The big boys are coming out to play on Day 2 of Diggers and Dealers , with BHP (ASX:BHP), Newcrest (ASX:NCM), Roy Hill and Evolution (ASX:EVN) all taking the stage at the Goldfields Arts Centre in Kalgoorlie this morning.

Newcrest as usual will be focused on exploration, not too disappointing when the significance of their upcoming Havieron project in the Paterson province is considered.

BHP will again be represented by Nickel West president Eddy Haegel, whose penchant for big announcements has become a staple of Diggers in recent years.

Last year’s presentation was intensely focused on carbon reduction and ESG, and could easily have been taken as an audition for the Tesla offtake deal the big miner struck a fortnight ago.

Expect them to double down on that and provide some more detail on how they will plan to decarbonise further, a big theme of yesterday’s presentations as well.

Evolution and Northern Star Resources (ASX:NST) are both presenting today. They recently did a deal to trade NST’s Kundana gold mines to EVN for $400 million.

That will see both miners chase 1Moz and 2Moz targets for gold production respectively by around the middle of the decade.

 

Junior highlights

The two biggest exploration stories of 2020 and 2021, De Grey Mining (ASX:DEG) and Chalice (ASX:CHN) are on the bill today.

Chalice put up some shiny new drill results on Monday outlining yet another mineralised area at its world class Gonneville nickel-copper-PGE prospect.

De Grey recently lodged a huge 6.8Moz maiden resource estimate at its Hemi discovery in North West WA, more than double the maiden resource of the now operating Gruyere mine, the last major open pit gold discovery in the resource rich State.

Ora Banda Mining (ASX:OBM), Azure Minerals (ASX:AZS) and Peel Mining (ASX:PEX) are among a swag of juniors in the session after lunch.

Meanwhile some of the top copper, nickel and lithium miners – commodities making mining “sexy again” according to former gold bull Bill Beament – are on display with Sandfire Resources (ASX:SFR), Western Areas (ASX:WSA) and reborn market darling Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS) providing updates.

 

What did you miss on Day 1?

Keynote speaker Ian Goldin called out ‘sabre-rattling’ from western governments on China, and provided his forecast that gold would remain a major store of wealth in the future (gold, Renminbi, USD and Euro to shine, Yen, Sterling and Crypto on the margins).

An untucked Bill Beament debuted his new underground mining services venture and told Stockhead why the former Northern Star boss is ditching gold to decarbonise the world.

And IGO (ASX:IGO) boss Peter Bradford took a swipe at the Federal Government’s lack of support for EVs while Karora Resources boss Paul Huet revived the (admittedly still living) ghost of Diggers veteran Peter Cook to ensure mining Look-a-likes graced the stage for another year.