Hmmm, i wonder , what is the status of the china / saudi relationship these days ?
*Just a quick follow up on Dhuboy's post re: Norton / Zijin story for anyone interested,
Aussie junior Minerals 260 to buy gold project from Zijin
Junior explorer Minerals 260 has announced it will acquire the Bullabulling gold project in Western Australia from Chinese diversified major Zijin Miningin a A$166.5 million ($103 million) cash and shares deal.
Minerals 260, which had A$9.9 million in cash as of September and a market capitalization of A$30 million, plans to fund the purchase through an equity raising managed by Bell Potter Securities and Argonaut. It said that further details would be announced soon.
The company was a spin-off of Australia’s newest lithium producer, Liontown Resources, and listed on the ASX in late 2021 following a A$30 million initial public offering. Minerals 260 is chaired by well-known Australian prospector and entrepreneur Tim Goyder, who also chairs Liontown.
Goyder called the acquisition a transformational opportunity in a record-high Australian gold price environment.
“We believe that this opportunity, or this project, will deliver for us, and there’s no reason why we can’t build a substantial company,” he said during a conference call on Tuesday.
Bullabulling, located 65km southwest of Kalgoorlie, was discovered in the 1960s and produced 179,000 ounces of gold under Resolute Mining before it was placed on care and maintenance in 1998. Zijin acquired it in 2014 for A$25 million through its subsidiary Norton Gold Fields.
The project holds a resource of 60 million tonnes at 1.2 grams per tonne gold, totaling 2.3 million ounces.
“We’ve done the deepest due diligence of my career to ensure the resource stacks up,” Minerals 260 managing director Luke McFadyen, formerly of OZ Minerals, said.
The project benefits from proximity to infrastructure, including power, water, and the Great Eastern Highway, along with established mining leases and a Native Title Land Use Agreement.
McFadyen noted the acquisition would position Minerals 260 for rapid growth in the gold sector, leveraging Bullabulling’s potential amid favourable market conditions.
Aggressive development plan
Minerals 260 plans to fast-track development, capitalizing on current gold prices exceeding A$4,000/oz. The company aims to launch 80,000m of drilling to complement the 530,000m previously completed and will focus on underexplored southern areas.
Studies are set to commence by September 2025, with a goal to define a maiden reserve in the north, where 89% of ounces are in the indicated category.
“You won’t see us go slow on this. This is going to be accelerated all the way,” McFadyen noted. He added the project doesn’t require A$4,200/oz gold to be profitable, as pit shells were calculated at A$3,000/oz.
mining.com
*In other News i see where Julian has grown some balls and come out with this statement re:- China
Congo courts Saudi mining investors to help curb China dominance
The Democratic Republic of Congo, the world’s top cobalt supplier, is courting new mining investors from Saudi Arabia to help it diversify and curb overreliance on companies from China, Marcellin Paluku, a senior government official, told Reuters.
Congo, which is also rich in copper and other critical minerals, wants more partnerships with the new investors to limit the risk of relying solely on Chinese investors, Paluku, who is a deputy cabinet director in the ministry of mines, said.
Chinese companies, some of which are state-backed, have over the past years emerged as the biggest investors in Congo, ramping up investment and production for copper and cobalt.
CMOC Group is now the world’s biggest cobalt miner as it boosts output at Tenke Fungurume mine it bought from US-based Freeport-McMoRan in 2016.
Paluku said Chinese investors’ dominant role in the sector now presents a “risk” to the country’s economy.
“Today, 80% of our mines, it’s with one partner (China).
So it’s a risk,” Paluku told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of a mining conference in Riyadh.
“You never know what can happen…So that means we are now trying to diversify our partnerships so we don’t rely on only one partner.”
Congo is also courting investors from the European Union and India, Paluku said.
The country is seeking to move away from current joint ventures which are heavily skewed in favour of investors, he added.
“We are talking to all the people who are open to do business with us,” Paluku said.
mining.com
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Or should i say........CATH / SAUDI ?
Food for thought.
