Kristie Batten: Former De Grey chair thinks Ballard’s Mt Ida has much more gold to give

One of Australia’s top mining journalists, Kristie Batten, writes for Stockhead every week in her regular column placing a watchful eye on the movers and shakers of the small cap resources scene.

The dust has barely settled from Northern Star Resources’ $6 billion takeover of De Grey Mining, but De Grey’s former chair Simon Lill already has his sights set on his next success, the newly listed explorer Ballard Mining (ASX:BM1) .

“I get asked, why have I joined Ballard? And my answer is, my daughter wants me to retire, but it was actually just too good an opportunity,” Lill told reporters on the sidelines of Diggers & Dealers in Kalgoorlie last week.

“The money came together fairly easily, so we’re now well capitalised, well cashed up with lots of opportunities, and it’s going to be an exciting, I’m going to say six months, but probably 18 months for the company.”

Ballard was spun out of Delta Lithium (ASX:DLI) and raised $30 million before listing on the ASX last month.

Joining Lill on the board is former Calidus Resources chief operating officer Paul Brennan as managing director, former Ramelius Resources chief financial officer Tim Manners as finance director, and former Gold Fields VP Australasia Stuart Mathews and Delta MD James Croser as non-executive directors.

Delta retained a 46% stake in the company, escrowed for two years, while the company’s “rock star share register” also includes Hancock Prospecting and Mineral Resources as substantial shareholders.

Mt Ida underexplored

Ballard’s Mt Ida gold project in Western Australia’s Goldfields has a resource of 10.3 million tonnes at 3.33 grams per tonne gold for 1.1 million ounces.

“We’ve got a million ounces here already without really trying, and it’s just still scratching the surface, so who knows how big that can become?” Lill said.

The project features 26km of two continuous, underexplored shear zones.

“It’s amazing, I think, in general, in the broader Kalgoorlie region in the northeastern Goldfields, how much gold is still being discovered, and yet, I look at Ballard and that first discovery was in 2001 and it’s hardly been touched since then,” Lill said.

“So it’s not like we’ve done anything brilliant, but it’s been a good discovery and we’re going to keep adding to it.

“Even with my previous history at De Grey, we had 2 million ounces before we discovered Hemi, and we couldn’t get any interest, but it was well known that there was gold in the region, so I think there’s still going to be a lot more gold discovered.”

The company has kicked off a 130,000m drilling program with four rigs.

Around 80,000m of infill and extensional drilling is planned at the 930,000oz Baldock deposit, where the most recent program added 256,000oz in resources at an all-in cost of less than $25 an ounce.

Baldock has more than 7km of strike to the north, with an average drilling depth of just 43m, which will also be aggressively tested.

Ballard is targeting a resource update, targeting the addition of 400,000-500,000oz, and maiden reserve in the June 2026 quarter.

Optionality

The Baldock deposit sits on granted mining leases, meaning that Ballard could “go mining fairly quickly”.

Mt Ida sits within 100km of four operating gold mills, including Aurenne Group’s own Mt Ida, Ora Banda Mining’s Davyhurst, Vault Minerals’ King of the Hills and Genesis Minerals’ Leonora.

“I’d struggle to think there’s a better place for gold developments than where we’re situated,” Lill said.

The closest mill to Mt Ida is privately owned Aurenne’s 1.5 million tonne plant, which is just 6km away.

“It’ll be logical to have discussions with Aurenne,” Lill said.

“The history around Kalgoorlie is that mills tend to be hungry, and they’re always looking for new ore.

“There has been a lot of M&A in the gold industry recently, and that’s probably going to continue.”

Lill said the main aim of Ballard was to build its own plant.

“That’s how you’ve got to approach these things,” he said.

“We’re not setting ourselves up for takeover, but yes, obviously there’s a lot of optionality.

“We would be silly not to talk to Aurenna or Ora Banda … I imagine they will look at us as a source of ore at some stage in the future.”

Ballard has already had a strong first month as a listed company, rising to as high as 45c last week, against its 25c IPO price.

Argonaut analyst Patrick Streater recently initiated coverage of Ballard with a speculative buy rating and 71c price target.

“BM1’s timeline to production compares favourably against other WA gold developers, greatly benefiting from the existing mining leases in place, along with a board and MD with the necessary experience to build and operate Mt Ida,” he said.