Hemi 2.0: The search for big gold deposits is heating up in the Pilbara

Northern Star’s looming takeover of De Grey Mining has shone a light back on Pilbara gold scene
$5 billion deal comes as gold circles records of over US$2900/oz
These juniors still think they can find the next Hemi

The record gold price and Northern Star Resources’ (ASX:NST) looming $5 billion acquisition of De Grey Mining (ASX:DEG) has shone a spotlight on the Pilbara’s gold potential.

The Pilbara is renowned for its world-class iron ore deposits and has more recently become a lithium hot spot.

While there are existing gold mines in the region, it was De Grey’s late 2019 discovery of the Hemi deposit that really cemented its gold potential.

Hemi and the surrounding deposits within De Grey’s Mallina project have since grown to a resource of 13.6 million ounces of gold at 1.4 grams per tonne.

While that easily makes it Australia’s largest gold discovery so far this century, it’s still expected to get larger.

Speaking to Stockhead recently, geologist and newly appointed Artemis Resources (ASX:ARV) managing director Julian Hanna refers to the region that hosts Hemi, as well as Artemis’ ground, as the North Pilbara gold province.

“Hemi, it just keeps getting bigger by the day,” he said.

Hanna pointed to De Grey’s most recent drill results from the Eagle deposit, announced on January 28.

They included a hit of 78.1m at 7.9g/t gold from 457m, which Hanna described as a “ripper of an intersection”.

De Grey has confirmed that it can produce more than 550,000oz of gold per annum from open pit sources and as much as 700,000ozpa when adding underground ore.

If all goes to plan, Northern Star will take ownership of the Mallina gold project in April.

Deals flowing

Turns out the Northern Star-De Grey deal is not the only action in the Pilbara gold space recently.

As of last month, West Coast Gold, owned by prospector Mark Creasy, took ownership of Calidus Resources and its Warrawoona gold project near Marble Bar.

Calidus collapsed last year and, shortly after, Creasy acquired the company’s debt from Macquarie Bank. Shares in Calidus and its subsidiaries were transferred to West Coast last month.

A few weeks ago,Capricorn Metals (ASX:CMM), which operates the Karlawinda gold mine near Newman, acquired Peregrine Gold’s (ASX:PGD) Deadman Flat and Perry Creek gold project for up to $3.75 million plus a royalty.

The deal will free up Peregrine to work on its own Newman gold project.

Coincidentally, Creasy’s Yandal Investments is a major shareholder in Peregrine and picked up the shortfall from a recent entitlement offer, boosting its stake from 11.6% to just under 18.2%.

Last week, Black Cat Syndicate (ASX:BC8), which recently restarted the Paulsens gold mine in the Pilbara, subscribed for $1 million of shares in Dreadnought Resources (ASX:DRE) to secure a first right to negotiate over the development Dreadnought’s high grade Star of Mangaroon, with ore to potentially be trucked 330km north to Paulsens.

The attractiveness of the asset to BC8, in spite of that hauling distance, says a lot about how the current Aussie dollar gold price – almost bang on $4600/oz on Wednesday arvo – is transforming the potential of WA gold projects.

De Grey acquisitive

Despite its massive resource, De Grey hasn’t been afraid to snap up further ground in the region.

It holds an option over Kalamazoo Resources’ (ASX:KZR) 1.44Moz Ashburton gold project.

De Grey has hit results including 47m at 5.5g/t gold from 30m during its due diligence investigation.

The company has until August 4 to exercise the option and acquire the project for $30 million in cash and shares.

De Grey also has an earn-in and joint venture agreement with Novo Resources (ASX:NVO) over the Becher project, adjacent to Mallina.

In September, De Grey exceeded the minimum expenditure of $7 million and committed to spend a further $18 million by mid-2027 to earn 50% of the project.

Juniors active

There’s a growing cohort of juniors chasing the next Hemi in the Pilbara.

Cashed up Kairos Minerals (ASX:KAI) holds the 1.4Moz Mt York project, southeast of Hemi, which has the potential to produce 657,200oz over eight years.

Kairos is planning a 20,000-30,000m drilling program to begin in March/April, aimed at growing the resource ahead of a pre-feasibility study.

On Monday, Artemis kicked off a diamond and reverse circulation program around its Carlow resource, which hosts an existing resource of 374,000oz of gold and 64,000t of copper.

Also on Monday, Riversgold (ASX:RGL) reported it had identified 12km of strike at its Tambourah project, with rock chips returning up to 101g/t gold.

The company is planning further rock chip sampling to refine drill targets.

Golden State Mining (ASX:GSM) has just under 600km2 of ground in the Mallina Basin.

An independent review of the ground identified three target areas which GSM will follow up on with a 4000m drilling program in April.

New Age Exploration (ASX:NAE) holds the Wagyu gold project, which sits in the same mineralised trend as Hemi.

After the completion last week of a heritage survey, RC drilling remains on track to start in March to follow up results including 4m at 2.5g/t gold from 48m.

Minnow Mantle Mining (ASX:MNM) has received an independent geological review of its Mount Berghaus project, to the north of Hemi, and has commissioned a high-resolution ground gravity survey ahead of further drilling.

Both Kalamazoo and Peregrine are awaiting assays from recent exploration work.

At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While Peregrine Gold, Artemis Resources, New Age Exploration and Riversgold are Stockhead advertisers, they did not sponsor this article.