A LITTLE more than 127 years ago, Charles Hall received perhaps one of the best Christmas presents in Western Australian history - uncovering a 28-ounce nugget of gold in the East Kimberley on Christmas Day 1885.
The find would prompt an influx of prospectors to the Kimberley region in what’s now accepted as the state’s first gold rush.
It was short-lived, however, as insignificant discoveries and difficult working conditions resulted in prospectors heading to the Goldfields region.
There’s been little focus on Kimberley gold since, but that won’t stop fledgling company Bulletin Resources from bringing what managing director Martin Phillips describes as a “renaissance” to the region.
Bulletin was listed on the ASX in 2010 with a portfolio of tenements not far from Mr Hall’s first discovery, near the town named after the prospector - Halls Creek.
A chemical engineer, Mr Phillips told WA Business News it was the prospecting history of the Halls Creek region that drew him to join Bulletin Resources.
In many ways the lack of gold mining in the Kimberley is a consequence of its popularity with small prospectors, but not many bigger players with more advanced techniques.
“They were just using excavators and digging up all this low grade stuff as well - just free-dig material,” Mr Phillips said.
“There hasn’t been a lot of production so there’s no excitement about the potential for big finds like there is in other areas, so that has really been the big turn off.”
Mr Phillips claims it would take just one company to get into production to spark a return of gold mining interest in the Kimberley.
Of course he’s pitching Bulletin Resources as that first producer, from its Lamboo Project about 30 kilometres south-west of Halls Creek, which it bought from administrators in 2010 for $270,000.
Tough market conditions haven’t helped the project, with Bulletin’s share price falling from around 20 cents each at listing to hovering around five cents.
It has, however, managed to bring on strategic investors, with one paying 22 per cent above market value at the time for a $600,000 placement earlier this year.
A feasibility study of Lamboo found a 30,000-ounce/year production could be achieved for cash costs of $1,000/oz with $13.6 million start up costs.
Private investors have mostly owned the tenements, including a group that previously put together a full processing plant and mill (later put into care and maintenance when the company, Rewah Mining, fell into administration).
Precious Metals Australia also had a go at getting the project going but stopped in 1997 after mining producing about 20,000oz.
The significant improvement in the gold price increases the viability of Bulletin’s initial 30,000oz/year operation, but Mr Phillips said it would need to further improve for the company to approve start-up.
“In the meantime we are trying to make the project a lot more robust and attractive to debt and equity finance by just adding some more ounces to the targets that we have,” he said.
Mr Phillips said the company was the only one in the Kimberley with the potential to get into production, and it was dedicated to seeing that through.
“We’re a group of people that wants to build a company - we’re not about building a fat resource and looking for the highest bidder. We want to build a company and see it be a successful producer.”
