in the estimation of a Mineral Resource. The Exploration Target has been prepared and reported in accordance with the 2012 edition of the JORC Code.
The Exploration Target is based upon the Reverse Circulation (RC) Drilling program completed by IND in December 2023. Drilling was conducted on a 50m x 50m spacing. From this, holes INRC003 – INRC009 recorded thicknesses of white crystalline quartz over widths from 12m to 20m as reported in the Table 2 below.
Click here for the full ASX Release
This article includes content from Industrial Minerals Limited, licensed for the purpose of publishing on Investing News Australia. This article does not constitute financial product advice. It is your responsibility to perform proper due diligence before acting upon any information provided here. Please refer to our full disclaimer here.
Positive Findings from Newmont Ti Benchmarking Study
Highlights
- Titanium industry expert TZMI completes titanium benchmarking study on the Salazar Critical Minerals Project
- Study identifies Newmont as a standout from its peers in terms of Ti and TREO in-situ grade
- Benchmarking study is highly encouraging and supports validating flowsheet for production of titanium minerals from Salazar
Salazar Critical Minerals Project Ti Benchmarking Study
Following successful characterisation testwork of Ti mineralisation at the Newmont Deposit area1, West Cobar Metals engaged international titanium expert TZ Minerals International Pty Ltd (TZMI) to complete a benchmarking study of the Newmont resource.
TZMI is a global, independent consulting and publishing company which specialises in all aspects of the mineral sands, titanium dioxide and coatings industries2.
The Newmont resource3 and characterisation data was used by TZMI to benchmark the Salazar project deposit against several existing operations and potential new projects under development using publicly available information and TZMI estimates. The outcomes of the benchmarking are shown in Figure 1.
The benchmarking study shows that the Ti contained within the Newmont deposit has promising potential for economic extraction and that the Newmont resource is positioned favourably amongst peer resources in respect of both Ti and rare earth element content.
Figure 1 : Salazar Project (Newmont deposit) benchmarking
The relative positioning of the Newmont Inferred Ti and rare earth element resource is very positive for West Cobar, with relatively high insitu TiO2 grades and TREO grades compared to its peers. The Ti levels of the resource (on a whole rock basis) compare very favourably to both developing and operating projects.
TZMI concluded that “In terms of final ilmenite product quality, the composition of the magnetic fraction (comprising predominantly ilmenite) shows some promise with TiO₂ levels as high as 48.5%. This suggests the ilmenite is likely present as primary ilmenite … the CaO, MgO, V₂O₅, Cr₂O₃ in the magnetic fraction all seem relatively low which is positive and likely to be within the accepted levels for ilmenite used in sulfate pigment production.”
Click here for the full ASX Release
This article includes content from West Cobar Metals Limited, licensed for the purpose of publishing on Investing News Australia. This article does not constitute financial product advice. It is your responsibility to perform proper due diligence before acting upon any information provided here. Please refer to our full disclaimer here.
High Grade Copper Rock Chips to 18% on New Targets at Ti-Tree
- Two new prospects, Tiberius and Claudius, have returned high-grade copper and significant silver assays in rock chips from recent field work
- High grade assays up to 17.8% Cu and 282g/t Ag have been discovered on the Tiberius zone, currently 3m wide and extending for over 200m along strike.
- Claudius, 11km south of Tiberius, comprised of several parallel zones over a 100m by 300m area, returned grades up to 6.6% Cu and 86g/t Ag.
- The discovery of these prospects, 30km northwest from Copper Ridge which contain historic workings not marked on GSWA maps, highlights the significant prospectivity of the Gascoyne region.
- Further field work is being planned to determine the extent of these new discoveries.
Andrew Ford, GM Exploration
“These results highlight the potential of this underexplored area to host as yet undiscovered mineralisation. Less than 5% of the 3,600 sq km area of the Ti-Tree Project has had any previous exploration, and to discover unrecorded historic mining areas is very exciting. These results are a credit the Augustus geological team.”
Figure 1 Location of the Tiberius and Claudius prospects
Tiberius
Reconnaissance field work conducted on the Ti Tree Project’s northwestern tenement has discovered high grade copper and silver mineralisation (Figure 3) in two areas. Tiberius, the northern target comprises a quartz-sulphide vein system up to 3m wide and outcrops for over 200m (Figure 5).
A shallow shaft has been dug on the vein system (Figure 2). Another vein set was identified 600m along strike east-northeast of the main vein increasing the potential size of the target. The high grade veins contain both oxidized copper, high silver grades, lead sulphide and anomalous gold (Table 1).
Claudius
The Claudius prospect is located 10km to the southwest of Tiberius, comprised of quartz veined brecciated and silicified granite with mineralised veins mapped over a 100m x 300m area. The main area of outcropping mineralisation has been trenched by prospectors and rock chip sampling returned strong copper mineralisation in an iron rich siliceous vein. Silver was consistently elevated (up to 86g/t) with associated gold anomalism to 0.68g/t (Table 1, Figures 4 and 6).
Click here for the full ASX Release
This article includes content from Augustus Minerals, licensed for the purpose of publishing on Investing News Australia. This article does not constitute financial product advice. It is your responsibility to perform proper due diligence before acting upon any information provided here. Please refer to our full disclaimer here.
From the Bronze Age to the Green Revolution: Mining's Timeless Role in Shaping Humanity's Future
During his presentation at the annual Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada convention, mining industry figure Mark Cutifani recounted the role the mining sector has had in humanity's past and will play in its burgeoning future.
“I'm focused on how we might catalyze new conversations around mining and its contribution to society,” he told listeners at the annual event, which took place in early March. “It is through our great pioneers and innovators that we continue to transform our work, and its value to society in so many different dimensions”
In simple terms, everything we use and make is derived from materials like metals and minerals, noted Cutifani.
Minerals used in electric cars compared to conventional cars.
Chart via the International Energy Agency.
In his view, while technical discussions about improving industry practices are essential, it's also crucial to help people understand the significance of the mining industry in the functioning of society as a whole.
For example, the average smartphone uses 13 metals and minerals, while electric vehicles require seven, including copper, lithium, nickel, manganese, cobalt, graphite, zinc and rare earths.
Mining's key role in the world's future
Cutifani went on to highlight how metals and minerals contribute to the health of our waterways and oceans.
“The provision of clean water is an absolute necessity to sustain life as we know it. We need minerals to purify, pump, use and recycle water. (We are) an industry that uses about 3 percent of the world's water to support everything else that happens on the planet. We are overwhelmingly a positive for global water balances,” he said.
In addition to water, the mining of phosphate and potash is imperative to global food supply, according to Cutifani, because without the valuable fertilizers they produce, “we could only feed half the planet.”
Even though there may be debates about eliminating certain products like fertilizers, he said it's essential to understand the broader implications and consequences of such decisions on global food security.
Beyond food security, metals and the alloys they produce have allowed us to curb urban sprawl through skyscrapers and high-rise residential towers that require steel and concrete, both of which are produced using mined and quarried materials. While we often hear of the vast amounts of metals needed for the energy transition, Cutifani noted that the energy transition debate tends to overlook other critical global issues like water, food security and shelter.
In his view, addressing global challenges will require the consideration of all fundamental human needs. It's essential to broaden the conversation and recognize the interconnectedness of various societal issues.
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Securities Disclosure: I, Georgia Williams, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Brightstar Resources Investor Kit
- Corporate info
- Insights
- Growth strategies
- Upcoming projects