What happens when a soccer player, a lawyer and a doctor get together on stage in the heart of Australia’s gold fields and discuss whether $5200/oz gold reflects a sugar hit or a structural shift?
No idea.
But it was interesting to start Day 2 of the Diggers & Dealers Mining Forum hearing that Argonaut deputy chair Liam Twigger’s career dream when growing up was to be a soccer player, Evolution Mining (ASX: EVN) managing director Lawrie Conway wanted to be lawyer and Westgold Resources (ASX: WGX) young gun and graduate mining engineer Shayera Allen had ambitions to be a doctor.
Alas, all three ended up exposed to gold and regaled a big crowd at the annual Gold Industry Group breakfast in the Kalgoorlie Town Hall with their views on the unprecedented gold price environment.
Shortly after, the first presenter of Day 2 in the Goldfields Arts Centre provided his own perspective on the state of gold.
Northern Star Resources (ASX: NST) chief operating officer Simon Jessop kicked off in front of quite a full auditorium with a nod to his company’s Kanowna Belle operation, on the outskirts of Kalgoorlie-Boulder.
This year marks three decades since Kanowna Belle transitioned to an underground operation. Back in 1995, as Jessop told delegates, gold was worth $550/oz – compared to almost $5,200/oz today.
Since 1995, Kanowna Belle crews have moved 42 million tonnes of ore to produce six million ounces of gold.
“And Kanowna Belle has still got life in front of it,” Jessop said. “They would have never dreamt that the gold price would be as high as today when the operation kicked off.”
Blast from the past
- Incidentally, this writer – back when he earned an honest living as a journalist – recalls an underground tour of Kanowna Belle with another journalist (initials YB to protect her identity) on the Thursday morning after the 2002 D&D awards dinner.
- The mine was then owned by Aurion Gold and the “blow 0 in the bag or you’re staying in the watchhouse” rule was clearly applied only irregularly.
- Some of our alcohol fumes would’ve made any canary choke on their chirp.
If the organisers of D&D are ever looking to add a sporting competition to three days of talking, eating and slurping, maybe they can resurrect the Balzano Barrow Race – a 23km team relay event where team members push a wheelbarrow from the old town site of Kanowna down to Kalgoorlie’s Hannan Street.
Another option, of course, and floated by an investor during Northern Star’s KCGM site visit on Sunday, is to create a running track around the perimeter of the Super Pit. The pit is about 4km long and 2.5km wide though growing in size as the next phase of cutbacks gets underway.
Some serious training might be required to complete this Super Pit Run.
Back to the conference.
Gold glittered again as some of the more exciting stories of the past year took to the stage.
Even Liontown Resources (ASX: LTR) boss Tony Ottaviano lent on gold when introducing his Kathleen Valley lithium story: “Good to see there are some true believers in the audience. I wore my gold tie specifically because I was hoping to get some gold magic on the lithium price. Let’s see.”
Regis Resources (ASX: RRL) said it was looking for another mine while refusing to give up on the McPhillamys project in NSW. One wonders, of course, if the real game is to orchestrate a deal to buy AngloGold Ashanti not just out of Tropicana but also take on Sunrise Dam. Now that would be transformational.
Greatland Resources (ASX: GGP) has already experienced more ups and downs since hitting the ASX boards in June than many of its peers in a lifetime. Irrespective of whether the corporate regulator is looking at Greatland’s disclosure practices, investors usually take the worst-case view.
And then there was the gorilla. Well done to Gorilla Gold Mines (ASX: GG8) CEO Charles Hughes for donning the hi-vis at the Arts Centre lectern as he talked up his company’s exploration efforts around the Goldfields. It could’ve been worse. Hughes could’ve donned the gorilla suit worn by one of his sidekicks handing out Gorilla pamphlets.
Overheard
- “I’ve got one passport and two wallets stuffed with money. And heaps of jackets.”
- The front desk operator at one of the Hannan Street hotels-cum-nightspots marvelling at what gets lost and left behind, now in her lost-property draw, when delegates hit the town. Phones, too.
A day at D&D is not without some political interference.
WA Mines Minister David Michael and his Federal counterpart Madeleine King held court in the media room and were bombarded with questions about the West Australian ban on uranium mining and the Albanese Government’s plan for a strategic minerals stockpile.
The key takeaways, according to the journalists who attended the press conference: no change to WA Labor’s approach to uranium mining in WA and still a lot of hot-air talk about what the stockpile approach would entail – a floor price for rare earths and alike and the possibility of equity investments in companies or their projects.
It got some of yesterday’s rare earths presenters a bit sweety with excitement, notably Arafura Rare Earths (ASX: ARU) and Lynas Rare Earths (ASX: LYC).
Deep Yellow (ASX: DYL), meanwhile, provided an update on its Mulga Rock project, north-east of Kalgoorlie. Mulga Rock is the only uranium project in WA that has a granted mining lease and development approval and therefore would not be held up by the WA Government uranium ban.
But will Mulga Rock ever get into development?
The Super Pit running track is probably more advanced.
Maybe the new head of the Chamber of Minerals and Energy WA can add the uranium policy to the list of advocacy priorities.
The whisper around the marquee during the Kal Tire Traditional Bash – beers served in wheelbarrows; Balzano is back – was that the CMEWA had a short-list of seven candidates, with the smart money on either one contender with significant commerce and industry experience or another who was a country manager for a major lithium producer.
D&D enters the home straight today, with the highlight being the WesTrac Gala Dinner.
Who will join the taken-over De Grey Mining as an award winner on the podium?
