Paydirt Media is set to keep the ball rolling in Australia’s resurgent mining sector conference circuit, this week hosting the Australian Nickel Conference at Perth’s Pan Pacific Hotel. The conference takes place Tuesday 6 October 2020 kicking off at 8 am, showcasing a who’s who of the nickel sector and their projects across Australia and the Asia-Pacific region.
Paydirt’s Nickel Conference comes hot on the heels of September’s RIU Resurgence Conference which saw a host of Australia’s resource sector aspirants strutting their stuff over the two-day program.
The single-day program for Tuesday’s Nickel Conference is a little more focused but looks to be no less informative with guest speakers set to include The Honourable Bill Johnston, WA’s Minister for Mines, Jim Lennon from Macquarie Group and Jack Anderson from global commodity experts, Roskill. However, the real business of the day lies with producers, developers and explorers in the booming nickel sector.
First and foremost is a cast of current and aspiring miners including Dan Lougher from Western Areas and Peter Bradford from IGO Limited with their recent posture suggesting they may be looking to up the ante across WA’s thriving nickel sector.
Would-be miners talking up a storm will include Mincor, seeking to restart its Cassini operations near Kambalda, whilst Blackstone Minerals have been going from strength to strength with its development program at its Ta Khoa project in Vietnam, and is looking to pull the covers off its mill to turbo-charge its cash flow.
However, perhaps the headline presentation for the day will come from the ore-finders at Chalice Gold Mines and its discovery of the Julimar nickel-PGE deposit in the hills outside Perth, which has captured the markets attention in a way that very few previous nickel sulphide discoveries have.
Intercepts from the emerging Julimar deposit include an impressive 17.6m at 5.3 g/t palladium, 1.0 g/t platinum, 1.3 per cent nickel and 0.6 per cent copper, while on a broader scale deeper holes have tipped the scales at 233.8m at 0.6 g/t palladium and 0.1 g/t platinum with recent work highlighting a 6.5km long electromagnetic anomaly.
The stunning Julimar discovery lit a fire under the company’s share price fanning it from just $0.16 back in March of this year to an astounding $2.60 at the close of trade Monday – a 16 bagger, in round terms, for those astute enough to be on board from the ground floor up.
Chalice’s rising fortunes have bled into several other nickel explorers in WA, with the likes of Impact Minerals also set to present at the Nickel Conference, as it joins the rush into the emerging South West mineral terrane of WA, perhaps prompted by Chalice’s success, at the same time as it continues work on its own nickel-PGE project east of Broken Hill, NSW.
Other presenters include Legend Mining, with its developing Mawson discovery in the Fraser Range, St George on the Cathedrals Belt near Leonora and the trio of Ardea Resources, Auroch Minerals and Neometals near Kalgoorlie.
With the nickel price trading at a very respectable US$14,200 per tonne, having rallied from below US$12,000 per tonne in March achieving a 2020 high above US$15,400 just last month, the Nickel Conference is a timely reminder that the market seemingly rolls on despite any and all challenges – including the COVID-19 pandemic currently gripping the planet.
Life has also seemingly rolled on in WA, with the state remaining the powerhouse of the Australian economy demonstrating even the conference circuit is alive and well.
The next cab off the rank in the resources conference circuit is the revered Digger and Dealers conference in Kalgoorlie, which kicks off 12 October 2020 and continues through 14 October 2020.
The focus then shifts back to Perth in November with Paydirt’s Battery Minerals Conference held on 2 November, quickly followed by the famed Africa Down Under Conference taking place 4 to 6 November 2020. Both conferences are set to be held at the Pan Pacific Hotel.
With so many junior to mid-tier listed explorers enjoying an Indian summer, the rejuvenated conference circuit certainly seems to be well-timed.
Is your ASX listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au
By Matt Birney
