Unlisted Gawler Craton gold explorer, Barton Gold, has further strengthened its board of directors with the appointment of experienced corporate lawyer, Christian Paech, as it looks to significantly expand the global resource inventory at its historic Tarcoola and Tunkillia gold projects ahead of a planned ASX listing.
Paech was most recently the General Counsel and Company Secretary at oil and gas giant Santos. He spent the past 10 years at Santos as a senior adviser to its board on several transactions and joint ventures, government policy and engagement, and risk management.
Barton says Paech played a key role in several major Santos corporate deals including the negotiation of major LNG project and construction agreements and the US$2.15 billion acquisition of Quadrant Energy.
He was also involved in Santos ultimately fending off an unsolicited US$10.9 billion takeover proposal from US-based Harbour Energy.
Paech was previously a Partner at commercial law firm Piper Alderman in Melbourne.
Commenting on the appointment of Paech, Barton Gold Managing Director, Alexander Scanlon said: “His professional experience and reputation in the business and South Australian communities reflect Barton’s values and our vision to establish a new SA gold developer of the highest professional calibre. Christian brings a substantial new dimension to Barton’s team at an important stage of the company’s evolution, which we believe will contribute significantly to Barton’s ongoing success and shareholders’ long-term benefit.”
Barton also recently locked in experienced chartered secretary and lawyer and the Managing Director of Evolution Corporate Services, Shannon Coates, who has taken on the role of Company Secretary.
The gold junior is planning to focus on delineating large-scale gold mineralised systems, as well as testing “blue sky” targets it has identified, at the Tarcoola and Tunkillia project areas.
Tunkillia and Tarcoola’s existing combined resources currently sit at about 600,000 ounces of gold, albeit Barton has been successfully identifying new opportunities to significantly increase the resource base at Tarcoola.
The company says the historic Perseverance open pit at Tarcoola “represents only a scratch in the surface”.
To that end, Barton has set about unravelling the mysteries of Tarcoola’s geological architecture, whilst also saying the Tunkillia gold deposit has “considerable potential for future extensions”.
Tunkillia is located about 80km south-south-east of the flagship Tarcoola project in the venerated Gawler Craton minerals province. Barton is eyeing an IPO, perhaps some time next year, as a Gawler exploration player.
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By Matt Birney
