Special Report: Great Southern is bolstering its exploration and management expertise as it ramps up work at the Cox’s Find and Mon Ami gold projects in WA.

 Sean Gregory is a resource industry leader with over 20 years’ experience in developing projects and supporting mining operations with BHP (ASX:BHP), Murchison Metals and Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN).

And now he is taking the helm at junior gold explorer Great Southern Mining (ASX:GSN) as the company aggressively advances the high-grade Cox’s Find and Mon Ami gold projects.

“The outstanding results to date from our recent drill programs at Cox’s Find and Mon Ami have provided the company with the opportunity to aggressively advance these projects in a rising gold market,” executive chairman John Terpu said.

“We have two quality projects in world-class gold jurisdictions, extremely close to operating mills which require drill outs.”

Most recently, Gregory was the managing director and CEO of Barra Resources (ASX:BAR) for three years and is currently a non-executive director.

Great Southern says he has a deep understanding of the mining value chain from exploration through to economic evaluation and commercialisation.

“I am very impressed by the scale and prospectivity of Great Southern Mining’s extensive project portfolio,” Gregory said.

“Furthermore, the quality of the board, assembled team members, shareholder base and exploration infrastructure belies the current market cap of the company.”

 

Great Southern Mining (ASX:GSN) share price chart

“This combination puts us in an unrivalled position to rapidly and systematically advance our projects for shareholder wealth,” Gregory said.

Executive chairman John Terpu said Gregory’s appointment not only added exploration experience to the team but also added corporate experience in advancing projects from the exploration phase through to development and potential commercialisation.

“I look forward to working with him and the executive team to maximising the company’s potential,” Terpu said.

 

Boosting Great Southern’s Queensland presence

Great Southern has also appointed Octavio Garcia to the role of head of exploration in Queensland.

Garcia brings 25 years of exploration and development experience to the company and will be responsible for establishing Great Southern’s Queensland base of operations.

He has significant experience in North Queensland through his time at Barrick America, Consolidated Tin Mines (ASX:CSD), Xstrata and Mt Isa Mines.

This means Garcia is well versed in the type of grassroots exploration required in hunting for the large porphyry, high/low sulphidation and intrusive related gold systems.

Great Southern has uncovered the ‘signature’ of a large intrusive related gold system at the Leichhardt Creek prospect in Queensland, which is a significant step toward potentially discovering a Tier-1 deposit.

Great Southern’s ~1000sqkm Edinburgh Park project is next door to Evolution Mining’s (ASX:EVN) highly profitable Mt Carlton gold mine, which produced ~107,000oz in FY19 at a low all-in sustaining cost of ~$740 per ounce.

The company is hunting for a Mt Carlton of its own, but less than 15 per cent of the highly prospective 1000sqkm Edinburgh Park area has been explored using modern techniques.

“We’ve so far demonstrated the prospectivity of our significant tenement package around Mt Carlton and have over 20 targets we are looking to explore this year alone,” Terpu said.

“Octavio brings a wealth of knowledge and experience with these systems needed to execute the exploration programs efficiently and cost effectively.

“We now have a full-time Queensland based head of exploration to continue to develop and enhance the company’s Edinburgh Park project.”

Meanwhile, Mark Major has stepped down as chief operating officer.

This article was developed in collaboration with Great Southern Mining, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

 This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.