After some years of navigating complex ownership structures and legal wrangles, Marmota Ltd (ASX: MEU) has formed a joint venture that will now have a clean slate to explore 4 exciting gold deposits in South Australia.
The company has reached agreement with a private company, Coombedown Resources over two tenements in the revered Gawler Craton that already boast 4 separate gold deposits totalling 286,000 ounces, all of which are still open.
The two tenements have something of a tortured history, with the tenement ownership and rights to the gold changing hands separately over time. They have been in and out of various joint ventures with different owners along the way falling into legal disputes, all of which meant they have been sitting idle without any serious exploration.
Marmota picked up 90 per cent of the gold rights some years ago and paid serious money for them but never had any ownership of the underlying tenements. After a bit of musical chairs between multiple parties, the privately owned Coombedown was the last player standing and owned 100 per cent of the tenements and 10 per cent of the gold rights, further complicating the exploration of the tenements.
The parties have now agreed to form a joint venture entity to be known as the Golden Moon JV that will own 100 per cent of the tenements and 100 per cent of the gold rights.
Coombedown will contribute 100 per cent of the two tenements which contain the 4 gold deposits and also its 10 percent gold rights.
Marmota will put up its 90 per cent gold rights and will own 90 percent of the joint venture vehicle. Coombedown’s 10 percent of the JV will be free carried up until a decision to mine.
The new JV will not own the rights to any opals, palygorskite and iron ore that were dealt out to third parties previously.
The two tenements subject to the new JV consist of four deposits comprising 7.82 million tonnes at 1.14 grams per tonne for 286,000 gold ounces.
The two bigger deposits are Campfire Bore with 2.78 million tonnes at 1.2 g/t for 109,000 gold ounces and Golf Bore comprising 3.79 million tonnes going 1g/t for 119,000 gold ounces.
Greenewood and Mainwood make up the balance of the resource with 46,000 ounces and 12,000 ounces respectively.
“The new Golden Moon JV heralds the beginning of a new era of gold exploration and resource growth in the Gawler Craton. We are delighted to be now working with a professional and experienced JV partner who is focussed on getting things done, and with whom we have an excellent working relationship. Golden Moon complements Aurora Tank brilliantly. We cannot wait to get drilling.”
Marmota chairman Dr Colin Rose
The company has lodged a program for environmental protection and rehabilitation with the Department of Energy and Mining to commence drilling as soon as it is approved.
The company’s flagship project is its Aurora Tank gold discovery, near the deposits within the Golden Moon JV. Management believes it will benefit from economies of scale as it expands the gold resources within the region.
Several outstanding intersections have delivered stunning hits of more than 100g/t gold over 1m at Aurora Tank and Marmota believes there is tremendous potential for a low cost open-pit development.
The company also owns 100 per cent of the Western Gawler Craton project containing two gold deposits, Typhoon and Monsoon, that feature JORC resources.
It is also in one of the hottest commodities at the moment with its Junction Dam uranium project that has a mineral resource of 5.4 million pounds at a solid 557ppm uranium and an exploration target between 22 and 33 million pounds, ranging in grade expectations from 400ppm to 700ppm.
The resource falls within the same Yarramba paleochannel as the $1.9 billion ASX-listed Boss Energy’s Honeymoon uranium mine.
Boss’ Honeymoon has a resource of 36 million pounds at 660ppm uranium.
Several new high-priority targets have been identified at Junction Dam with the potential to dramatically increase the project’s resource according to the company.
Marmota has an interesting mix of projects and has found itself in the right commodities at the right time with both gold and uranium undergoing a renaissance at the moment.
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