Gold play Aurumin looks to scale mountains as trading begins

The ASX’s newest aspiring gold play enters the market this morning, with Aurumin Limited officially trading from 10.30am AEDT.

A prospective WA gold explorer, Aurumin’s (ASX:AUN) historically significant Mt Dimer and Mt Palmer projects in Western Australia look set to be an attractive proposition.

Its listing comes on the back of a successful IPO, which raised $7 million through the issue of 35 million shares at 20c each.

The company has already started exploring the projects, both of which have been the subject of historical mining activity but sat dormant for many years.

It expects to be able to share initial drilling results prior to Christmas – quick time for a newly listed explorer.

At Mt Dimer, Aurumin has a project discovered by WMC between 1987 and 1989 and mined by Tectonic Resources between 1994 and 1997.

Mt Dimer produced more than 125,000 ounces of gold over its past life but was shuttered commercially in 1997 – when the gold price sat sub US$300 per ounce.

120km northeast of Southern Cross, the project is accessible by local roads and an operational airstrip onsite.

At Mt Dimer, Aurumin is eyeing the Golden Slipper deposit and the unmined Lightning deposit, both of which it says demonstrate the high-grade nature of mineralisation in the area.

Historic drill results on Golden Slipper include a near-surface intersection of 5m at 25.7 grams per tonne. Historic intersections come in as high as 2m at 35.6g/t at Lightning.

Mt Palmer’s history stretches back even further, with the project having produced 158,000 ounces of gold at 15.9g/t over 10 years until last commercial mining ceased in 1944 – before the end of the Second World War.

Situated 15km east of the Marvel Loch townsite in the Shire of Yilgarn, the project is also accessible by road and sits relatively proximate to Mt Dimer.

It is centred on the central area of the Southern Cross Greenstone Belt – a strongly deformed, metamorphosed synformal remnant of a once-larger greenstone assemblage.

Golden experience

Aurumin will be fronted by an experienced executive team, headlined by managing director Brad Valiukas and chairman Piers Lewis.

Valiukas is a mining engineer and experienced executive offering more than 20 years of operational, management and executive experience in underground and open pit operations both in Australia and internationally.

His most recent experience came at Northern Star Resources (ASX:NST), where he was manager, technical services, having previously worked as COO at both Focus Minerals and ABM Resources and in senior roles at Mincor Resources.

In Lewis, Aurumin has a chairman with considerable corporate advisory experience with various ASX and AIM-listed companies.

The founder of SmallCap Corporate, Lewis is currently non-executive director and company secretary for a suite of ASX-listed companies including Grange Resources, Cycliq Group, eSense Labs and Ultima United.

He previously held senior management roles with Credit Suisse in London, Mizuho International, ABN Amro and NAB Capital.

Shaun Day, also a Northern Star alumni and currently Salt Lake Potash (ASX:SO4) chief financial officer, and experienced geologist Darren Holden round out the board in non-executive director capacity.