Kalamazoo Resources has appointed Dr Luke Mortimer as its new chief executive officer as the company looks to ramp up gold exploration across its Western Australia portfolio after spinning out its lithium assets.
Management says Dr Mortimer’s immediate goal in the new role is to implement exploration programs for the new year, which are set to kick off this quarter. The company plans to focus its attention on its gold portfolio following the recent spin-out of its lithium assets into the newly-formed Kali Metals, which has caused a share price stir on the ASX this week.
Kalamazoo recently reported an updated mineral resource estimate at its Ashburton gold project in WA’s Pilbara region of 16.2 million tonnes at a solid grade of 2.8 grams per tonne for a total of 1.44 million ounces, based on its four key deposits at Mt Olympus, Peake, Waugh and Zeus.
With a bachelor of science and a PhD in geology, Dr Mortimer joined Kalamazoo in 2019 as exploration manager and played a key role as technical lead in its acquisition and development of lithium exploration assets, in addition to holding the responsibility of exploration manager for Kali until its recent listing.
Prior to joining Kalamazoo, Dr Mortimer spent the majority of his career in senior exploration roles with Western Mining Corporation’s exploration division and also with global resources company MMG exploring worldwide for a range of commodities including gold, copper, nickel and base metals.
Dr Mortimer has played a key role in Kalamazoo’s growth and development since 2019, as Exploration Manager of Kalamazoo and more recently of Kali. With the recent successful spin out of our lithium assets into Kali, our focus with Kalamazoo is on advancing its gold exploration projects in Western Australia and Victoria, as well as pursuing new opportunities, and this is where we consider Luke will play a leading role. Kalamazoo Resources chairman Luke Reinehr
Just last year, the explorer launched a three-hole diamond drill campaign at the Goldie North prospect within its Mt Piper gold project in central Victoria after discovering high-grade gold in rock chip samples. It recently revealed that samples returned assays of 74g/t gold, 72g/t including visible gold and 42g/t, while an additional eight samples yielded results between 8.4g/t and 16.8g/t. All but one sample graded more than 10g/t gold, with an average grade of all 17 samples coming in at 17.2g/t.
The company’s lithium spin-out into Kali has been an extraordinary success this week following its addition to the ASX boards after raising its maximum subscription of $15 million. Its shares touched as high as 89c yesterday, an increase of 256 per cent from its initial public offering price of 25c.
As part of the spin-out deal, Kalamazoo shareholders will receive Kali shares in exchange for the company’s Pilbara lithium portfolio and its Jingellic and Tallangatta lithium projects in New South Wales.
Kalamazoo’s Pilbara lithium portfolio included its Dom’s Hill and Marble Bar projects, which are part of its joint venture (JV) with major Chilean lithium producer Sociedad Química y Minera (SQM). The company previously announced that SQM has the right to earn up to a 70 per cent interest in the tenements, with an initial 30 per cent earned by spending $12 million in four years.
TSX-listed Karora Resources has also added its Higginsville lithium project into the spin-out company, giving Kali a combined 3800 square kilometres of tenements, including about 1600sq km in the East Yilgarn lithium corridor that is home to Mineral Resources’ Marion lithium mine and Liatam Mining’s Bald Hill lithium mine.
Dr Mortimer said his new role will focus on advancing Kalamazoo’s gold exploration assets, in addition to acquiring and discovering new resource projects that create tangible shareholder value.
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