monarch unites its domain

The growth strategy employed by
Monarch Gold is as effective as it is
simple. That is to take projects that
are marginally economic and basically
too small to stand on their own and
consolidate them into one operation.
“Monarch’s whole strategy is to be a
consolidator. There are many projects that
are too small and on their own they are
not necessarily strongly viable,” Monarch
Gold chairman Michael Kiernan told
RESOURCESTOCKS.
“If you consolidate them and combine
them into the one project that’s got depth
of management and exploration expertise,
then provide access to capital and courage
to commit to exploration, then the project
blossoms.”
The growth strategy of Monarch Gold is
focused on the potential of its production
centres in Western Australia.
The first of these is the Davyhurst Gold
Project, about 120 kilometres northwest
of Kalgoorlie, which Monarch acquired in
November 2005. Comprising an 808,000oz
resource base, administration offices, an
accommodation village and associated
infrastructure the project is a core
component of Monarch’s consolidated gold
resource base in the northeastern goldfields.
More importantly, the project has gold
resources of 2 million ounces within a
2000-square kilometre tenement package
and a gold processing facility responsible
for 1.2 million tonnes per year.
“We acquired the mill at Davyhurst,
which was on care and maintenance, and
also the tenements from Croesus, which
it was unable to make a go of on its own,”
Kiernan said.
“We then merged that with Siberia to
which we have now added Riverina, which
is graded at 4 grams per tonne gold and
we have also added Mt Ida, which has 24
grams per tonne.
“The grade at Davyhurst-Siberia is around
2.5 grams per tonne; when you overlay that
with the 24 grams per tonne from Mt Ida
and 4 grams per tonne from Riverina, our
head grade is basically doubled.
“So that’s the difference from a project
that was unloved at Davyhurst; where
others were unable to make a viable return,
we’ve put it together and it has become a
wonderful exercise.”
The consolidation of the Siberia and Ida
Gold Camp deposits into Monarch’s existing
holding established a consolidated project
with a combined resource base of 2Moz gold
within a 2000sq.km tenement package.
Monarch unites its domain
Monarch Gold has a resource base totalling 2.4 million ounces, two stateof-
the-art gold treatment plants, dominant ground positions and an annual
production target of 500,000 ounces by 2009.
With the inclusion of Riverina, Monarch is
now the largest Australian-controlled ground
holder in the Kalgoorlie region.
“We have now got just under 4000
square kilometres of area in and around
the Davyhurst-Siberia-Mt Ida-Riverina
area, so that’s a significant landholding,”
Kiernan said.
“The strategy for Monarch is simply
to build a 500,000-ounce gold producer
by consolidating, being aggressive in its
exploration, combining capital with staff that
have good track records, and having the
courage to commit to significant exploration.
“We will commit $11 million to
exploration this year. Our group has always
been a group that is not afraid to commit to
aggressive exploration and the fruits of that
commitment have always borne through.
“It’s not rocket science. The way we
structure each operation is that they stand
alone and our first stand-alone operation is
the Davyhurst gold project.”
Monarch’s second stand-alone project is
the Minjar Gold Project east of Geraldton in
a mineral province that hosts several other
well-known deposits, not least of all being
Oxiana’s Golden Grove zinc-copper mine.
Monarch completed the acquisition of the
Minjar Project in July 2006 with intentions
for it to become a second gold production
hub to complement Davyhurst.
Minjar comprises a gold resource
inventory of 5.175Mt at 2.44gpt gold for
400,000oz gold, a fully permitted 600,000-
tonne per year gold treatment facility and
associated infrastructure including camp
and access roads.
Monarch reviewed Minjar data and is
planning a well-funded exploration program
over 12-24 months, which includes
detailing high priority targets where early
drilling outlined significant mineralisation,
and a review of existing gold resources in
line with the current gold price.
Drilling programs in July 2006 focused on
four highly prospective areas that targeted
additional ore resources to underpin
plans for an early commencement of gold
production during 2008. Monarch has also
started mining re-optimisation studies for
the Minjar resource inventory.
Monarch will be broadening its
exploration activities at Minjar beyond
gold as it considers the project also holds
high potential for base metals discoveries,
including nickel and volcanogenic massive
sulphide (VMS) deposits.
“Part of our Minjar tenements abuts the
Oxiana Golden Grove where it believes
that its copper-gold potentially continues
in a southeast trend,” Kiernan said.
“We have also identified, independently
of them, that there are possible, highly
probable, VMS structures continuing from
their land into our land.
“So next year we will be focusing, not
only on gold exploration at Minjar, but also
for base metals VMS, which we think is
seriously interesting.
“Owen Hegarty is a seriously good
operator; probably, in my estimation, one
of the best Australian operators going
around at the moment.
“So if we did find something in the order
of VMS we would be talking with the
mighty Ox.”
The third jewel in the Monarch crown is
the Bellevue Gold project, in WA’s Leinster
region.
Acquired by Monarch as part of the
merger with Siberia, the Bellevue mine
was historically one of WA’s premier gold
mines, with historic production exceeding
750,000oz gold.
JORC-classified resources for the
Bellevue project stand at 296,000t at 12.4
gpt for 118,000oz gold.
The Bellevue ground package offers
significant development potential, being
in the northern Norseman-Wiluna
Greenstone Belt, between the Keith-
Kilkenny lineament to the east and the Ida
lineament to the west.
“We think the ore body at Bellevue is
truncated and transferred,” Kiernan said.
“The original owners explored and
mined down to a fault line, and then
stopped, but not until they had pulled out
750,000 ounces.
“Next year we will start looking at what
we think is the continuation of the Bellevue
ore body, which we also think could be
seriously significant.
“Our goal there is to have a stand-alone
operation producing about 50,000 ounces
a year. If I was a betting man I would say
that there is better than 50 percent chance
that within two years we’ll have a standalone
operation at Bellevue.”
Monarch is approaching its projects in the
same fashion a hurdler approaches a race;
one at a time. The first of its hurdles is the
Davyhurst-Siberia-Mt Ida project, which it
intends to have completed by Christmas. It
will then start making significant inroads at
Minjar before focusing on Bellevue.
On top of that Monarch is always looking
around for other potential acquisitions.
“We note with extreme interest that
there are a couple acquisitions available,”
Kiernan said.
“We are running the ruler over two of
them at the moment, so incrementally
we will grow our business with a target of
500,000 ounces by December 2009.
“That‘s our target. Everyone comes to
work every morning and sees that mission
statement on the wall. And we’re extremely
confident that we’ll get there.”

and not only gold!!!!!!!!!!!