Aurumin moves closer to cashflow after JV with mining contractor

Aurumin Limited is a big step closer to early cashflows by agreeing to enter into a new joint venture with contract miner Newcam, which will spend up to $4 million to farm into two of its gold projects.

One project has an almost shovel-ready 64,000 shallow ounces of gold that could end up being a quick cash cow for the JV partners, courtesy of toll treating.

Aurumin has also landed a million dollars from Newcam after agreeing to sell the non-gold rights at another of its Western Australian gold projects.

The deal with Newcam has three legs to it – Newcam can earn up to 50 per cent of Aurumin’s Johnson Range project that already has the 64,000-ounce deposit. It can also earn up to 50 per cent of Aurumin’s Mt Dimer gold project, which is littered with interesting gold targets. Newcam must spend $4M across Mt Dimer and Johnson Range to earn its 50 per cent. Remarkably, Aurumin can elect to be free carried all the way to net profit – something that could come sooner rather than later from the Gwendolyn deposit at Johnson Range. 

Gwendolin already has 64,700 ounces of gold going 2.51 grams per tonne (g/t) gold within cooee of a number of mills. And the kicker is that Newcam comes replete with its own heavy mining equipment and mining know-how, giving rise to the possibility of early cash flows for the partners.

The $1M cash injection will come courtesy of the sale of Aurumin’s non-gold mineral rights, primarily iron ore, at its flagship Sandstone project in WA. 

Aurumin managing director Daniel Raihani said: “We’re pleased to be working with a partner that brings proven capability and a production mindset, and we look forward to delivering further results as assays from Gwendolyn are returned. This is the first drilling at Johnson Range in over a decade, and our new management team is hitting the ground running at a time when the outlook for gold could not be stronger.”

Aurumin previously did a deal with ASX-listed Beacon Minerals, run by Kalgoorlie identity Graham McGarry, on its mining leases at Mt Dimer, which will see it pick up a 2 per cent royalty on gold production above 12,000 ounces on that ground. 

It still holds a lot of exploration ground around that land that has seen very little modern-day exploration, despite it being a historical mining region that once pumped out 125,000 ounces at an impressive head grade of 6.4g/t gold. 

The company’s core focus remains on its Central Sandstone’s 885,800-ounce gold resource, however, the deal with Newcam, particularly as it relates to the Gwendoline deposit, cannot be overstated in a gold price environment at about $5000 an ounce. Fellow ASX-listed company Auric Mining did a similar toll treating deal with a private contractor at its Jeffries find deposit near Norseman and pulled about $100M worth of gold out of it that was toll treated near Coolgardie.

With a fresh $1M cash influx, a fully funded new joint venture and a sharpened focus on Central Sandstone, with upside from both Johnson Range and Mt Dimer, Aurumin is starting to take on a remarkably different complexion and could be on the cusp of actually making some money.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au