- LinQ Minerals will be the first new gold float on the ASX in 2025
- It has raised $10m in an IPO to bring the 3.7Moz gold, 1.2Mt copper Gilmore project in NSW to public life
- Flagship Gidginbung mine last operated in 1996, when gold was trading 10x lower than today
The curse has finally lifted after a year nearly devoid of public floats, with what will astonishingly be the first original gold IPO on the ASX coming to market as soon as Friday.*
New South Wales gold and copper explorer LinQ Minerals is poised to make a run for the ASX boards after finalising a $10 million raising, pulling in $16.3m in applications for an offer that pulled around a dozen international and domestic institutions onto its register.
The selling point is a project – Gilmore – hosting the fifth largest porphyry gold and copper resource in the famed Macquarie Arc of the Lachlan Fold Belt, its 3.7Moz gold and 1.2Mt copper resource eclipsed only – on public disclosures – by the world class Cadia, Cowal and Northparkes gold and copper mines, and the Boda gold-copper porphyry deposit.
All four are owned by major or established gold miners – $102 billion capped
Newmont Corporation (ASX:NEM), $16bn
Evolution Mining (ASX:EVN) and $450m
Alkane Resources (ASX:ALK).By contrast LinQ will list with an enterprise value of just $25m and realistic hopes of reviving deposits untouched since 1996.
Exec chair Clive Donner said Gilmore was a “real sleeper that nobody’s even aware of”.
“We’re in a district with large majors who are operating, suddenly coming to the market with a 60km belt of which 40km are on strike of 20 plus targets, plus six JORC deposits,” he told *.
“We’re not necessarily a small explorer. Most of the explorers in the Macquarie Arc have basically got no resources and they’re valued anywhere between $25 and $100 million.”
Gilmore is located in the heart of the Macquarie Arc, near some of Australia’s largest gold and copper mines. Pic: LinQ
*Greatland Gold and Robex, while large raisings, were both dual listings from other exchanges.Prized possessionGilmore boasts a resource, tabled last year by LinQ from historic data, of 516Mt at 3.7Moz gold and 1.2Mt copper.
That includes a 469Mt sulphide porphyry copper and gold mineral resource estimate running at 0.2g/t Au and 0.2% Cu for 2.57Moz gold and 1.15Mt copper, 35Mt in sulphide resources at 0.8g/t Au and 0.1% Cu for 840,000oz and 20,000t and 12Mt in oxides at 0.7g/t Au and 0.1% Cu for 250,000oz and 10,000t.
The immediate value generator is the Gidginbung and Dam deposits, referred to by LinQ as the Southern Startup.
That collection of resources contains 55Mt or ore for 1.2Moz of gold and 120,000t of copper with 60% in the indicated category. It is also where a 16,000m two phase drill drive post-listing will focus first, starting next month.
LinQ will be aiming to extend and infill the previously mined open put at Gidginbung, the richest gold deposit on the tenement package with 21Mt at 1g/t Au and 0.1% copper. The Dam, an adjacent porphyry, includes 34Mt running at a high copper equivalent grade of 0.7% Cu (0.44g/t Au, 0.32% Cu and 30ppm molybdenum.
LinQ is an unusual beast – a new gold IPO with 3.7Moz of gold and 1.2Mt of copper resources already reported. Pic: LinQ
Gidginbung was, notably, mined between 1987 and 1996 before shutting at a time when gold prices were sitting around $460/oz, less than a tenth of their current boomtime levels of more than $5000/oz.
It was rescued from the bowels of copper mid-tier
Sandfire Resources (ASX:SFR) in 2023, failing to garner a mention from the vendor as it pivoted strategy from Australia to focus on Spain and Botswana.
But since then gold prices have roughly doubled and copper prices are trading 50% higher, with US futures homing in on US$5/lb on Tuesday.
Donner says Gidginbung could get significantly larger still with drilling on the horizon.
“We’re going to be doing some drilling south and north of Gidginbung looking for lateral extensions and we’re going be drilling underneath the pit, which is down to about 80-90m and is full of water,” Donner said.
“We’re going to be drilling underneath that pit to chase the extensions.
“We’ve published long sections of Gidginbung which demonstrate the orebody is right underneath the pit and around the pit it comes to surface.
“So the strip ratios are likely to be attractive and 1g/t today in this gold environment is enormously likely to be economic with a respectable strip ratio.”
Make the gradeWhile deposits of that profile may have marginal 30 years ago, they’re money-spinners today.
Numerous copper mines in South America are now being developed in the 0.3% CuEq grade range as historic deposits deplete and demand keeps rising.
In the gold sphere, companies like
Capricorn Metals (ASX:CMM) and
Regis Resources (ASX:RRL) have made a business out of engineering strong cashflows from resources previously thought too low grade to work.
“You just have to look at Capricorn, a $4 billion company with global grades of 0.8g/t gold. Strip ratios are between I think 3.5 to 5.5 or thereabouts on their two projects, and they make very good money out of that, so do others,” Donner pointed out.
Outside Gidginbung and The Dam, resources can be found on LinQ’s ground at Mandamah (41Mt at 0.5% CuEq – 0.29% Cu, 0.25g/t Au and 35ppm Mo), Estoril (33Mt at 0.37% CuEq – 0.18% Cu, 0.25g/t Au and 8ppm Mo), Culingerai (43Mt at 0.42% CuEq – 0.25% Cu, 0.22g/t Au and 23ppm Mo) and Yiddah (279Mt at 0.34% CuEq – 0.25% Cu, 0.12g/t Au and 35ppm Mo).
There are a further two advanced porphyry prospects at Monza and Donnington, with 12 drill tested prospects including epithermal opportunities at Field, Mag H1 and Kangaroo Hill.
Tasked with proving the potential of the once Newcrest and CRA (Rio Tinto) owned project is senior geo Scott Munro, who lives just two hours away in Mudgee and still holds mementos from his time working the project as a young fieldy.
Consulting geo Ivan Jerkovic previously managed the project over a 10 year period when it was held within Straits Resources, while technical advisor John Holiday was the first site manager of Cadia when Newcrest made the discovery of what is now a top two Aussie gold and copper mine.
That familiarity extends to LinQ’s board. Non-exec director Dr Evan Kirby, a metallurgist by trade, was Bechtel’s study manager during the plant commissioning process at Cadia, while legendary former
GR Engineering Services (ASX:GNG) boss Geoff Jones is also a non-exec director.
“We’ve got execution capability in the team, and we’ve got geological capability and a history of working on the project. So I think the team is a good addition to the investment package that we’re bringing to the market,” Donner said.
(20min delay)