TWO Western Australian mining identities have emerged to take advantage of the renewed vigour in the junior resources sector.
TWO Western Australian mining identities have emerged to take advantage of the renewed vigour in the junior resources sector.
Earlier this month gold hopeful Deep Yellow, formerly known as Julia Mines, announced it would spin-off two of its long-held WA projects to free up $600,000 in cash to focus on the development of its Mikado gold mine at Laverton.
Former WMC, Esso and Anaconda Nickel geologist Ian Mulholland along with well known mining and securities industry identity Howard Dawson have picked up the Deep Yellow ground. The moves mark their transition into the corporate world.
Mr Mulholland is heading up float hopeful Rox Resources and plans to take Deep Yellow’s Menzies tenements to the market by the middle of March.
Rox will use $600,000 from the $5 million it plans to raise in its initial public offering to purchase the Menzies tenements.
Deep Yellow will also take shares in Rox.
Its chairman Alistair Cowden is taking the chairman’s seat on the Rox board, which also has Mr Mulholland and non-executive director Michael Blakiston.
Mr Dawson, along with Ausmet Resources, will purchase Deep Yellow’s promising Dingo Range project north of Laverton.
Ausmet hopes to raise $3.5 million through its initial public offering of 17.5 million shares at 20 cents a share.
Subject to its listing by the end of April, it will pay Deep Yellow $100,000 in cash and $900,000 in shares and options for the Dingo Range tenements.
Deep Yellow’s deal with Ausmet to retain mostly stock signals its confidence in the ground at Dingo Range.
Deep Yellow says various resources have been defined at Dingo Range. However, the company prefers to focus on Mikado where it is set to begin mining the 71,000 ounce resource this quarter.
Ausmet plans to float the Dingo Range project along with a base metals project in the Northern Territory and the WA Throssel project – a grass roots exploration play.
Mr Dawson said the Dingo Range Project had about 300,000 ounces of gold resources and potential for higher-grade zones at depth as well as near surface structurally hosted repetitions of the existing mineralised styles.
Deep Yellow’s spin-off of its Menzies ground was complicated by its 45 per cent joint venture with Placer Dome Asia Pacific in some of those tenements.
Rox managing director Ian Mulholland said Menzies was a goldfield that had historically returned high-grade ore but had been neglected in recent times.