Javelin Minerals executive chairman Brett Mitchell said: “The Bonaparte project has been exposed to very little recent exploration and has significant upside based on the historical copper, silver, lead and zinc exploration results. Given our very active exploration schedule totally focused on Eureka and Coogee, we have decided to offer Bonaparte for sale.”

The Bonaparte sale aligns with Javelin’s strategic pivot to search for near mine riches left behind at historic open pit sites which include its Coogee and Eureka projects north and south of Kalgoorlie.

Since acquiring Coogee in 2020, Javelin has increased its resource inventory through targeted drilling, with recent upgrades bringing Coogee’s gold resource from a little over 10,000 ounces of gold to over 126,000 ounces.

A recent re-look at Coogee however has thrown up some tantalising near mine geophysical opportunities which Javelin believes just might emulate the well-publicised near mine discoveries made by companies like Spectrum Metals and Spartan Resources – both of which found multi-million dollar gold deposits lurking within 300m of historic open pits.

Javelin also recently acquired the Eureka project to the north of Kalgoorlie, featuring its own 112,000-ounce gold resource, just 20km north-west of the multi-million-ounce Paddington gold operation that has been mined for years and is well known for doing toll treating deals.

Paddington has turned out more than four million ounces during its production history from the same prospective rock sequences as mapped at Eureka.

Javelin says prior drilling was poorly targeted at Eureka and was not deep enough to follow the interpreted high-grade gold structures properly.

It has a theory that the old-timers were too focussed on the existing pit and were not motivated to spend too much money exploring the areas around it.

Javelin’s move to divest non-core assets signals a clear commitment to growth in the gold sector, positioning the company as a key player in WA’s prolific goldfields. A sale of Bonaparte will enable Javelin to focus on the drill bit at Coogee and Eureka – a proposition that is getting increasingly popular amongst market watchers.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: mattbirney@bullsnbears.com.au