Transformational: Finland cobalt-gold coup for DiscovEx
DiscovEx Resources is on the cusp of a major transformation after its bid to snare Finland-based private Australian company Latitude 66 Cobalt was given a unanimous tick of approval from that firm’s board of directors.
Latitude 66 owns several projects in Finland, with its most advanced project containing Europe’s second-biggest undeveloped cobalt-gold resource that features 5800 tonnes of cobalt and 650,000 ounces of gold.
As part of a bid implementation agreement, DiscovEx will offer 0.8813161 of its shares to Latitude 66 shareholders for every share in that company held.
DiscovEx plans to have the agreement ratified by shareholders at a meeting late next month. The new company is expected to be known as Latitude 66 and it will feature a significant personnel restructure.
Current Latitude 66 managing director Grant Coyle will take that role with the new entity, while DiscovEx managing director Toby Wellman will become technical director. After a brief re-compliance period, the company is expected to be back on the boards in early June.
DiscovEx Resources managing director Toby Wellman said: “We are extremely excited to be acquiring Latitude 66 and its quality project portfolio in Finland. The proposed acquisition represents a step change for DCX and provides exposure to an emerging critical minerals demand that is gaining momentum across the globe."
Latitude is one of the biggest tenement holders in Finland, with exposure to gold and critical minerals in three greenstone belts in two tier-one jurisdictions. It holds more than 1400 square kilometres of the eastern extensions of the Central Lapland Greenstone Belt, which host two of Europe’s biggest mineral deposits and operating mines.
The company has steadily been unlocking the secrets of Finland’s Kuusamo Schist Belt (KSB), about 700km north of the capital Helsinki, since 2017 and is also exploring the prospective Peräpohja and Kainuu Schist Belts. It has made several new discoveries and is building up its resource inventory.
DiscovEx says the KSB offers “camp-scale” potential and significant upside, with exploration drilling jagging intercepts including 50.15m at 0.45 per cent cobalt and 10.25m at 4.84 grams per tonne gold, 24.2m at 4.5g/t gold and 0.2 per cent cobalt and 22.3m at a stunning 98.2g/t gold and 0.12 per cent cobalt. Finland is a premier geological source for cobalt, with excellent, but largely under-explored geology and the biggest cobalt refinery capacity outside China.
The primary focus of the new entity will be on the KSB project and advancing its “K camp” through feasibility to define a near-term production goal.
At K North, the JORC-compliant resource comprises 650,000 ounces of gold (7.3 million tonnes at 2.7g/t gold) and 5800 tonnes of cobalt at 0.08 per cent). Multiple “near-mine” targets exist along a 3.5km strike near the main mineralising structure, with strong indications of depth, plunge and strike connections and continuity.
The company says it intends to improve definition of the connections between the larger mineral systems at KSB where ore zones currently remain open in all directions, implying good potential for rapid resource expansion.
At K South, multiple well-defined mineralisation targets are all open at depth and along strike and have strong potential to progress as material contributions to the company’s development plans for the combined K Camp. The company will also advance metallurgical drilling and testwork ahead of planned processing and to inform its feasibility studies.
The company’s secondary focus will be on the other PSB, Kola and Kolari projects with a comprehensive suite of conceptual targets already identified. It plans to drill out the high-priority PSB targets where it sees the geology as being analogous to the KSB ground and where confirmation of the area’s potential is already indicated by third-party mining next to Latitude’s tenure.
It also plans to run an advanced geophysics campaign to accelerate drill target identification and to rationalise its project priorities for advancement through to JORC-compliant resources.
DiscovEx also has a free-carried 17.5 per cent interest in the Greater Duchess copper project near Mt Isa in Queensland where its partner and operator Carnaby Resources has relaunched drilling.
The latest drilling of three reverse-circulation (RC) holes targeting the north extension of the Lady Fanny deposit has thrown up some encouraging down-plunge hits. One hole intercepted both lodes with 20m running 1.6 per cent copper and 0.2g/t gold from 56m depth in the eastern lode, including 7m going 2.5 per cent copper and 0.3g/t gold. The western lode has delivered 6m at 2.7 per cent copper and 0.4g/t gold from 138m.
A deeper hole targeting a strong induced-polarisation (IP) chargeability anomaly jagged good continuity of the mineralisation, intercepting 7m going 1.5 per cent copper and 0.3g/t gold from 376m.
A third hole nailed 20m running 0.6 per cent copper and 0.1g/t gold from surface. Management says a further three RC holes were recently completed at Lady Fanny North from a new drill platform with results pending, while a downhole electromagnetic survey will be completed on one of the holes.
The Lady Fanny deposit has a mineral resource of 3.1 million tonnes at 1.5 per cent copper equivalent for 46,000 tonnes copper equivalent.
Discovex looks like having a busy 2024 with its new Finnish KSB project, including the K South drilling program and extensional drilling at K North and K South and the KSB prefeasibility study. At the same time in Australia, it will have the Greater Duchess joint venture (JV) scoping study release and its prefeasibility study (PFS) and its ongoing Sylvania and Edjudina exploration drilling programs.
With a new name and a new big portfolio of advanced gold-cobalt and copper projects in northern Finland, the company should be well-positioned to help meet European Union requirements to source 10 per cent of its critical minerals requirements locally by 2030.
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