More an advertorial than an article but worth a read - some interesting comments from CB:
Focus Minerals Only Just Begun
Written by Chris Herden & Produced by Brandon Bloch | Wed Jan 12, 2011
Focus Minerals is making great strides in its quest to become a major Australian gold producing company. A Western Australian profitable mid-tier gold producer with no debts and a tenement of more than 200 sq km in the historically famous Coolgardie region, Focus Minerals is flourishing in a surge of mining activity.
GOLD MECCA
Coolgardie is a world-class gold belt located just south of Kalgoorlies famous 'Golden Mile' and 560 km east of Perth. Gold was first discovered there in 1892 and since then the region has delivered a rich bounty of more than 2.6 million ounces to eager prospectors; earning it a reputation as Australia's 'gold Mecca'. Focus Minerals has two primary gold producing areas: the Tindals in Coolgardie hosts numerous deposits and The Mount exploration project which is located 80 km to the south, has high-grade sheeted vein structures at significantly shallow depths which have and seen relatively little mining activity in the past. The Mount is primed to become an important producing area during the next 12 months and it is here that the company is exploring extensively, moving from trial mining to annual gold production of about 60,000 ounces.
"It's not about tonnes but the amount of gold within the tonne," declares Focus Minerals CEO, Campbell Baird. "The Mount is a fantastic project for us, astoundingly profitable and where we will probably invest eight to ten million over the next six months."
LARGEST LANDOWNER
Although Coolgardie had been relentlessly combed and excavated during the past century, Baird says the region is by no means exhausted as Focus Minerals has singularly identified a potential resource base of a further two million ounces. Because the company now holds the entire Coolgardie land package it is able to strategically extend and consolidate the drilling activities of its scattered tenements and produce from the one upgraded mill.
"The game-changer for the company was in 2005 when it acquired the Tindal mining centre, the Lindsays/Bayleys and other deposits adding up to today a total of over 2.0 million Resource ounces plus a fully operational gold plant."
In 2008, Focus Minerals maiden commercial gold production commenced with ore sourced from its flagship Perseverance deposit being treated at the nearby Greenfields plant.
"Perseverance at the Tindals Mining Centre has turned into an absolute cracker of a deposit and, to date, we've extracted over 100,000 ounces from it and it still has 80,000 ounces in resource."
GOLD PRODUCER
By early 2009, Focus Minerals' combination of ample open-pit resources, healthy underground production at Perseverance and online readiness of four Tindal deposits, provided the needed capacity of 1.2 million tonnes per annum to make the start-up of the Three Mile Hill mill a worthwhile option. At the time, Focuss toll treatment costs were also escalating to as high as $45 per tonne. The company engaged Como Engineers and invested $22 million in the refurbishment of the treatment plant. The first significant gold pour was completed in January 2010 and almost immediately the Three Mile High mill's production capacity, and Focus's cash reserves, were boosted.
"Operating our own mill has allowed us to get out of being a toll treater and drop our unit costs to close to $22 per tonne this quarter," Baird says.
FUTURE INVESTMENT
Focus Minerals' build-up of cash reserves has enabled the company to invest as much as a million dollars a month in near-surface exploration projects. The drilling strike of the Happy Jack deposit, initially a 10,000 ounce resource with a small footprint of about 100 metres, has been extended by more than 700 metres.
"Our big investments in 2011 are going to be the development of a brand new underground mining project at The Mount and we've an exciting new prospect with our Treasure Island project just to the south of us which is showing some great surface results of up to 60 grams to the tonne."
On site, Focus Minerals has more than 100 direct employees, primarily milling and maintenance staff. The company has two full-time health and safety coordinators to oversee in-house mining rescue training and hazard analysis.
"Weve a fantastic system called 'Nugget' whereby if anyone identifies anything during the day they note it down and it is actioned straight away."
International leader in hard rock underground mining, Barminco, is the mining contractor at both Tindals and The Mount. Mineral exploration drilling services are provided by Toro Drilling, Boart Longyear Drilling and Swick Drilling; each providing another 20-30 workers. Quantitative Geoscience provides valuable geo-statistical consultation.
CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT
Continuous improvement is key to Focus Minerals exploration strategies. In 2010, the company teamed with SRK Consulting and initiated an ore-targeting project using electromagnetic (EM) geophysics technology and geological data compiled over the past 100 years. Ground EM and Down Hole EM technology involves the induction of electromagnetic fields in the sub-surface to detect conductors such as a massive body of ferrous metals that may have been missed by a drill-hole.
"Were looking for where the next million ounces is coming from," Baird laughs. "Using probability based models we designed a program over ten holes and the results were outstanding."
For Campbell Baird, a mining veteran with years of planning and consultation experience with companies such as the Finnish copper producer, Vulcan Resources, the greatest challenge with guiding a prosperous gold company like Focus Minerals is how to identify the next big growth profile.
"Theres always about ten things to spend your dollar on," he says. "The sheer opportunity that exists here at Coolgardie; which direction to take, what to focus on? There are literally countless scenarios - how do we spend our exploration dollar for the biggest bang for your buck? "
The difference between Focus Minerals and its peers is the real opportunity for shareholders to get in at the early stages of a spectacular growth story a gold producing company that's only just begun.
