We are embarking at the moment on a program of some deeper targeting to make sure that you know, it’s not just a little bit below where we’ve generally had a look. We’ve looked down quite intensely to 200-300m,” Simich said.“What I can say is that if you were to find similar types of grade ore bodies, 4%, 6%, 9% that we’ve had with DeGrussa and Monty, they are well and truly imminently payable and make a lot of money at a depth that’s not very far at all.“I would say also we have spent a bit of money, I think there is also the opportunity for the Hail Mary, but like anything we’re not banking on it.”Instead Sandfire is looking at the prospect of retooling the DeGrussa plant to process gold from the Old Highway deposit nearby.At a maiden resource of 2.8Mt at 2.5g/t for 223,000oz, it is relatively modest, meaning Sandfire is looking outside its walls to find the scale to develop the asset.That could mean a JV with other regional gold miners or owners of stranded assets or the formation of a new gold company within or outside of Sandfire.Some of the major players in the region include Westgold Resources (ASX:WGX) and TSX-listed Superior Gold, which owns the Plutonic Gold mine near Meekatharra.“In terms of DeGrussa we still see an opportunity there to creating value out of those facilities,” Simich said.“We have got a $400 million facility that is in excellent working condition that has been well looked after, well maintained.“It’s never wanted for an end, it’s a high quality set of infrastructure.“We are doing work on our greater Doolgunna gold analysis, some feasibility work, resources, some planning, and getting it tied up so we’ve got a lot of information that we then can utilise and talk to third parties about maybe collaborating together to do something that might work for those operations.“At the same time, (we can) continue to explore for repeat VMS discoveries and the Hail Mary
OAU Price at posting:
1.6¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
