Resources Top 5: Matsa scores windfall with sale of Lake Carey to AngloGold Ashanti

Matsa selling Lake Carey gold project to AngloGold Ashanti for $101m
Aeris Resources has moved from a net loss of $18.8m to a $29.6m net profit in the first half of FY2025
Cannindah has appointed mining legend Tony Rovira as a non-executive director

Your standout small cap resources stocks for Thursday, February 27, 2025.

Matsa Resources (ASX:MAT)

Years of toil are about to pay off for shareholders in Matsa Resources, which is about to finally realise value for its Lake Carey gold project via a sale worth as much as $101 million to global gold giant AngloGold Ashanti.

The deal puts a microscope on the need for big players to restock their resources and a target on the back of other juniors in the area, with Lake Carey set to deliver close to 1Moz of gold to shore up the future of the South African major’s Sunrise Dam gold mine near Laverton.

It also demonstrates the attractiveness of junior gold assets, previously unloved, as prices hit $4600/oz.

They were flying higher today, with US dollar gold fetching US$2918/oz and gold ETF inflows hitting their highest point since 2022 as Trump’s promise of 25% tariffs on EU products sent investors running, again, for safe haven.

Back to Matsa and it will pick up at least $8m in an option fee, including $5m once conditions precedent are satisfied or waived.

Another $73m will be due 18 months from that point, based on the agreed resource of 936,000oz at Lake Carey multiplied by 1.875% of the gold price, calculated for now at a gold price of $4500/oz.

And up to $20m will be due on each JORC compliant ounce added by AngloGold post-acquisition.

The company’s Devon gold mine, which would produce 42,000oz and generate close to $60m in pre-tax cashflow for Matsa, will be excised from the deal along with Fortitude North and the Red October village, providing MAT a platform for small-scale mining operations in the Northern Goldfields.

“This transaction is the culmination of negotiations over the past 12 months with AngloGold Ashanti and I am thrilled with this outcome. To attribute a value of approximately A$101M to the Lake Carey Gold Project speaks volumes for the exploration potential of this project,” Matsa exec chair Paul Poli, the brother of Aquila Resources dealmaker Tony Poli, said.

“Not only that, Matsa retains the highly valuable, near term production Devon project, Red October Accommodation Village and what I consider to be a very exciting exploration project in Fortitude North where recent drilling highlighted its potential.

“This transaction has been a long time in the making. I would like to thank AngloGold Ashanti and their team for the way in which the negotiations were conducted. To have a party of the ilk of AngloGold Ashanti speaks to the true potential value of Matsa’s assets and has attributed a ‘see through’ value of in excess of A$85 per resource ounce based on the current market gold price.

“I believe shareholders can now have a better understanding of the value of Matsa and what that now means for them and in to the future.”

That’s a critical point. Matsa is currently batting off an unsolicited on-market takeover from Deutsche Balaton backed Patronus Resources which valued MAT at 4.5c. At 7c today, it’s hard to see Patronus winning out unless the cashed-up junior really clears its pockets.

Aeris Resources (ASX:AIS)

Is this the turnaround we’ve all been waiting for from Labuschagne?

Not the return to form of Australia’s Test batting stalwart Marnus but that of his dad Andre’s copper and gold miner Aeris Resources.

Flagged by our esteemed Garimpeiro contributor Barry FitzGerald a few months’ back, the Tritton mine owner delivered a massive lift in NPAT in the first half of 2024/25, posting a 257% turnaround from an $18.8m loss to a $29.6m profit.

Cash flow from operations rose from just $100,000 in HY24, barely worth the investment of mining copper and gold from its projects in Queensland and New South Wales, to $58.3m.

Cost discipline was key, with the closure of the troubled Jaguar copper and zinc mine in WA trimming the fat by 15% to $233.1m, while revenue lifted slightly for the first six months of the year from $286.3m to $292.7m.

That was aided and abetted by higher gold and copper prices and stronger production from the Cracow mine in Queensland, which delivered 25,116oz gold for the half year. Tritton produced 8832t of copper and Mt Colin in Queensland delivered 2911t copper for the Soul Patts backed miner.

“The balance sheet is stronger with unrestricted cash up to $26.4 million, net assets up to $302.0 million and debt unchanged at $40.0 million. Trade payables have been stable over the past 12 months at around $30 million, down significantly from 30 June 2023 ($72.4 million) when working capital was under pressure prior to placing Jaguar into care and maintenance,” exec chair Andre Labuschagne said.

“Operational performance continues to improve and with the refinancing of the ANZ Contingent Instrument facility in its final stages, Aeris is well positioned to deliver a strong full-year result to shareholders.”

Aeris shares are up 75% over the past year, but sit well below the +70c mark they enjoyed early in the merger with Soul Patts’ Round Oak Minerals before a string of earnings downgrades and dilutive capital raisings.

Chalice Mining (ASX:CHN)

(Up on no news)

Shares in Chalice have bounced back up after slipping at the beginning of this week.

They had climbed last week after the company announced on February 17 that it made a major metallurgical breakthrough at Gonneville with the production of saleable copper and nickel concentrates from low-grade composites without the need for complex, high-cost hydrometallurgical processes.

The recent flotation testwork successfully produced a copper-PGE-gold concentrate grading 22-26% copper and 45-60g/t 3E PGE as well as a nickel-cobalt-PGE concentrate grading 7.5-8.7% nickel, 0.8% cobalt and 18-20g/t 3E PGE.

Additionally, conventional CIL leaching has recovered additional palladium and gold from the flotation tails while recent optimisation has significantly reduced reagent consumption and operating costs relating to the 2023 scoping study.

These process flowsheet optimisations are in turn expected to improve project margins for a bulk open-pit mine plan.

Testwork and optimisations for the pre-feasibility study are continuing through Q1 CY2025 with PFS completion targeted for mid CY2025.

“The ability to produce a saleable nickel concentrate across the grade spectrum of the entire Gonneville resource is a major breakthrough and fundamentally simplifies the world-class Gonneville project,” managing director Alex Dorsch said.

Cannindah Resources (ASX:CAE)

(Up on no news)

While Cannindah had no news out today, it built on yesterday’s gains from the announcement that mining legend Tony Rovira had joined its board as it moves to develop its Queensland copper-gold flagship.

Rovira, who was most recently the managing director of Azure Minerals, was awarded the Dealer of the Year at last year’s Diggers & Dealer both for Azure’s discovery of the world-class Andover lithium discovery and his leading the discovery of the Cosmos nickel mine 24 years ago.

In the company’s announcement, he said that he saw great potential for further value creation at Mt Cannindah, where he sees the possibility of another world class discovery.

Mt Cannindah currently holds a from-surface 14.5Mt at 1.09% copper equivalent resource estimated to contain 104,000t of copper, 197,300oz of gold and 6.4Moz of silver.

Everest Metals Corporation (ASX:EMC)

Everest is closer to securing intellectual property rights for its rubidium recovery process method after filing a provisional application with the government body, IP Australia.

The patent is a result of research undertaken by Edith Cowan University’s (ECU) Mineral Recovery Research Centre (MRRC) and offers an environmentally friendly processing route through direct rubidium extraction (DRE).

Its process represents a significant improvement over existing rubidium recovery methods and provides additional advantages to EMC and its Mt Edon critical minerals project.

Initial results demonstrated a technically viable rubidium recovery rate of up to 85% recovery.

The patent application also lays the groundwork for future international filings, further bolstering EMC’s intellectual property protection.

Rubidium carbonate currently commands a strong price point at US$1.2m per tonne and EMC is confident the market will see the value in its project as one of the highest-grade stand-alone rubidium deposits in the world – providing exposure to an extremely high value product.

Mt Edon is about 5km2 southwest of Paynes Find, a former gold rush settlement in WA’s Mid West region considered highly prospective for lithium, caesium, tantalum and rubidium mineralisation.

The project is home to a 3.6Mt inferred resource grading 0.22% rubidium and 0.07% lithium which contains more than 7,900t of rubidium.

It contains a higher-grade subset of 1.3Mt at 0.33% rubidium and 0.07% lithium which is nearly 56% of the total contained rubidium tonnes.

At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While Cannindah Resources and Everest Metals Corporation 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.