A Junior Gold Miner in Western Australia Poised for Growth
AURIC MINING LTD (AWJ.ASX)
Auric Mining Ltd (ASX: AWJ) is a gold explorer and developer based in Western Australia, poised for significant growth due to the potential of their flagship Jeffreys Find and Munda gold projects.
High-Quality Assets in a Proven Region: AWJ boasts a valuable portfolio of gold assets situated in the prolific Widgiemooltha-Norseman region, renowned for its gold deposits. At the forefront of their ventures lies the Munda Gold Deposit, host to a substantial indicated and inferred mineral resource of 198,700 ounces of gold at 1.38g/t gold.
Munda – Exceptional Economics Await: A June 2023 scoping study revealed Munda’s exceptional financial potential, outlining a projected positive cash flow of $76.9 million over a 13-quarter mine life, with a conservative gold price assumption of A$2,600/ounce. With current gold prices hovering around $3,100/ounce, the surplus cash flow potential becomes even more enticing.
Low-Cost Starter Pit Paves the Way: AWJ plans to kick off operations at Munda with a starter pit which will be mined over three months. This will require a modest $1.3 million capital investment. It is expected that the starter pit will generate $8.7 million in surplus cash while utilizing only approximately $6.0 million in working capital. The final figures will be refined once analysis of the grade control drilling program is complete.
Jeffreys Find Delivers Early Success: Over the second half of 2024, AWJ focused on gold production from the stage 1 pit at the Jeffreys Find Gold Mine via a joint venture with BML Ventures. Stage 1 of the project has now been successfully concluded, yielding 9,741 ounces of gold and generating a cash surplus totalling $4.8 million for the company.
The company has stated in announcements that this cash injection will sustain operations throughout 2024 until Stage 2 development, which is projected to bring in an additional $6 million to $8 million depending on the gold price.
Compelling Investment with Strong Fundamentals: With two near term producing projects, zero debt, promising exploration projects, and a skilled management team, Auric Mining presents a compelling investment opportunity with significant upside potential. In the current favourable macro environment for gold, AWJ is Canary Capital’s preferred ASX-listed option for gaining exposure to the precious metal.
Latest Auric News
KEY INVESTMENT INSIGHTS
Clear Business Strategy
Auric Mining has clearly defined its business strategy to focus on gold exploration and development in Western Australia’s prolific Widgiemooltha-Norseman region.
The company’s flagship Munda Gold Project demonstrates this focused strategy, with a sizeable resource base of 198,700 ounces already delineated. Auric has advanced Munda methodically from exploration through a scoping study to planned near-term production.
Additionally, Auric is monetizing its Jeffreys Find deposit under an agreement with BML Ventures. This allows the company to generate returns from this project without excessive capital investment or dilution. The cash flows from Jeffreys Find will further strengthen Auric’s financial position and will be used to fund the establishment of the much larger Munda Gold mine.
Significant Investment Upside
Since listing on the ASX in 2021, Auric Mining has rapidly progressed its gold projects while maintaining a strong financial position. The company achieved its first production from stage one of its Jeffreys Find mine in 2023, generating surplus cash of $4.8m from gold sales of $29m. Significant further cashflow is expected to be generated from stage two of Jeffreys Find during the 2024 calendar year.
Auric’s flagship Munda gold project also demonstrates exceptional economics, with the potential to generate over $75 million in surplus cash flow based on a conservative gold price assumption of A$2,600 per ounce. Munda provides Auric with a clear pathway to becoming a substantial cash flow-generating gold producer.
Despite this significant near-term production and cash flow potential, Auric still trades at a modest market capitalization of around $15.7 million. The company’s current share price represents a substantial discount to the discounted cash flow valuation of $0.39 to $0.44 per share.
Attractive Optionality With Low Risk-Reward Ratio
We believe Auric Mining presents an attractive risk-reward investment opportunity for investors seeking to capitalize on the upside potential in the gold market. With spot gold prices currently hovering around A$3,100 per ounce, the Munda Gold Project provides further significant upside for the company. Canary Capital believes AWJ offers a significantly derisked way to gain exposure to a compelling emerging Australian gold developer well positioned to benefit from the current tailwinds in the gold market.
Successful Management
Auric Mining has a management team, who have extensive management experience, with the know-how to turn potential into profit.
The executive team is headed by Managing Director Mark English, a seasoned mining executive and Chartered Accountant with over 40 years of experience. He was previously the founding Director of Bullion Minerals and Finance Director for an unlisted mining company with assets in Eastern Europe. His expertise in finance, capital raising, and corporate governance provides Auric with leadership in strategic planning and project development.
Technical Director John Utley brings over 35 years of experience focused on gold exploration and mining. He holds a master’s degree in Earth Sciences and has worked for major miners like Atlantic Gold and Plutonic Resources. As head of exploration teams, he has spearheaded the discovery and development of multimillion-ounce gold deposits including the 2,300,000-ounce Centenary Gold deposit. His hands-on knowledge in discovery and mine operations gives Auric valuable practical guidance.
Chairman Steven Morris lends significant capital markets experience from past senior executive roles at firms including Patersons Securities, Intersuisse and Peloton Shareholder Services. He has served on the boards of multiple ASX-listed mining companies. Steve was a Non-Executive Director of De Grey Mining Ltd (“DEG”) from 2014 to 2019 during the discovery of the Hemi Gold deposit.
Jeffreys Find Project
The Jeffreys Find Gold Project is located 50km northeast of Norseman in Western Australia and approximately 750km from Perth. The Jeffreys Find Gold Project comprises granted Mining Lease 63/242 and Miscellaneous Licence 63/97 which are 100% held by Auric Mining through a subsidiary, Jeffreys Find Pty Ltd.
In August 2022, AWJ reached an agreement with privately-owned BML Ventures to mine the Jeffreys Find gold deposit. Under the terms of the agreement, BML is responsible for conducting and financing all open pit mining operations at Jeffreys Find including costs for equipment, contractors, haulage, and staff. BML will incur and pay all the mining costs upfront in order to recover the gold. As part of the deal, BML has a commercial arrangement with FMR Investments to handle the toll milling of Jeffreys Find ore at FMR’s Greenfields Mill located 3km from Coolgardie. The revenues from gold sales at Jeffreys Find will first go towards repaying BML’s mining and processing costs. Any surplus cash remaining after paying these costs will be split evenly between AWJ and BML. This collaborative deal allows AWJ to realize returns from Jeffreys Find more rapidly, without the need to fund significant working capital to bring the mine into production.
Stage 1 – Starter Pit
Mining at Jeffreys Find is being conducted in two stages – a starter pit and a final pit. Stage 1 mining of the starter pit commenced in May 2023 and has been completed. A total of 175,865 tonnes of ore was processed in two milling campaigns during Stage 1. The first campaign in July 2023 yielded 1,721 ounces of gold with a reconciled head grade of 1.58g/t at a recovery of 93.04%. The second campaign from September to December 2023 processed 139,685 tonnes, yielding 8,021 ounces at 1.93 g/t grade and 92.58% recovery.
In total, Stage 1 produced 9,741 ounces from 175,865 tonnes at 1.86 g/t grade with a 92.51% recovery of gold. At an average sale price per ounce of $3,006, revenue after royalties was $28.9 million. Total costs were $19.9 million, leaving a $9.5 million surplus cash split between BML and AWJ. AWJ received around $4.8 million, exceeding the initial $4 million budget due to a higher realized gold price versus the $2,600 per ounce budgeted.
Stage 2 – Final Pit
On 22 February 2024, AWJ commenced Stage 2 of mining at Jeffreys Find. AWJ expects to extract 300,000 tonnes of ore during stage 2 with the first cash flow expected during the first quarter of 2025. The final pit is expected to generate surplus cash to Auric of between $6m and $8m. This means the total anticipated cash inflow to Auric Mining from the Jeffreys Find Gold Mine is expected to be between $10.8m to $12.8m, over the project duration of roughly 18 months. Mining operations at the final pit are slated to conclude by the close of 2024 or early 2025 at the latest.
Widgiemooltha (Munda) Gold Project
The Munda gold project is located 34km southwest of Kambalda and 5km west of Widgiemooltha in Western Australia. The project sits in the heart of the gold-rich Widgiemooltha region. Munda boasts a substantial resource base of 198,700 ounces of gold (4,481,000 tonnes grading 1.39 g/t Au) at a 0.5 Au g/t cut-off point within 5 granted Mining Leases. The company has 21 tenements which form part of the overall project.
In June 2023, Auric Mining completed a scoping study examining the feasibility of open-pit mining and third-party toll treatment of the Munda deposit. Within the scoping study, the base case financial model estimated that the optimal pit shell contained 1,766,553 ore tonnes at a grade of 2.2 g/t gold. A conservative gold price assumption of A$2,600 per ounce was used compared to the current spot price of ~A$3,100 per ounce. The model also assumes a 95% gold recovery rate, slightly lower than 96.57% achieved in metallurgical testing. Based on these assumptions, Munda is forecast to produce 114,736 ounces at an average cash cost of A$1,929 per ounce, generating $76.9 million in surplus cash over a 13-quarter mine life. The Munda Gold Project’s cash generation potential is highly sensitive to gold price. A sensitivity analysis indicates the cash surplus could reach approximately $122 million using a gold price of A$3,000 per ounce price, demonstrating the significant upside of the project.
Mining at Munda will occur in two stages; a starter pit and a final pit. The starter pit will help finance the final pit. The starter pit is slated to begin late 2024, producing a surplus of $8.7 million in cash. The scoping study projects that Munda’s initial capital investment will consist of pre-mining capital costs totalling $1.3 million, in addition to an initial working capital of $6 million.
AWJ is currently undertaking a grade control drilling program at Munda to better understand the geological elements within the deposit and the resultant gold distribution. Results from this program will increase the resource confidence level and enable the company to develop a mine plan which targets the ore containing the gold more accurately.
Spargoville Project – Exploration Upside
The Spargoville Project is centred around 4km west of the Coolgardie-Esperance Highway, and 35 km southwest of Kambalda. It combines 8 tenements which are 100% owned by Auric Mining. Due to the focus on the Jeffreys Find and Munda projects, AWJ has carried out very little exploration activities at the Spargoville Project. However, Canary Capital believes that the company will conduct significant exploration of the Spargoville project in the future using cashflow generated from Munda.
AWJ’s Spargoville tenements are situated adjacent to those owned by Maximus Resources (ASX: MXR), where significant discoveries of lithium and nickel mineralization have been made. Notably, on the 1st of November, 2023 drilling at MXR’s Lefroy Lithium Project, located within 2km of Auric’s Spargoville tenements, revealed the presence of lithium-bearing pegmatites. Additionally, on the 16th of October, 2023 the Korea Mine Rehabilitation and Mineral Resources Corporation, a Korean Government Agency, acquired a 30% interest in the Lefroy project for $4.8 million. These recent developments not only underscore the lithium potential at Spargoville, but also highlight the substantial value of the tenements.
KEY PEOPLE
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Steven Morris
Non-Executive Chairman
Steven Morris is a well-known financial markets executive with more than two decades of experience at a senior level. He garnered industry respect as Head of Private Clients for Patersons Securities and has also been Managing Director of Intersuisse Ltd. Mr. Morris has served as a senior executive of the Little Group. From 2013 to 2019 he was Chairman of the ASX-listed Purifloh Ltd (ASX:PO3) From 2014 to 2019 he was a Non-Executive Director of De Grey Mining (ASX:DEG), a gold miner with a $2.1 billion market capitalisation. Mr. Morris spent 9 years on the Board of the Melbourne Football Club, the last three years as Vice President, before retiring in September 2023.
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Mark English
Managing Director
Mark English is a Chartered Accountant with more than 40 years of experience. Mr. English was the founding Director of Bullion Minerals Ltd, a company he managed for seven years before taking it to an IPO. More recently he has acted as Finance Director of an unlisted mining company with substantial assets in Eastern Europe. Mark has considerable experience with major equity and debt raisings.
He currently sits on the Board of WA-integrated agricultural company Moora Enterprises, one of the nation’s largest citrus producers and processors.
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John Utley
Technical Director
John Utley has a 35-year career in mining and exploration with a dominant focus on gold assets. He holds a master’s degree in Earth Sciences from the University of Waikato in New Zealand. Mr. Utley has worked in Australia, South America, Papua New Guinea and most recently in Canada where he was the Chief Geologist for Atlantic Gold Corporation, a company now owned by St Barbara Ltd (ASX:SBM). He spearheaded exploration and development of the Touquoy Gold Mine in Novia Scotia, Canada prior to its acquisition by St Barbara. He previously worked with Plutonic Resources Ltd (ASX:PLU) and was head of the exploration team at the Darlot Gold Mine during the discovery and development of the 2.3-million-ounce Centenary gold deposit.
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Tamara Barr
Company Secretary
Tamara Barr is a highly experienced ASX Company Secretary with almost two decades experience practicing as a Company Secretary and Corporate Governance Advisor across a variety of sectors and industries.
She has worked predominantly in Australia, as well as in the UK and Europe, providing Company Secretarial advice and service to ASX listed, Public and NFP companies. Tamara is Managing Director of the corporate services firm, Clear Sky Blue, were she works closely with Boards to enhance their Corporate Governance procedures. Tamara is an Affiliated Member Company Secretary (GIA).