Source : THE AGE NEWS
Zenith Minerals has kicked its exploration momentum up another gear, snapping up a key neighbouring mining lease beside its Consolidated Dulcie gold project in Western Australia.
Hot on the heels of a barnstorming resource upgrade yesterday to 675,000 ounces grading one gram per tonne (g/t) gold, the company has quickly upped the ante again by locking in one of the most strategic mining leases in the Southern Cross-Forrestania belt. The deal secures a prized piece of ground that neatly completes the puzzle for Zenith’s future development plans at Dulcie.
Mining Lease M77/599 sits adjacent to the company’s 300,000-ounce Dulcie Far North deposit and its newly categorised Dulcie and Dulcie North deposits to the south, which collectively host 375,000 ounces of inferred gold resources. Notably, the new lease lies directly in line with Zenith’s existing grounds and gives the gold explorer a further six kilometres of chunky gold-bearing strike.
The acquisition will cost Zenith $1.5 million in cash, including a $50,000 non-refundable deposit, plus a two per cent net smelter return royalty over minerals produced from the tenement once commercial production begins.
‘Securing M77/599 is a logical and disciplined step in consolidating our position within the broader gold system.’
Zenith Minerals managing director Andrew Smith
What really sweetens the deal, though, is the new lease lies in a central position to Dulcie’s emerging geology. Zenith believes the mineralisation is taking the shape of a textbook stacked lode system, with more than 10 individual gold lodes now defined within a broad, gently dipping shear zone.
Rather than a single narrow vein, the gold is distributed across multiple sub-parallel horizons, giving the project both scale and continuity – and M77/599 sits smack bang in the middle of the structure.
This style of mineralisation is well suited to open-pit mining, particularly as many of the lodes sit close to surface and remain open along strike and down dip.
The timing of Zenith’s latest move could hardly be better. With a consolidated resource now in hand, pulling M77/599 into the fold cleans up boundary complexities. It also adds valuable flexibility as the company begins weighing up staged open-pit mining and potential toll-treatment routes.
Just as importantly, the cleaner tenure allows the company to zero in on mine design, fine-tune pit shells and put the economics through their paces without the usual distractions of fragmented ground.
The Dulcie project conveniently sits within trucking distance of established processing hubs, including the Marvel Loch processing plant, giving Zenith multiple low-capex pathways should it decide to move towards production. That optionality is proving gold dust for juniors in a market increasingly rewarding projects that can be brought online quickly and cheaply.
Zenith Minerals managing director Andrew Smith said: “Securing M77/599 is a logical and disciplined step in consolidating our position within the broader gold system. M77/599 carries legacy royalty arrangements, which are well understood and have been incorporated into our development assessment.”
The next steps are largely procedural, with ministerial approvals and royalty-related conditions to be ticked off ahead of settlement. Once complete, Zenith is set to emerge with a cleaner, more cohesive land position over one of its most advanced gold assets.
With gold prices hovering near record highs and appetite growing for capital-light development stories, Zenith’s tightened grip on Dulcie looks like a rolled-gold opportunity.
As scoping studies progress and development options crystallise, the company’s methodical consolidation strategy may be laying the groundwork for Dulcie’s next phase as a genuine Western Australian gold development contender.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: mattbirney@bullsnbears.com.au
