The expanded exploration budget for Citadel in 2021 is $24.5m,...

The expanded exploration budget for Citadel in 2021 is $24.5m, making it one of the single biggest exploration efforts in the country.


https://www.resourcesrisingstars.com.au/news-article/tin-making-long-awaited-comeback-supplies-run-thin


ANTIPA:

Antipa (AZY, trading at 4.3c) has so much going on with the drill bit in WA’s Paterson province that it has had to issue a ready reckoner so shareholders can keep up with all the activity.


The ready reckoner brings together various announcements made by the key Paterson player in to the one exploration activities update so that at a glance, shareholders can see that Antipa is currently involved in no less than four major drilling programs.


There is the 100% Minyari Dome project, and the joint ventures with Rio Tinto (owner of the Winu copper/gold discovery in the Paterson), Newcrest (owner of the Telfer gold/copper mine and the lead partner in the Havieron gold/copper discovery in the Paterson ) and IGO.


All up, Antipa has exposure to some 60,000m of drilling across the projects in 2021, most of it funded by its heavyweight partners. It didn’t say so, but the 100% cost of that sort of program probably starts at about $40m.


For a company of Antipa’s scale ($130m market cap) , the cost and expertise standing behind the various programs is unprecedented stuff. That it is occurring in an exploration hotspot like the Paterson is all for the better.


There are 9 drilling rigs whirring away across the properties. And the news begins to flow next month, with first assay results expected from Minyari Dome and the Citadel joint venture with Rio.


The drill programs don’t just have the aim of finding another Telfer, Winu or Havieron. That would be nice for sure, remembering that Newcrest’s junior partner at Havieron, Greatland Gold (an eventual 30% interest on completion of a Newcrest earn-in), now has a market cap of $1.4 billion.


The program also has the aim of extending known resources at some of the properties with a view to the projects being wrapped into developments. On that score, it was interesting to note Rio’s comments in a recent presentation.


It said its Paterson footprint extended beyond Winu, now slotted for first production in 2024. It also noted the “strategic importance and development potential of Citadel,’’ about 45km from Winu.


Citadel is 65% owned and managed by Rio, with Antipa holding a contributing 35%. It already has a resource across the Calibre-Magnum deposits of 2.4Moz at 0.72g/t gold and 162,000t of copper at 0.75%.


The expanded exploration budget for Citadel in 2021 is $24.5m, making it one of the single biggest exploration efforts in the country. The idea seems to be to determine its upside as a broader scoping effort for a Winu-Citadel development, as well as chase up fresh targets.


That in itself makes Antipa one to watch in coming months. Then there are the three other projects now feeling the drill bit.