Last Thursday 13th June, a huge crowd of just over 450 turned out at the Hyatt to hear from De Grey Mining. Very pleasing that it seems everyone got the memo about not going to the usual Optus venue for this one – well done team!
Chairman Simon Lill entertained us with a scene setting company chronology leading up to the large Hemi gold discovery, describing a dogged and persistent exploration survival story that’s taken a few decades to become an overnight success. We heard about the share price impact of Simon and Craig Nelmes joining the board (crickets 😊), the share price impact of the conglomerate gold rush, canny investments by Eric Sprott, Ed Eshuys and more recently Gold Road, through to the unique and very Australian eureka moment expressed by Degrey Exploration Manager Phil Tornatora upon reading the assay results for the hemi discovery hole. MC Tim McMillan then introduced the panel consisting of Glenn Jardine (MD), Peter Holmes (Project Director), Courtney Morgan-Evans (GM People and Capability) and Neil Foster (Chief Sustainability and Risk Officer).
Panelists took us through the project status, timelines and funding and outlined the unique challenges involved with establishing a project of this nature and scale amid the current skilled worker shortage. We learned that the use of pressure oxidation (POX) for the liberation of gold is a widely accepted processing methodology globally for processing refractory ores like that at Hemi – just not done yet In Australia owing to the limited scale of other deposits, whereas with the Hemi deposit now having a resource base well north of 10m Oz, the capital-intensive POX process is viable. A completed project opens a multitude of strategic options for De Grey, from unlocking refractory concentrates from around Australia and transporting them to the Pilbara, to importing concentrates through Port Hedland.
Evidence of this strategy is already evident through De Grey’s recent strategic investment into Kalamazoo’s Ashburton Gold project. Project Director peter Holmes painted a vivid picture of the relative simplicity of operating in the Pilbara compared with previous experiences in overseeing POX project developments in other parts of the world, where his team had to maneuver large pieces of plant across bridges that required reinforcement, through villages that required power lines being lifted and even had to seek Vatican approval to temporarily remove a Virgin Mary statue – the flat wide expanses of the Pilbara should be a doddle by comparison !
A fascinating and timely presentation, with contractors in the room hanging on every word about De Grey’s expectations for them as Project development partners and industry onlookers now fully up to speed with current status and future plans. Thank you to the De Grey team for their presentation and to the WA Mining Club attendees who turned up in numbers and arrived at the right venue!
