Latest news with #Westgold
News.com.au
17 hours ago
- Business
- News.com.au
The Murchison goldfields could be the best place in WA to find a new gold mine
The Murchison is one of the best places in WA to explore for gold Competitive tension between major players Westgold and Ramelius puts toll treatment and takeovers on the agenda for juniors Caprice Resources is in the sweet spot, wedged between the fiefdoms of WGX and RMS In one of Australia's longest running gold fields, its infrastructure literally shaped by the historic mines the run like arteries through its landscape, two great fiefdoms have emerged. To the north of the Murchison, centred around the historic gold rush towns of Cue and Meekatharra, is the territory of Westgold Resources (ASX:WGX), which mills over 200,000oz of the precious metal every year through plants at Tuckabianna, Bluebird and Fortnum. To the south is Ramelius Resources (ASX:RMS), the king of the town of Mt Magnet, which has a similar production footprint out of its Checkers Mill and is charting a path to 500,000ozpa by incorporating Spartan Resources (ASX:SPR) and its Dalgaranga gold project. The competitive tension is palpable, highlighted in 2023 by the battle between the warring parties for Musgrave Minerals and its Cue gold project – RMS won the bidding there. Westgold ended up merging with TSX-listed Karora to take on its Beta Hunt mine further south near Kambalda, but was at one point a suitor for Spartan forerunner Gascoyne before its fateful Never Never gold discovery. Any player with a decent find in the district will become a takeover target for the hungry titans of the 133-year-old gold field. And new players are emerging that makes it even more exciting, especially with gold prices running above $5200/oz. Meeka Metals (ASX:MEK) raised $60m this week for its Meekatharra gold project, where it is mulling the expansion of the project's 600,000tpa mill. Vault Minerals (ASX:VAU) is chasing life extensions for the Deflector gold and copper mine, TSX-listed Monument Mining is looking to revive the mothballed Burnakura plant and Catalyst Metals (ASX:CYL) has hit a $1.5bn valuation with its revival of the Plutonic gold mine further afield beyond Meekatharra. For Caprice Resources (ASX:CRS) managing director Luke Cox, there's no better place to be looking for a fresh gold deposit in the context of an all-time boom for the precious metal, revealed by the WA Government to be contributing a record $739 million in royalties for the resource rich State alone in 2024-2025 and heading for higher climes of close to $1bn in each of 2026 and 2027. Caprice's New Orient and Island gold projects sit at the nexus of the two big players, wedged literally between the domains of Westgold and Ramelius. "You have two major players butted up against each other in the Murchison goldfields," Cox said. "They have mills they need to feed and all of a sudden you've got the explorers, which are like the incubators for future resources within the area that will feed their mills." Fill the mills It's known Westgold is chasing additional feed for its processing plants, especially shallow open pit gold that can supplement the underground mines under its control like Big Bell and Great Fingall. The $2.8bn gold miner has already inked a deal with New Murchison Gold (ASX:NMG) to process ore containing around 140,000oz over 2.5 years through its Bluebird plant near Meekatharra from the junior's Crown Prince gold deposit. Ramelius, meanwhile, has been acquisitive in recent years, bolting on higher quality but short live resources like the Penny gold mine and Break of Day, the latter literally located next door to Caprice's ground. CRS has a headstart on permitting. Its New Orient and Island projects sit on separate granted mining leases, removing a critical hurdle to get any gold project up and running given the time it takes to secure Aboriginal heritage clearances and State Government approval to have a mining lease granted. Now the aim is to drill out something worthy of getting the mid-tiers intrigued. The Vadrians Hill prospect at Island has already shown its wares – a headline strike of 28m at 6.4g/t in February proved the catalyst for the $37m capped explorer's 160% YTD share price rise. A 7000m program recently wrapped up, with 2000m added to an initial 5000m campaign as gold continued to show. Work is also ongoing to prove up the tighter drilled New Orient, where a historic resource was once reported. In the more than two decades since drilling has gotten denser, deeper and expanded the known strike of gold mineralisation, Cox says. At Vadrians, the aim is to outline a potential open pit with drilling continuing to find more gold. "Initially we're looking at open pit material because that'll be the material that's of more interest to potential players in the area," he said. "When you look at (Ramelius') Break of Day, we'll be chasing one of these to depth, either Baxter or Vadrians, North Vadrians, South Vadrians, we've just got a new discovery down here. " There's always things that we can start to chase. " At the moment, we're doing the shallower drilling, and then we'll start following up with deeper drilling. That's where you start getting some significant ounces." The critical thing for companies like Ramelius and Westgold is to keep their mills fed to the optimum level. Cox, who was once mine manager at the Edna May gold mine in WA, pointed out they need to run at a critical mass or the ball mills – rotating barrels that grind down and liberate gold from mineralised ore before it is leached with cyanide – literally "eat themselves". The steel balls which act as the grinding media can erode against each other without the right amount of ore to act as a buffer. Filling the mills isn't a luxury, it's a necessity. Handily, work completed by previous owners has shown the ore at Island is similar to that which has been processed at Ramelius' Checkers mill for decades. Caprice will be taking its own samples for metallurgical testwork in upcoming diamond drilling. The golden radius Forget the golden ratio, the golden radius has become the key equation for mill operators in WA's hot gold scene. Back in his Edna May days, Cox recalls drawing a 100km circle around the Westonia mine's processing plant. Everything inside was fair game for M&A or toll treatment deals. With gold prices at record highs, that circle is expanding. Mines now located between 100-200km from a processing plant can be comfortably trucked and milled at a profit. Where Caprice thinks its ground position stands out is that if the gold price were to collapse, that radius could shrink to 50km. "If the gold price goes down to US$1500/oz, what are you going to do? If the gold price goes up to US$5000/oz, how are you going to bang for as much material as possible to make like hay while the sun shines?" Cox said. "So you need all of these juniors to prove up resources that become potential feed sources for there mills." For CRS, Cox said the key thing was it knows the gold is there in the ground, it just needs to do the work to prove up deposits of significance, and recently raised a cool $7m in quick time from investors to do just that. Who else is aiming to join the Murchison empire? There are plenty of other gold explorers looking to outline and mine resources across the historic Murchison Goldfields. Aforementioned New Murchison Gold is an obvious one, given their processing tie-up with Westgold and denied media speculation of a takeover approach from WGX last last month. NMG is planning to develop Crown Prince at a cost of just $5.4m in the second half of this year, with its ore reserve running at 890,000t at 4.8g/t for 140,000oz. Odyssey Gold (ASX:ODY) owns the Tuckanarra project where it boasts a significant resource of 407,000oz at 2.5g/t, as well as an access and collaboration agreement to potentially process the ore with its joint venture partner Monument Mining at the Burnakura mill. Monument is currently looking into the reopening of the plant and its expansion from 260,000tpa to 750,000tpa. Great Boulder Resources (ASX:GBR) owns the Side Well gold project, containing over 500,000oz on Meekatharra's doorstep and is regularly touted as a potential takeover prospect for Westgold. Further afield Strata Minerals (ASX:SMX) is looking to see if the mineralisation hosting Ramelius' ultra high grade Penny gold mine continues to the south. Initial drill results returned some low grade gold hits, but provided encouragement to plan another round of drilling. Closer to Wiluna on the cusp of the Murchison and Northern Goldfields, Western Gold Resources (ASX:WGR) is planning FID on its Gold Duke utilising a processing deal with the operators of the Wiluna gold mine. The site would deliver 447,000t at 2.55g/t Au for 34,000oz according to a scoping study, generating an estimated undiscounted accumulated cash surplus of $38.10 million against a capital bill of just $2.1-2.5m. Star Minerals (ASX:SMS) is also aiming to become a small-scale gold producer at its Tumblegum South project, with India's Bain Global Resources on board as a strategic investor. With the Indian mining contractor's help it wants to bring Tumblegum South into production in early 2026. A scoping study suggested at gold prices from A$3000 to A$3800/oz – well below current levels – the updated production target for the Tumblegum South Gold Project ranges from approximately 167,000t at 2.43g/t producing 11,800oz gold, to 255,000t at 2.16g/t producing 15,900oz gold. That would generate an undiscounted accumulated cash surplus after payment of all working capital costs, but excluding pre-mining capital requirements, of approximately A$9.4m to A$19.6m. Tumblegum South contains a total resource of 45,000oz.
RNZ News
2 days ago
- Business
- RNZ News
Small South Otago school raises $15,000 by selling butter
Westgold Butter supplied the school with 250 gram blocks which usually sell for $4 with the school able to keep $1 from each block sold. File picture. Photo: supplied *This story has been updated to correct the amount raised by the school. The price of butter has seen a number of schools ditch traditional fundraisers in favour of selling the blocks instead. Butter company Westgold has been supplying the 250 gram blocks, which normally sell for $4, and schools get to keep $1 per block. It's a bargain compared to supermarkets where some 500 gram blocks are hitting $11, more than twice the price. Kaitangata School managed to sell just under 15,000 blocks of butter throughout the community, raising $15,000, with some blocks travelling as far as Christchurch. Brittany Morrison is both a teacher and parent at the school, as well as being the treasurer and secretary of the school community group which ran the fundraiser. She said the outcome of the fundraiser completely exceeded their expectations. "We did not expect to sell that much at all... we didn't know if we were gonna even sell 400 blocks and to sell nearly 15,000 is insane." Morrison said the school was home to only 100 students, with their usual once a term fundraiser raising around $2000. She said the school was overwhelmed by what they were going to spend the money on. "We were hoping to purchase 40 pairs of headphones for the classes and a basketball hoop. We can buy multiple of those now. It's unreal. We can't believe when the money started rolling in." Despite the bargain, Morrison said future fundraisers might not yield such big results, with Westgold having to up their prices to keep up with the quick rising butter market. "They're putting it up to $5.15 for a 250 gram block, which is a lot more than what we paid. The price went up on the first of June." However Kaitangata School managed to avoid the price hike. "Westgold actually contacted us to try and get our orders in before the first of June, but when they heard that our fundraiser was still had about 10 days to go, they were really good and they understood and they kept their word and we got it for $4." The school largely managed the successful sales through order forms, handing the forms out to 60 families at the school, who then passed it on the friends, family and local businesses. "Local cafes bought some off us. It went as far as I think to someone up in Christchurch, up to Bernie's Bakery up there." Morrison managed to sell 1625 blocks of butter herself. "I sold $6.5k worth of butter just off my order sheet... it was a lot, a lot to deliver." She said the result of fundraiser meant a huge amount to the small school. "We have a small school and so any fund-raising we do, we try and do it really well. "With the success of this butter fundraiser, we probably won't need to fund-raise for the rest of the year." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
2 days ago
- Business
- RNZ News
Small South Otago school raises nearly $60,000 by selling butter
Westgold Butter supplied the school with 250 gram blocks which usually sell for $4 with the school able to keep $1 from each block sold. File picture. Photo: supplied A small South Otago school has raised nearly $60,000 by selling butter. The rising price of butter has seen a number of schools ditch traditional fundraisers in favour of selling the blocks instead. Kaitangata School managed to sell just under 15,000 blocks of butter throughout the community earning them a grand total of $59,000, with some blocks travelling as far as Christchurch. Brittany Morrison is both a teacher and parent at the school, as well as being the treasurer and secretary of the school community group which ran the fundraiser. She said the outcome of the fundraiser completely exceeded their expectations. "We did not expect to sell that much at all... we didn't know if we were gonna even sell 400 blocks and to sell nearly 15,000 is insane." Morrison said the school was home to only 100 students, with their usual once a term fundraiser raising around $2000. She said the school was overwhelmed by what they were going to spend the money on. "We were hoping to purchase 40 pairs of headphones for the classes and a basketball hoop. We can buy multiple of those now. It's unreal. We can't believe when the money started rolling in." Butter company Westgold has been supplying the 250 gram blocks which normally sell for $4, and schools get to keep $1 per block. Despite the bargain, Morrison said future fundraisers might not yield such big results, with Westgold having to up their prices to keep up with the quick rising butter market. "They're putting it up to $5.15 for a 250 gram block, which is a lot more than what we paid. The price went up on the first of June." However Kaitangata School managed to avoid the price hike. "Westgold actually contacted us to try and get our orders in before the first of June, but when they heard that our fundraiser was still had about 10 days to go, they were really good and they understood and they kept their word and we got it for $4." The school largely managed the successful sales through order forms, handing the forms out to 60 families at the school, who then passed it on the friends, family and local businesses. "Local cafes bought some off us. It went as far as I think to someone up in Christchurch, up to Bernie's Bakery up there." Morrison managed to sell 1625 blocks of butter herself. "I sold $6.5k worth of butter just off my order sheet... it was a lot, a lot to deliver." She said the result of fundraiser meant a huge amount to the small school. "We have a small school and so any fund-raising we do, we try and do it really well. "With the success of this butter fundraiser, we probably won't need to fund-raise for the rest of the year." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
2 days ago
- Business
- RNZ News
School makes thousands off butter fundraiser
business food 27 minutes ago The price of butter has seen a number of schools ditch traditional fundraisers in favour of selling blocks of butter instead. Westgold has been supplying the 250 gram blocks which go for $4, and schools get to keep $1 a block. It's a bargain compared to supermarkets where some 500 gram blocks are hitting $11. But Kaitangata School in South Otago has manged to cash in on the deal, raising thousands. Teacher and parent at the school, Brittany Morrison spoke to Lisa Owen.
Otago Daily Times
5 days ago
- Business
- Otago Daily Times
'We had no idea how popular it would become'
A mountain of butter is on its way to a Canterbury school. The five tonnes of Westgold butter - more than 19,000 250-gram blocks - will be distributed by the Leithfield School after its most successful fundraising venture ever. ''It really took off and went from being a small local fundraiser to a large regional one,'' says Leithfield School principal Rob Cavanagh. He says it was just timing and social media which drove the venture to new heights. Due to unprecedented demand, the date for the final online butter orders was brought forward from June 23 to June 6. The butter collection dates will be communicated via email or text message. It is thought a combination of increased public comment online about the rising price of butter, coupled with an announcement the cheapest butter in New Zealand was supplied to Costco in Auckland by the Hokitika-based Westgold dairy company, drove the success when the school's fundraiser was discovered online offering identically priced blocks of the cheaper butter, supported by Westgold. It all contributed to making the school's fundraiser a success. ''We've had emails and calls from all over the country, some from as far away as Tauranga and the Hawke's Bay,'' says Cavanagh. He says at the start of each year the school's board of trustees fundraising committee prepares a list of things and activities they will be raising money for to help supplement the school's finances. ''They help us out financially, raising what they can in the community to support the activities of our students. For each block of butter sold, a dollar goes towards the fundraising goal. ''We decided to take it on instead of the usual chocolates or biscuits type of fundraiser.'' They sold the 250-gram charity blocks of Westgold butter for $4 and the school receives $1. ''We had no idea how popular it would become,'' says Cavanagh. ''Once it hit social media it took off and when we closed it two weeks ago we had sold over 19,000 blocks of butter.'' Cavanagh says the more than $19,000 raised has now taken care of all the requests for funding the BoT fundraising committee was looking at this year. ''It's amazing, this year there were six different funding requests and now we can meet them all, and still have some money left over for other projects.'' These include stationery subsidies for pupils, shortfalls in school camp expenses, new kapa haka uniforms, student council seminars, supporting the establishment of a new writing programme at the school and other expenses. ''It's been amazing and great for people to be able to support the school and get a bargain as well. ''Next year we hope that despite the company raising the price of the butter last week, people will continue to support the school's fundraising efforts, which all goes to aid in the continued development of our students.''
