Simon Henderson answers..
Another tricky question arose from a UK advisory firm's report (Vicarage Capital).
Q. Vicarage Capital has published at least three short notes to the web about GEL, and in all of these they claim that Newmont reportedly drilled 44mtrs @36g/t Au, slightly north of a GEL permit (presumably WKP, so probably still within the GEL permit space). When I asked them directly, this aspect remained unchanged. They replied that this information was passed to them in a meeting(s) with Glass Earth in 2010. Is this drill data correct, where is the site, and why is Vicarage the only web source for that information?
Quote:
A. The report from Vicarage is slightly confusing in that it amalgamates news from WKP and a discussion of our Waihi West JV. These are two different things. WKP (10km north of Waihi) you'll of course be familiar with..Waihi West again is a JV with Newmont (65%) but relates to our permit within Waihi to the (immediate) East and South of the pit (https://data.nzpam.govt.nz/PermitWebMaps/StaticReport.aspx?permit=40767). We don't have news to release yet on this but the Vicarage report is picking up on some of the excitement coming from Newmont's exploration on their 100% ground next door. They presented this at the AusIMM NZ conference late last year and I understand will be publishing resource/reserve estimates from their discovery later this month.
The high intercept that Vicarage quotes looks just like the new Correnso deposit, (said to be) 650,000 oz Au, at 12g/t, accessible as an underground system from their existing workings. It's stayed hidden for so long as it runs in a different direction from previously known mineralisation in the town (a N-S rather than NE-SW orientation), and while we have no solid news on our own permit today, having such a large discovery made right next to us certainly poses some exciting questions - especially given that Newmont is exploring Waihi with vigour and we're already part of that.
650,000 oz at NZ$2300/oz is 1.5 Billion dollars worth. It's not near WKP, but very near the GEL permit 40767, which runs under Waihi township. The Correnso find is deep but underneath some houses, (not many), and how Newmont Waihi Gold handles this situation will be informative. With gold at this grade close to their milling plant, the pressure might be off WKP for a bit, while Newmont proceed with planning hearing stages for Correnso. See the satellite map of the area, the 35/65 JV boundary is less than 1000 metres away.
GEL up 15.5% on the TSX overnight, resting at C38c, which brings it close to the NZ price of NZ48c. Having two more Canadian board members is a smart idea.