The Tanami gold district is being unlocked with government support. Pic: Getty Images.
How a coordinated effort is unlocking the NT’s gold-rich Tanami district
Mining
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- The Tanami is getting a makeover to attract industry investment with infrastructure upgrades, funding grants and mapping data
- NT Geological Survey says there’s fantastic potential for the underexplored region
- Prodigy Gold is proving up ounces around one of Australia’s most prolific gold mines and has JVs with its owner Newmont
The Tanami mining district near the heart of Australia is one of the most underexplored regions in the country, yet it plays host to one of Australia’s most significant and high-grade gold operations.
Government officials are now working with the mining industry to boost exploration efforts in the area and across the rest of the NT in an effort to create jobs and boost Territory coffers.
The NT Government and its Geological Survey arm, which dishes out exploration grants annually to the tune of $9.5m, are updating seismic data and geophysical surveys of the region as well as improving access to infrastructure in a bid to lure investment.
For decades the Tanami has contained just one major mine, the prolific Tanami gold project, which started production in 1983 and has been operated by global gold major Newmont (ASX:NEM) since 2002, currently producing ~500,000ozpa of gold.
The Tanami operation is currently undergoing the $1.7bn TE 2 expansion project, upping throughput at the Granites processing plant up to 3.2Mtpa throughput along with the deep extension of the Callie underground mine at Dead Bullock Soak – on track to be completed by 2027 and lift production to ~600,000oz.
Near-virgin ground to dig
In spite of that, few other explorers have turned up significant discoveries in the region, but it’s not because of its lack of prospectivity.
There’s very little outcrop – meaning it can often be difficult to identify deposits hidden under cover or access points for explorers to cover ground.
Yet with infrastructure upgrades and Federal and Territory grants, the NT Geological Survey (NTGS) views a lack of past exploration across the Tanami as really exciting for the district and Territorians.
“There’s fantastic potential for future discoveries, yet we also recognise that it’s quite a challenging place for prospectors,” NTGS senior exec director Ian Scrimgeour told Stockhead.
Proactive approach
To encourage companies to get digging, the NTGS acquired detailed magnetic and radiometric geophysical surveys over the Tanami at 200m spacing and invited companies to access the data.
“We’ve also invited a number of the companies working under the NT’s exploration grants program to both drill deep holes in underexplored areas and test out new techniques to target these hidden deposits in the Tanami,” said Scrimgeour.
The NTGS also recently increased the level of data available to de-risk exploration and investment by industry, having just collaborated with Geoscience Australia in a multi-million dollar seismic program that extended into the northern part of the Tanami.
Yet one of the key attractions to get companies digging into the Tanami is the bitumenisation of road infrastructure.
Sealing of the Tanami Road is something that’s been an ongoing commitment of the Federal and NT Government and that’s going to be very important for the development for especially gold projects in the area.
Scrimgeour says the good thing about gold projects is that it’s not a bulk commodity for export so product can be efficiently hauled by road to port.
“Sealing the road will also make access weatherproof and accessible year-round,” he added.
Tanami’s gold prospects
So who’s set to benefit from all the advanced data, information and infrastructure upgrades in the Tanami mining district?
Prodigy Gold (ASX:PRX) is kicking rocks around its Tanami North project that it’s proving up with Newmont in two joint venture agreements.
Drilling is underway at its 407,000oz Hyperion resource, just north of Tanami’s 1.1Moz Groundrush.
The new RC drilling program will look to include AC drilling results that were excluded from the resource estimate and provide additional samples for metallurgical testwork for the deposit.
Plans are in place for the drill rig to move down to the Brokenwood and Pandora prospects 7km to the south for follow-up exploration.
Elsewhere in the NT
Scrimgeour says the NTGS is seeing a marked increase in the diversity of new discoveries outside of the Tanami across rare earths and other critical minerals such as graphite and gallium through the exploration grants.
Kingsland Minerals’ (ASX:KNG) monster 195Mt Leliyn graphite discovery and Transition Minerals’ REE-vanadium and gallium deposit are both at Pine Creek – a region historically known for its rich uranium deposits.
Kingsland started moving ahead with a mining lease application for Leliyn late last month and is advancing metallurgical testing and infill drilling to upgrade its resource confidence.
“We’ve also had some fantastic success with explorers in the Barkly Tableland where there’s a lot of exploration now going on for copper-gold deposits between Tennant Creek and Mt Isa,” Scrimgeour said.
That includes Encounter Resources’ (ASX:ENR) Jessica copper project, which is being explored by South32 (ASX:S32) in a $25m farm-in agreement with a planned 2500m diamond drill program next month as part of the next phase of exploration.
There’s also Arafura Resources’ (ASX:ARU) giant Nolans Bore REE project which received $840m in Federal Government grant and loan commitments in March.
Nearby, Bubalus Resources (ASX:BUS) is looking to prove up its Nolans East project and is awaiting final approvals to hit the ground with further exploration work.
At Stockhead we tell it like it is. While Prodigy Gold, Kingsland Minerals and Bubalus Resources are Stockhead advertisers, they did not sponsor this article.
This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.
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