Broken Hill Gold has completed the strategic demerger of its North Queensland portfolio, transferring its Alice River gold and St George gold-antimony projects to Manda Resources.
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Gold → complete → Resources
The deal clears the decks for an all-out focus on its White Dam gold operation in South Australia.
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deal → clear → Australia
The transaction hands Manda Broken Hill’s 100 per cent interest in Alice River and its St George earn-in rights for 64M Manda shares valued at $16M, plus $650,000 cash payable on Manda’s ASX admission.
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transaction → hand → admission
Subject to shareholder approval, all the shares, valued at 25 cents each, will be distributed in specie to eligible shareholders, retaining their exposure to the Queensland story.
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shares → value → story
Under indicative terms announced in June, they would receive one Manda share for every 6.76 Broken Hill shares, with the final ratio set at the record date.
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they → announce → date
ASX-listed mining junior Emerald Resources has also brought heavyweight backing and a safe pair of hands to Manda.
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Resources → list → Manda
The company initially invested $6.4M into Manda’s $9M pre-IPO seed raising for a 49 per cent shareholding.
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company → invest → shareholding
It has since flagged another $4.25M investment in the initial public offering, which is expected to raise at least $21M, subject to market conditions.
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which → flag → conditions
Emerald intends to maintain a 19.9 per cent Manda holding at listing.
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Emerald → intend → listing
Manda has also wrapped up its acquisition of Territory Minerals, bringing the Tregoora, Northcote, Atric and Reedy gold projects under the same roof.
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Manda → wrap → roof
Alice River contributes 26.8 million tonnes at 1.00 grams per tonne (g/t) gold for 854,000 ounces, while Territory adds 480,000 ounces, giving the portfolio 1.33 million ounces across more than 1700 square kilometres.
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Territory → contribute → kilometres
‘The demerger means we are now exceptionally well-positioned to execute on our focused strategy, with maiden production at White Dam achieved and cashflow from gold production imminent.
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cashflow → mean → production
Manda has also strengthened its leadership, putting veteran exploration geologist Tara French at the helm as chief executive officer.
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Manda → strengthen → officer
French brings more than 25 years’ experience and was most recently Cazaly Resources’ managing director after serving as Regis Resources’ general manager, exploration.
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French → bring → manager
At Alice River, Manda inherits plenty to chase along a 30km prospective strike on the Alice River Fault Zone, part of a regional-scale intrusion-related system Broken Hill has compared geologically with globally significant gold systems Fort Knox in the United States and Hemi in Western Australia.
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Manda → inherit → Australia
Its nearby St George project adds a 905-square-kilometre gold-antimony footprint, where exploration has defined more than 20km of mineralised and geochemical strike, yet drilling has tested just 200m.
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drilling → add → m.
That leaves plenty of room to build on early high-grade antimony and gold hits.
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That → leave → hits
Broken Hill Gold managing director Matthew Boyes said: “This strategic demerger is a highly compelling transaction.
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demerger → say → ?
Having Emerald Resources’ management driving this new vehicle is a real endorsement of the geological potential at the Alice River and St George Projects.
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management → have → Projects
Manda’s concurrent acquisition of Territory Minerals will create a dominant explorer in a region with clear multimillion-ounce potential.
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acquisition → create → potential
Attention now turns to Manda’s listing.
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Attention → turn → listing
Its prospectus and Broken Hill’s notice of meeting are targeted for early November, with the shareholder vote due in early December and Manda’s targeted ASX admission in mid-December.
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prospectus → target → December
Distributed shares are expected to face 12 months of mandatory escrow from their issue date.
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shares → expect → date
Back in South Australia, White Dam is now primed to take centre stage for Broken Hill.
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Dam → prim → Hill
The project has more than 50 prospects, many lightly tested at depth, with more than 30,000m of reverse-circulation and diamond drilling planned over the next 18 months to probe its deeper gold-copper potential.
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project → have → potential
The operation produced roughly 180,000 ounces between 2010 and 2018 and comes with open pits, heap-leach infrastructure and an operational gold extraction plant, giving the company a brownfields springboard rather than a standing-start development.
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operation → produce → springboard
The near-minegrounds span Vertigo and Hannaford alongside the emerging Icebreaker gold-copper discovery, with existing processing infrastructure providing a ready pathway for shallow oxide material.
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infrastructure → span → material
Its latest Vertigo update lifted White Dam’s global resource to 5.2 million tonnes at 0.7g/t gold for 118,496 ounces, including 24,300 indicated ounces at Vertigo.
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update → lift → Vertigo
Mining studies will assess an oxide heap-leach restart, once the current material on the leach pad has been processed, with a prefeasibility study planned after the remaining shallow resources are drilled and updated.
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resources → assess → pad
Now, with two rigs in the field, Broken Hill can push ahead on shallow oxide drilling while accelerating the deeper sulphide hunt at Vertigo and Icebreaker.
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Hill → push → Vertigo
With the Queensland baton passed to Manda, Broken Hill’s gold pendulum has swung firmly south.
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pendulum → pass → Manda
At White Dam, the clock is already running on both a return to open-pit mining and the hunt for a deeper gold-copper prize.
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clock → run → prize
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting?
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company → list → something
The Aporia
