Pic: John W Banagan / Stone via Getty Images
Here are the ASX resources plays that famous prospector Mark Creasy backs
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Highly successful prospector Mark Creasy has his finger in a lot of exploration pies and he doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon.
Coziron Resources (ASX:CZR) is Creasy’s largest listed investment, with Bloomberg data showing his ownership at 53.34 per cent, valuing it at a cool $6m and making him the junior iron ore and gold explorer’s number one shareholder.
According to the Financial Review Rich List 2019, 74-year-old Creasy has a combined wealth of $660m, ranking him 149 out of the top 200 “Rich Listers” – ahead of property tycoon Garry Rothwell and just behind Mineral Resources (ASX:MRL) boss Chris Ellison.
On Monday morning, Coziron shares got a nice 22 per cent kick after the company revealed Creasy had agreed to loan a further $685,000 – which can be converted to shares if he wants.
“The potential is that we’ve got a suite of tenements that cover both iron ore and gold prospectivity,” Ramsay said.
“And all of those tenements contain opportunities, prospects of scale that could make a material difference.”
Creasy has other loans with Coziron, that if converted to shares would take his stake much higher. This is likely, according to Ramsay.
“He prefers to see any new money that’s raised go into the ground, into exploration,” Ramsay explained.
“So that’s been his model, to convert and allow for any new funds that are being raised to be expended on exploration to try and grow the assets.”
Coziron plans to undertake a placement shortly so it can fund further drilling at its Ashburton magnetite project in the West Pilbara region of WA.
The recent jump in the iron ore price is prompting a flurry of activity in the space, particularly at the smaller end of the market as projects start to become viable again.
Coziron says samples have shown that its Ashburton project could produce a high quality iron ore product grading at 67 per cent – which is even better than what the majors are producing and would fetch a substantial premium.
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Creasy’s other loves
Creasy has stakes in around 20 ASX-listed resources companies.
See which companies he has invested in:
Swipe or scroll to reveal the full table. Click headings to sort
| ASX Code | Company | Stake | Market Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| IGO | Independence Group | 23.36% | $160.4M |
| LEG | Legend Mining | 26.8% | $8.5M |
| MYL | Myanmar Metals | 9.82% | $7.0M |
| CZR | Coziron Resources | 53.34% | $6.0M |
| S2R | S2 Resources | 19.15% | $3.7M |
| APC | Australian Potash | 8.52% | $2.0M |
| TLG | Talga Resources | 2.27% | $1.5M |
| OZG | Ozgrowth | 13.76% | $550.4K |
| HLX | Helix Resources | 6.36% | $418.3K |
| AZS | Azure Minerals | 4.50% | $352.1K |
| RHI | Red Hill Iron | 4.03% | $309.8K |
| TAM | Tanami Gold | 0.70% | $284.7K |
| JRL | Jindalee Resources | 2.86% | $246.5K |
| MOY | Millennium Minerals | 0.28% | $216.1K |
| PGM | Platina Resources | 2.65% | $212.0K |
| MEU | Marmota | 2.38% | $209.5K |
| ZNC | Zenith Minerals | 1.53% | $179.2K |
| SMC | Strategic Minerals Corp | 0.49% | $132.8K |
| EME | Energy Metals | 0.24% | $54.1K |
| GAL | Galileo Mining | 31.05% | $37.4M |
Through his various companies, Creasy is one of the largest holders of exploration ground in Western Australia.
Another investment of Creasy’s is Legend Mining (ASX:LEG), in which he has a 26.8 per cent stake.
Legend is building a sizeable nickel and copper footprint in the highly prospective and renowned Fraser Range region of Western Australia.
The Fraser Range shot to fame back in 2012 when Sirius Resources made the Nova discovery that eventually sold to larger rival Independence Group (ASX:IGO) for $1.8 billion.
British-born Creasy was a joint venture partner in the Nova-Bollinger project and the deal earned him a $630 million pay cheque.
He currently owns 23.36 per cent of Independence. That stake is worth $160.4m.
Creasy also has a 31.05 per cent interest in base metals explorer Galileo Mining (ASX:GAL), which floated back in late May last year.
Galileo is another junior explorer with a project in the Fraser Range.
Boss Brad Underwood had worked with Creasy for eight years up to the point of Galileo’s listing last year, when he took the helm as managing director.
Galileo has its sights on building a nickel operation in the Fraser Range that rivals the Nova-Bollinger discovery.
“I would like a bigger version of Nova, and there are plenty of global versions that are bigger,” Underwood told Stockhead not long after Galileo made its debut last year.
“One of the things about Nova and these types of deposits is they generally occur in belts and clusters. So it would be unusual to have a single deposit.”
Galileo started drilling in the Fraser Range in May this year and all three holes drilled at the Empire Rose and Yardilla South prospects hit sulphides.
Interestingly, the assays from drilling returned anomalous levels of gold. But Galileo also reported that a moving loop electro-magnetic survey had defined a large-scale conductor prospective for Nova-style nickel mineralisation.
