GREG Hall and Lance Govey aren't your typical mining executives.
When their junior explorer, Triton Gold, strikes it lucky and the wealth starts rolling in, they hope to continue their love of exploration through a new vehicle.
The two geologists have found some of the biggest and most famous deposits in Western Australia, mined now by giants BHP Billiton and Barrick Gold.
Their partnership started in the late 1960s when they were cadets at CSR doing chemistry in the sugar laboratory, before "seeing the light" and studying geology at the University of NSW.
CSR had just moved into resources and paid for keen kids to study geology.
After graduating, Hall and Govey went their separate ways before teaming up again and discovering the Granny Smith goldmine in 1986, just before CSR decided mining wasn't for it.
CSR sold the mine, 950km northeast of Perth, in 1988, along with its other Australian assets, to gold giant Placer Dome, and offloaded its Indonesian projects to BHP Billiton.
Barrick, the world's biggest gold miner, bought Placer in 2006 and is still operating Granny Smith today, which Hall says reflects the region's quality. "We've done it before and we're going to do it again -- only this time we own all the ground," Hall says. "We know how to find it."
This is essentially Triton's pitch -- a team of ex-Placer guys doing it all again.
But gold isn't the only mineral that Hall knows how to find. In 1974, he discovered the Yandi iron ore deposit in the Pilbara for CSR, which sold it to Rio Tinto in 1981 after being "too slow" to develop it before prices fell.
But Triton, which recently celebrated its first anniversary as a public company after listing last year, is all about gold.
The company has its supporters, with DJ Carmichael analyst Paul Adams describing Triton's technical team as "very capable".
Taylor Collison analyst Mark Gordon goes further, labelling Hall and Co "top class".
Jason Osborne, a large shareholder through his Perth consultancy Subiaco Capital, which helped put Triton together, also backs Hall's ability and says it's "only a matter of time" before he makes a large discovery. The timing appears perfect, with the gold price on a high. But as with most ventures, there have been a few challenges along the way.
Managing director Marcus Willson departed soon after its float, leaving a reluctant Hall to run the ship before he happily handed the reins to his mate Govey, who most recently played a key role at fellow Perth gold hopeful Red 5.
Hall describes himself as "a bit of a loner" and prefers the technical geology side of the business rather than management. Govey is a little more versed in the books, but only just.
Triton's projects in the up-and-coming Albany-Fraser Belt not far from Esperance are located in farming paddocks, so there is only a short window between January and April for exploration.
Triton's other projects, in the Windarra region north of Kalgoorlie, have fewer complications. Triton also has tenements in Alaska and is looking at opportunities in Africa, which DJ Carmichael says is a cherry on top for investors. Triton's Windarra patch is well-known.
WMC Resources offloaded it to the Andrew Forrest-chaired Poseidon Nickel, which in turn handed the largely under-used gold rights to Triton in exchange for an 11 per cent stake in the company.
The project is in the same belt as Granny Smith, boosting Hall's and Govey's confidence in striking the precious metal.
The pair are also excited about the company's Albany-Fraser projects to the south, where Triton is benefiting from global gold giant AngloGold Ashanti's presence nearby, through its joint venture in the Tropicana gold project.
Anglo and its partner, Independence Group, have given Tropicana the go-ahead, which keeps the positive news flowing for the region.
Tropicana has more than 5 million ounces of gold and lies to the northeast of Triton's Salmon Gums project, which it plans to explore further.
As with all juniors, cash is king for Triton.
Hall says he "didn't know how to raise money", so the company brokered a deal with Teck Resources in 2007.
Despite turning down the option of earning a 70 per cent stake in two tenements at Salmon Gums, Teck has until December to decide if it wants in on three other projects.
"With the gold price the way it is now, you're better to be master of your own destiny," Hall says.
The need for cash has also led Triton to enter a deal with Panoramic Resources for its Alaskan Tushtena project, which could hand it almost $US3 million in funding in exchange for 51 per cent of the project.
Hall says cash is again flowing in Perth after the boom city's brief exposure to the global financial crisis, and it also has support on the east coast from BGF Equities.
"These days I could go to people around town and I could get $2m in a heartbeat," he says.
High commodity prices have driven the skills shortage to new heights, which has made geologists hard to find again, Hall says.
But this hasn't dented the dreams of Hall and Govey for further exploration once they build Triton and leave investors with the rewards. "We want to go and find a new one, like we did with Granny Smith, and repeat that story," Govey says.
Hall adds: "It's really satisfying to go to a mine opening, but actually you don't want to be in the production scenario. This is going to become a mining company and we're not miners . . . we're the explorers. With success, we'll go and build Triton Mark II."
DYOR
TON Price at posting:
15.5¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
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