However, it was the spectacular results from Breakaway, including 8m grading 23.12g/t gold from surface including a 1m section running at a massive 174g/t gold from 4m which piqued Auric’s interest at the prospect, making it the centre of attention for the current drilling.
No deeper drilling however has been conducted at the prospect, causing the company to plunge five holes down to an average depth of 90m. While the initial drilling was primarily designed to test the geological structure, the fourth hole, directly beneath the earlier massive surface hit by Breakaway, picked up a 35m mineralised zone from 69m which extends to the north with grades averaging more than 0.64g/t gold.
The company sees real promise at both Anomaly 37 and Fugitive. At Fugitive - with more than 470m of strike – the prospect has only had light drilling so far, with holes spaced 50 to 100m apart. However, thanks to the high-grade hits from the latest round, Fugitive is now the top priority for the next phase of drilling. Meanwhile Anomaly 37 will get more deep drilling to check for extensions to the north.
Only a year ago Auric took the decision to mine and toll treat the once unloved Jeffreys Find deposit near Norseman, a decision that has proved to be particularly lucrative. Auric’s stock shot up from 11c to 28.5c this year after a brief stop at 41c.
Given the record gold prices across the year, that well-timed decision has yielded 7500 ounces of gold - sold at an average of AU$3700 per ounce so far - with the potential to produce a further 12,000 ounces by the end of January before exhausting the deposit.
The substantial cash flow which Jeffreys Find has generated is now being funnelled into Auric’s 200,000-ounce Munda project near Widgiemooltha in Western Australia. With high hopes of starting toll mining there in early 2025, a scoping study has forecast $76 million of surplus cashflow based on producing 120,000 ounces using $2600 as its base case gold price. Given prices are closer to AU$4000 per ounce right now, some serious upside potential still exists.
Auric pretty much re-wrote the playbook for those looking to toll treat this year.
It cobbled together perfect partnerships with a mill owner in the Goldfields who charged them per tonne of ore and a Goldfields based contract miner who took all the risk on mining Jeffry’s find and split the profits with Auric 50/50 – nice work if you can get it!
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: mattbirney@bullsnbears.com.au