Antipa Minerals (ASX:AZY) Among those investments was a $2...

Antipa Minerals (ASX:AZY)

Among those investments was a $2 million plunge into seasoned explorer Antipa Minerals as part of a $6.75 million capital raising in June which will make Lion a 4% holder of the Paterson province gold explorer.

Antipa already controls 1.8Moz of gold in the resource at its 100% owned Minyari Dome project and is among the largest landholders in the province that plays host to the legendary Telfer mine and two of Australia’s largest recent gold discoveries – Newmont Corporation’s (ASX:NEM) 7Moz Havieron and Rio Tinto’s (ASX:RIO) 8Moz Winu.

AZY also has existing exploration JVs outside Minyari Dome worth tens of millions with majors Newmont, Rio and IGO (ASX:IGO).

Drilling is being undertaken at the flagship Minyari Dome to boost the economic potential posted in a 2022 scoping study, which used gold prices in Aussie dollar terms more than $1000/oz below spot rates. But it also comes with Newmont, an 8.6% holder of Antipa, putting its non-core Telfer gold mine up for sale after its 2023 takeover of Aussie giant Newcrest and Rio facing permitting hurdles at Winu.

READ: Telfer for Sale: ASX juniors could play a role in the consolidation of a legendary WA gold field

The upshot is Antipa could be an attractive piece in a broader consolidation of Paterson province resources to feed the Telfer plant, or as a standalone project in a higher gold price environment.

Widdup said the multitude of exit points that Antipa offered to extract value from Lion’s investment made it a strong proposition.

“We think that they’ve built themselves into a really interesting situation there, and we can see that in the industry purchasing of resources in order to match them with processing facilities is a theme which is going to be really important, probably more so than it has been in the last two decades,” he told *.

“Antipa, if you like, is a bet each way.

“There are multiple potential long-term exit points here. I can see a case that’s pretty clear where they could build a project and go to production, and I can see another case, which is equally viable, that might see them included in someone else’s consolidation theme.

“It’s nice to have more than one way through that.”

Lion previously had exposure to LionOre, a TSX nickel success story that engineered a C$6.4 billion takeover by Norilsk Nickel at the top of the China boom driven nickel market in 2007.

Led by former LionOre Australia geology manager Roger Mason as MD along with other ex-LionOre executives, Widdup said Antipa also has proven success on its management team.

“In this case, we’re quite comfortable with their ability to judge which is going to be the best way to lean,” Widdup said.

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