Empire Metals Ltd (AIM:EEE, FRA:NOGN) chairman Neil O'Brien hailed the ‘renaissance of sorts’ in gold exploration in Western Australia, one of the company’s key areas of interest.
It owns the Eclipse and Central Menzies Gold in mineral rich state.
Around it consolidation is starting to occur with the US$4.2bn merger of Northern Star Resources with Saracen Minerals and Newmont's US$800mln sale of its half share of the in the Kalgoorlie Super Pit Mine the stand-out deals.
“These transactions reaffirm our confidence that we are operating in a jurisdiction which not only boasts some of the richest mineralised terranes globally, but also welcomes exploration and development activities, and values the investment of mining companies,” said O'Brien.
A recent update from Empire revealed the Eclipse mineralised system was much larger than first thought, while exploration has been fast-tracked on two prospects at Central Menzies - Teglio and Nugget Patch. Click here for a comprehensive archive of drill results.
“Our Eclipse and Central Menzies projects have provided us with a foothold in one of the most productive gold regions globally and we intend to capitalise on this position in order to build tangible value in these initial projects, and also expand with the addition of other value-accretive properties,” said O’Brien.
“We expect a pipeline of news flow over the coming weeks and months, and I look forward to reporting this to the market in due course.”
The commentary came alongside interim results, which revealed the group made a profit of £682,011 for the six months ended June 30 (largely as a result of its sale of its investment in Georgian Copper & Gold). As at the period-end, Empire’s cash balance was £2.9mln.