The arrival of Metal Tiger (LON:MTL) and Starvest (LON:SVE) onto the share register of Greatland Gold PLC (LON:GGP) last year certainly breathed new life into a well-established old company.
Greatland has been prospecting in Western Australia for several years now, but as any investor in the mining space knows, until very recently, exploration has been out of style.
Not any more though, or at least not if the 450% jump in Greatland’s share price over the year is anything to go by.
Metal Tiger, as readers with mining interests will know well, has been highly active in the mining space for over a year now, moving into spaces where others feared to tread.
In a sense, the £150,000 position it took in Greatland back in April represents one of its lower risk investments, as Greatland has ground in a safe jurisdiction, is going after straightforward commodities in gold and base metals, and has long been in the capable geological hands of Callum Baxter.
Great team …
Chief technical director Baxter has built up an enviable portfolio of exploration prospects across Western Australia, including, possibly, one of the only prospective nickel sulphide projects anywhere in the world.
And lest anyone doubt his market savvy, upon the retirement due to ill-health of mining investment veteran and semi-legend Bruce Rowan last year, it was Baxter who took up the reins at the head of his vehicle Starvest
Greatland’s chairman is Alex Borelli, a Metal Tiger non-executive director and also chairman and CEO of BMR Group PLC, a chartered accountant who has many years’ experience in investment banking.
The board’s capable team is rounded off by chief executive officer, Gervaise Heddle, a former Merrill Lynch fund manager and Macquarie Bank director.
Great proposition …
This is quite some proposition. With some new funds and a favourable market it was quite conceivable that Greatland Gold might come alive after a long period in which Baxter has conceded that the company’s key projects weren’t heavily promoted.
After all, he’s been working away in the background on several projects, in particular the Bromus nickel sulphide deposit near Norseman, and the Ernest Giles gold project in the Yilgarn, some way north of Gold Road’s (ASX:GRR) Yamarna deposit which now boasts several million ounces.
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The Ernest Giles project has been the main focus recently, with Greatland having unveiled two potential gold zones at the prospect after an ambitious drilling campaign in the Meadows target in the region’s southern portion.
The campaign, which Heddle said set out just to find gold bearing rocks, found extensive gold mineralisation in the area, and at shallow depths.
Heddle said it was “a really good result” with the drilling outcome “much better than expected”.
Following that initial success, Greatland told investors that planning has begun for an additional similar drilling programme at the Empress gold target in the north-eastern portion of the licence.
Heddle said: “This new campaign will target a large unexplained gold in soil anomaly at the Empress target.”
He added: “The MMI gold in soil anomaly at Empress is higher grade and potentially more extensive than that encountered at the Meadows target (peak values of 338ppb Au at Empress and 68ppb Au at Meadows), and we hope that this campaign will help us to explain the unusually high gold in soil anomaly in this part of the Ernest Giles greenstone belt."
Great potential …
Greatland still needs to get this new work programme approved by the Western Australian government, and get the complicated logistics sorted, but Heddle believes drills could hit the ground in April, when it is cooler down under.
Heddle thinks the Ernest Giles project could potentially host several multi-million ounces of gold deposits, as confirmed by the first round of drilling.
It is much too early for a resources estimates for the project, but Heddle sees plenty of potential.
The CEO said the news so far has given Greatland “a very encouraging start to the new year.”