Cazaly Resources (ASX:CAZ) has accepted a ‘compelling’ offer from Kobala Investments for the latter to purchase all 15 million of Cazaly’s shares in Equinox Resources (ASX:EQN).
Under the agreement, both Kobala and Cazaly have agreed on a settlement date on or before 7 January 2024 for net proceeds of just over $2.15 million.
Cazaly, which has a $13.43 million market capitalisation, says it has undertaken its financial and other due diligence on Kobala and will retain its royalty on all future production from the Hamersley Iron Ore Project of US$0.30 per tonne.
Sixty Two Capital will act as a broker to the transaction.
The sale of Cazaly’s holding in Equinox comes amid an oversubscribed placement to raise $2.089 million.
Cazaly reports just under 70 million fully paid ordinary shares will be issued at at an issue price of $0.03.
Barclay Wells is lead manager and Canaccord Genuity (Australia) has been appointed co-lead manager for the placement. Barclay Wells is entitled to a 6% fee on gross proceeds received and the issue of 5 million unquoted options in Cazaly exercisable in 3 years at a price of $0.045.
Cazaly Resources Managing Director Tara French says both the placement and sale of the Equinox holding put Cazaly in a ‘very strong’ position to accelerate its work.
Cazaly Resources Non-Executive Director Terry Gardiner represents an Executive Director of Barclay Wells and will be participating in the placement. However, the issue of any fully paid ordinary shares to Gardiner will require shareholder approval.
The company confirms the funds, including those raised through the holding sale and existing cash reserves, will be used to advance its exploration activities at its lithium and rare earth element (REE) projects in Canada, Namibia, and Australia.
In the meantime, Cazaly notes it will continue to explore other resource opportunities in leading mining jurisdictions.
Cazaly Resources is a diversified mineral explorer and developer with a portfolio of mineral projects scattered across Australia, Namibia, and Canada considered prospective for rare earths, critical minerals, battery metals, and gold.
As of 30 September 2023, the company had $2.825 million cash and cash equivalents at hand, according to its latest quarterly report.
Born and raised in the UK, Adam is a sports fanatic with an interest in Rugby League and UFC/MMA. When not training in Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Adam attends Griffith University where he is completing his final year of a Communication & Journalism degree.
Cazaly Resources (ASX:CAZ) will undertake a 3,000m reverse circulation (RC) drilling program at its Kaoko Lithium Project in Namibia following the renewal of its exploration licence by the Ministry of Mines and Energy.
The $13.03 million market capitalisation company says drilling will begin in late Q1 to early Q2 2024 and is supported by ‘positive’ results of infill soil sampling at the Ohevenga lithium prospect.
Cazaly reports a 12km long lithium-in-soil anomaly will be drill tested with RC drilling once approvals of vegetation clearing and drilling permits are received.
The company notes the initial drill phase will test the regolith and fresh rock beneath the highest lithium in soil results on a 200m by 100m grid.
Cazaly believes that elevated lithium will be contiguous across the entire 12km strike length of an original soil anomaly, as reported from a ‘broad’ 1km sample grid which confirmed the continuity of anomalous lithium results in March this year.
Managing Director Tara French says the drilling program will enable the company to develop a better understanding of the distribution of lithium at Ohevenga and the nature of the anomaly.
Cazaly Resources is a diversified mineral explorer and developer with a portfolio of mineral projects scattered across Australia, Namibia, and Canada considered prospective for rare earths, critical minerals, battery metals, and gold.
As of 30 September 2023, the company had $2.825 million cash and cash equivalents at hand, according to its latest quarterly report.
Born and raised in the UK, Adam is a sports fanatic with an interest in Rugby League and UFC/MMA. When not training in Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Adam attends Griffith University where he is completing his final year of a Communication & Journalism degree.
Cazaly Resources (ASX:CAZ) has completed its initial rock chip sampling program at its Sundown Lithium Project in Quebec, Canada, even as it plans drilling work in Ontario.
The company says its onsite team at Sundown was able to access several pegmatite locations in the project area and collected 304 rock chip samples.
All samples have been submitted to a laboratory for analysis, with results expected to be received in 8-10 weeks.
Meanwhile, the first round of analytical results from fieldwork completed at the Carb Lake Rare Earth Element (REE) Project in Ontario has been received.
Activities included mapping, prospecting, and traversing the entire span of the more-than-3km carbonatite footprint.
Cazaly reports that the carbonatite samples show 2 distinct populations, with the majority of carbonatite displaying having ‘highly’ anomalous REE, strontium (Sr), and niobium (Nb).
The ‘best’ grab samples recorded include 2,479 parts per million (ppm) total rare earth oxide (TREO), with neodymium and praseodymium (NdPr) comprising up to 22% of the TREO; and 2,084ppm TREO with NdPr up to 25% TREO.
These results suggest the ‘large’ Carb Lake carbonatite complex is potentially ‘well-enriched’ in rare earths and niobium and could host ‘significant’ resources, according to Cazaly.
Cazaly says it is continuing to progress discussions with Sachigo First Nations and is planning its initial drilling program, aimed to broadly test the footprint of the entire carbonatite complex.
The Carb Lake project lies in the Red Lake District of Ontario, Canada. Meanwhile, Sundown sits in the James Bay lithium province of Quebec.
Cazaly Resources is a Perth-based minerals explorer and resources developer. The company has a diversified portfolio considered prospective for rare earths, critical minerals, battery metals, and gold.
As of 30 September 2023, the company had $5.4 million cash and investments at hand, according to its latest quarterly report.
Relocated from the East Coast in New Zealand to Queensland Australia, Aaliyah is a fervent journalist who has a passion for storytelling. When Aaliyah isn’t writing stories, she is either spending time with friends and family or down at the beach.
Cazaly Resources (ASX:CAZ) is planning to tackle further exploration at its new Lyons Rare Earth Elements (REE) Project in Western Australia following the reconnaissance work completed last quarter.
The $14.22 million market capitalisation company snapped up the project in August and is now aiming to target potential splay structures originating from the Lyons River Fault.
While activities were mostly focused on Cazaly’s Canadian projects last quarter, the company notes exploration activities were scarce at its Ashburton Basin REE, Gold, and Base Metals Project in the Pilbara region of WA.
During the June quarter, the company had planned to follow up on surface sampling across the REE trend at Ashburton, but it has not done so as of yet.
This second phase of sampling will include close-spaced surface rock chip sampling and geological mapping aimed to provide information on the style, width, and distribution of the REE mineralisation at the project.
At the Halls Creek Copper Project in WA’s east Kimberley, Cazaly is continuing to explore corporate opportunities to advance the asset.
Meanwhile, at the Abenab REE and Base Metals Project in Namibia, Cazaly says the application for a new exploration licence remains pending approval.
This news all comes after Cazaly began helicopter-supported exploration at its Sundown Lithium Project in Canada.
The results of this fieldwork will be ‘critical’ for fact-checking existing datasets and optimising future targeting techniques.
As of 30 September 2023, Cazaly had $5.4 million cash and investments at hand, according to its latest quarterly report.
Cazaly Resources is a Perth-based diversified mineral explorer. The company has assets across Canada, Australia, and Namibia that are prospective for lithium, rare earths, base metals, critical minerals, and gold.
Relocated from the East Coast in New Zealand to Queensland Australia, Aaliyah is a fervent journalist who has a passion for storytelling. When Aaliyah isn’t writing stories, she is either spending time with friends and family or down at the beach.
Cazaly Resources (ASX:CAZ) has begun its first round of inaugural fieldwork at its Sundown Lithium Project in Quebec, Canada.
The $14.22 million market capitalisation company says this is the first opportunity for the pegmatites at the project to be sampled and assayed for lithium.
Initial helicopter-supported exploration has begun, with surface rock chip samples planned to be collected from ‘high-priority’ targeted areas.
As previously announced, these priority target areas include clusters of potential outcropping pegmatites with several exposures up to 1.5km in length.
The company will also conduct reconnaissance scouting and sampling across other areas of prospective outcrop on the Sundown property.
Cazaly Resources Managing Director Tara French says: “We are very excited to finally be on the ground after a patient wait. Now we have the opportunity to explore the pegmatites of the Gladman Suite and for the very first time have them assayed for lithium mineralisation.”
“Now we have the opportunity to explore the pegmatites of the Gladman Suite and for the very first time have them assayed for lithium mineralisation”
The Sundown project lies in the James Bay lithium province and comprises 510 mining claims covering 260km-square.
Cazaly Resources is a Perth-based diversified mineral explorer with a portfolio of projects in Canada, Australia, and Namibia.
As of 30 June 2023, Cazaly had $6.7 million cash and investments at hand, according to its latest quarterly report.
Relocated from the East Coast in New Zealand to Queensland Australia, Aaliyah is a fervent journalist who has a passion for storytelling. When Aaliyah isn’t writing stories, she is either spending time with friends and family or down at the beach.
Australia, Chile, Mexico, Peru, and the US are vastly different countries but have one common element amongst them – they are flush with copper.
In fact, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) says of the identified copper that exists on Earth but is yet to be extracted from the ground, about 65% is found in these 5 countries alone.
According to the scientific agency, the 700 million metric tons of copper that has ever been produced equates to just 20% of the estimated resources of the soft, malleable metal still to be discovered.
The USGS says current identified deposits around the world contain an estimated 2.1 billion metric tons of additional copper to the 700 million tons already mined, meaning the total amount of discovered copper totals 2.8 billion metric tons.
Mind-blowingly, it is estimated that undiscovered copper resources amount to about 3.5 billion metric tons. This means collectively there is roughly 6.3 billion metric tons of the ductile metal on Earth.
To put that into perspective, the USGS says 244,000 metric tons of gold has ever been discovered to date. Most of the precious metal has been mined from just 3 countries – China, South Africa, and again, Australia.
Part of the reason significantly more copper is produced is due to its importance – it is a critical metal for the energy transition.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) notes that in a scenario that meets the Paris Agreement goals, clean energy technologies’ share of total demand rises significantly over the next 2 decades to more than 40% for copper and rare earth elements, 60-70% for nickel, and cobalt, and almost 90% for lithium.
The Paris Agreement is a legally binding international treaty on climate change. It was adopted by 196 parties at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP21) in France on 12 December 2015. It came into force on 4 November 2016. Its overarching goal is to hold ‘the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels’ and pursue efforts ‘to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels’.
As the world transitions towards decarbonisation and reaching net-zero emissions by 2050, copper demand is at unprecedented levels. Research suggests by 2050, global will demand will be nearly twice the volumes of copper the world has produced over the previous 3,000 years.
The metal’s applications are wide and varied. It is used in various clean energy technologies such as solar panels, wind turbines, electric vehicles (EVs), batteries, as well as hydrogen production.
Avalon Global Research notes that an EV consumes around 4x (80kg/car) more copper than combustion cars (18-20kg/car), while a solar plant uses some 9,000 pounds of copper per MW of peak capacity. Similarly, wind farms require 5,600-14,900 pounds of copper per MW, while offshore wind farms require 21,000 pounds per MW.
S&P Global suggests current copper production capacity is only projected to increase by about 20% over the next decade. As such, new investments and discoveries of copper resources is urgently required.
These copper supply issues are exacerbated by declining resource quality. The IEA says concerns about resources are more about quality rather than quantity. In recent years, ore quality has continued to fall across a range of commodities. For copper, the average ore grade in Chile declined by 30% over the past 15 years. Extracting metal content from lower-grade ores requires more energy, exerting upward pressure on production costs, greenhouse gas emissions, and waste volumes.
However, it is not all doom and gloom. There’s a growing number of copper plays on the ASX, many of which are on a pathway towards production.
Junior explorer KGL Resources (ASX:KGL) recently said in its latest quarterly report the bullish outlook for copper prices and the essential need for more copper has allowed it to review optimisation for the mine plan of its for its Jervois Project in the Northern Territory.
At the time, KGL Executive Chairman Denis Wood said growing the organisation to deliver the Jervois Project while optimising the mining and process plant remains the highest priority for the company to enable a financial investment decision.
“Exploration continues to increase the confidence of the overall resource and confirm it to be a significant and robust development for the company. The market outlook for copper remains strong. These current market circumstances allow KGL to refine and further improve its plans.”
KGL has appointed Nicholas Spencer as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chris Dippenaar as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) to drive the development of the Jervois Copper Project. These appointments have been made as the $73.74 million market capitalisation company progresses work on the optimisation studies for the project post Feasibility Study.
True North Copper (ASX:TNC) in July 2023 began copper sulphate production at its Cloncurry Project in Queensland under an exclusive offtake agreement with Kanins International.
At the time, Managing Director Marty Costello said: “We believe our offtake agreement with Kanins International provides confidence in True North Copper’s revenue generation. The agreement ensures a premium above the London Metal Exchange price for our high-quality copper sulphate, providing a stable and predictable revenue stream.
“This is another milestone completed that forms part of our overarching strategy to become Australia’s next critical minerals producer of copper and cobalt as we finalise restart studies for full-scale production“
This is another milestone completed that forms part of our overarching strategy to become Australia’s next critical minerals producer of copper and cobalt as we finalise restart studies for full-scale production.”
On 20 September 2023 True North received assay results that confirm its Vero resource in Mount Isa, Queensland, hosts ‘large-scale’ and ‘high-grade’ copper-cobalt-silver (Cu-Co-Ag) mineralisation.
Another emerging copper company is Argonaut Resources (ASX:ARE), which has a diversified portfolio that includes the Torrens joint venture with Aeris Resources. The Torrens JV is exploring for Iron Oxide Copper‐Gold (IOCG) systems in the highly prospective Stuart Shelf region of South Australia. The project is situated 75km from BHP’s (ASX:BHP) Olympic Dam mine, within 50km of OZ Mineral’s (ASX:OZL) Carrapateena mine, and only 40km from BHP’s recent Oak Dam West copper discovery.
Meanwhile, In June 2023, Cazaly Resources (ASX:CAZ) received positive Scoping Study results from AuKing Mining’s Koongie Park copper-zinc project which included mineralisation from the company’s 100%-owned Halls Creek and Bommie copper deposits.
In late 2022, Cazaly executed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with AuKing to include the Halls Creek project into the study. The AuKing study confirms the potential for a financially robust, globally competitive operation with life-of-mine of 11 years with an estimated total production of 110,000t Cu, 38,000t Zn and 355,000oz Ag.
Cohiba Minerals (ASX:CHK) holds a strategic tenement package in the ‘world-class’ Gawler Craton comprising 8 exploration licences covering 831km-square in the Horse Well (Pernatty B), Pernatty C, and Andamooka-Peninsula (Lake Torrens) areas.
In August, CEO Andrew Graham reiterated that Cohiba’s Olympic Domain projects in South Australia remain key priorities and has generated some third party interest.
“We have completed a review of the Olympic Domain projects and identified additional strategic drill hole sites. We have also had numerous discussions in relation to direct investment into the Wee MacGregor copper project in Queensland and are working towards securing an outcome. We have further incentivised this investment opportunity by securing an extension on ML90098, a key Mining Lease at Wee MacGregor, until 31 December 2034.”
Castillo Copper (ASX:CCZ) has 4 properties comprising the NWQ Copper Project in Mt Isa’s copper-belt, the BHA Project near Broken Hill’s ‘world-class’ silver-zinc-lead deposit in NSW, the historic Cangai Copper Mine, and assets across Zambia’s copper-belt.
In July, Castillo produced an updated 2012 JORC-compliant Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) for its Cangai Copper Mine in New South Wales, Australia.
At the time, Chairman Ged Hall said having a high-grade MRE for circa 114,000 tonnes copper metal plus significant exploration potential was an excellent value-add outcome.
“Moreover, when reconciling Cangai Copper Mine’s favourable fundamentals with long-term global demand trends for copper, the board believes it has a compelling business case to leverage and align with a strategic development partner“
“Moreover, when reconciling Cangai Copper Mine’s favourable fundamentals with long-term global demand trends for copper, the board believes it has a compelling business case to leverage and align with a strategic development partner.”
Kincora Copper (ASX:KCC) is an active explorer and project generator focused on world-class copper-gold discoveries. Kincora’s portfolio includes district scale landholdings and scale-able drill ready targets in both Australia and Mongolia’s leading porphyry belts, the Macquarie Arc, and Southern Gobi respectively.
In July, Kincora signed a conditional agreement to acquire RareX’s (ASX:REE) 35% interest in the Trundle, Fairholme, Jemalong, Cundumbul, and Condobolin projects in New South Wales. Under the agreement, Kincora will issue 40 million chess depositary interests (CDIs) and will grant RareX a 1% net smelter royalty (NSR) for the vended licences.
Great Western Exploration (ASX:GTE) is a copper, gold, and nickel explorer with a large land position in prolific regions of Western Australia. Great Western’s tenements have been underexplored or virtually unexplored.
Mining.com.au Managing Editor Adam Orlando has more than 20 years’ experience in the media having held senior roles at various publications, including as Asia-Pacific Sector Head (Mining) at global newswire Acuris (formerly Mergermarket). Adam has worked in newsrooms around the world including Hong Kong, Singapore, London, and Sydney.
This article is a sponsored feature from Mining.com.au partner Cazaly Resources Ltd. It is not financial advice. Talk to a registered financial expert before making investment decisions.
When Tara French, Managing Director of Cazaly Resources (ASX:CAZ), spoke to Mining.com.au in March, the pursuit of inorganic growth opportunities was the operative ethic.
“We’ve still got quite a bit on our plate, but we’re looking for new projects to add to our portfolio across a range of commodities, based on our strategic plan,” French said at the time.
Listed in 2003 by founders Clive Jones — who remains Cazaly’s Chair — and the late Nathan McMahon, the Perth-based explorer has nurtured an elegantly sustainable business model: with a strong history of project generation, assets are staked or acquired, explored to the point of economic viability, and monetised — via spin-out, joint venture, or outright sale.
“Obviously, we’ll only add a project if we think it’s got potential, then we’ll do the appropriate groundwork to determine the next best step,” French says.
“Do we keep driving projects forward ourselves? Do we get it to a point where we potentially divest? Which is sort of what they did with the Parker Range Project.”
Prior to French’s appointment in April 2021, Cazaly sold the Parker Range Iron Ore Project to diversified mining giant Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN) in August 2019 for $20 million, keeping for itself a royalty worth $0.50 per tonne of iron ore produced once the project passes a 10-million-tonne production milestone. It forms the backbone of Cazaly’s royalties arm, which also includes the Hamersley Iron Ore Project purchased by Equinox Resources (ASX:EQN) in mid-2021.
Elsewhere, Cazaly is party to joint ventures at the McKenzie Springs and Mt Venn Gold projects, where it holds 30% and 20% stakes, respectively, and in which Fin Resources (ASX:FIN) and Woomera Mining (ASX:WML) own the remaining 70% and 80% interests as operators.
Then there are the company’s more primary assets: the wholly owned Halls Creek Copper Project in the Kimberley, the Ashburton Project in the Pilbara, the Abenab North and Kaoko projects in Namibia — of which Cazaly owns 95% — and the Lyons Project in WA’s Gascoyne region, which was staked and then expanded through an earn-in deal signed in early August.
But it was Cazaly’s foray into the Canadian sector that hinted at the gravity of its ‘inorganic growth’ desires, beginning with the Carb Lake Rare Earth Project in northwest Ontario.
O Canada!
Located in the Red Lake region, near the Manitoba border, Carb Lake was acquired in mid-June and features a magnetic anomaly at least 3km wide known as the Carb Lake Carbonatite Complex, which is prospective for rare earths and niobium.
Although the anomaly has been recognised as significant since its discovery in 1967, drilling at the project has been limited to just 4 diamond drill holes completed by Big Nama Creek Mines in 1968. But despite those holes returning ‘outstanding results’ of up to 7.1% niobium, the true nature of mineralisation at Carb Lake remains a tantalising mystery.
“For us, it’s a matter of getting on the ground,” French says.
“We need to see what we’re dealing with. Can we drill out here in summer? Is it a year-round project, or do we actually have to wait for it to freeze over? Because our first thought was that we’d have to wait for it to freeze and then we can get out there and do some drilling. But in the interim, it looks like we’ll be able to get a crew on the ground beforehand.”
“The idea is to get some early data to give us enough information to plan the next steps”
That crew sprung into action on August 21 with a mandate to traverse as much of the project as possible, carrying out prospecting and mapping activities as they go.
“The idea is to get some early data to give us enough information to plan the next steps,” French adds.
But Cazaly’s penchant for growth, its self-imposed order to expand its exploration horizon, became truly apparent when the company doubled down and acquired the Sundown Lithium Project in Quebec on August 7.
Located east of James Bay, the project covers 260km-square and is host to more than 200 outcropping pegmatites across 510 mining claims. It also holds a strategic position between Allkem’s (ASX:AKE) James Bay deposit, which features a resource measuring 110.2 million tonnes at 1.3% lithium oxide, and Patriot Battery Metals’ (ASX:PMT) Corvette deposit, with 109.2 million tonnes at 1.42% lithium oxide.
As with Carb Lake, Sundown is almost ‘totally untested’, with the exception of previous work by Quebec’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry that originally uncovered the pegmatites.
“For Sundown, in particular, that will be boots on the ground,” French explains.
“We’ll be doing as much rock chip sampling there as we can to follow up on those high-priority targets where there are documented pegmatites, and we have been able to see good exposures in satellite imagery of large outcrops. Then we’ll submit the samples for lithium and multi-element analysis. This will be the first time these rocks have been sampled for lithium.”
Indeed, Cazaly isn’t exactly an explorer afraid of hard work. And it would be a mistake to write off the company’s Canadian endeavours as mere moments of explorational hubris. The truth, in fact, is that it was a long time coming.
“We had spent some time looking in Canada — and Australia and other strategic jurisdictions — for more rare earth and lithium projects, because we believe the outlook for these critical minerals is strong as the demand for supply increases over the next 12 to 18 months,” French says.
“And because Cazaly has always been diversified, it’s relatively easy for us to be nimble. So we can have a number of strategic commodities in our portfolio and prioritise them accordingly.”
“because Cazaly has always been diversified, it’s relatively easy for us to be nimble”
Merit over love
How, then, does a small team like Cazaly — “It’s Clive, who’s in the office a couple of days a week, and myself and our exploration manager full-time,” French explains — manage such a sprawling portfolio?
“That’s always going to be a management issue. You take on projects on merit, you don’t fall in love with projects,” she adds.
“To that end, it’s fairly easy to prioritise projects, because it has to be done on merit. And you do have to be ruthless. People may tend to fall in love with projects, but I think that can be a significant downfall sometimes because you don’t want to keep investing in something if it’s not going to give you a return. So our focus will be based on our strategic direction, which will change over time, and we’ll move to where we believe we can add the most value, which is why at the moment, our priorities are going to be lithium and rare earths in Canada.”
“You take on projects on merit, you don’t fall in love with projects”
But that’s not to say Cazaly’s other projects will be neglected.
The Abenab North Project in Namibia, prospective for base metals and rare earths, is “a pretty exciting project as far as potential goes”, with several confirmed carbonatite pipes and a promising record of historical drilling.
“The tenement’s under application and not yet granted, so we didn’t really see much reaction from the market on that one. Having said that, we’ve been in contact with our team over there, and while we know it’s progressing through the application process, it’s still probably a few weeks to a month away from grant.”
It’s a similar situation at the Kaoko Lithium Project, which was previously a copper-cobalt play but is now known to host a sizeable lithium-in-soil anomaly. Cazaly has already designated a 12km-by-10km portion of the tenement as a priority target area but, again, on-ground activities remain in limbo until the licence is renewed.
Meanwhile, in Western Australia, McKenzie Springs is managed by Fin Resources, which recently assigned a new technical geologist to the project to follow up on a number of promising targets. Mount Venn, on the other hand, has been operated for several years by Woomera Mining and is largely prospective for nickel and gold.
“We still think it’s a great project to have, it’s really well located — a large greenstone belt in the north-eastern goldfields, it would be unlikely for it not to be mineralised,” French says.
“Again, it’s that process of testing all your targets, and they’ve certainly got a few more there that can be tested for sure.”
At Ashburton, exploration has moved along “quite significantly” since the project was acquired in October 2020, but further work is required to assess a recently identified rare earths trend and determine the best path forward, while the Lyons Project is “another big landholding and another big greenfields play”.
“We need to conduct a field reconnaissance campaign to see what we’re dealing with here,” French explains.
“Can we get some rock chip samples or is it all undercover? It’s very early stage, but first-pass recon is the first step. And that one’s relatively close to home, so it’d be fairly easy for us to work relatively quickly.”
Rounding out Cazaly’s impressive pipeline is Halls Creek. Home to the Bommie deposit, for which a 262,000-tonne copper resource was unveiled in November 2022, and the Mount Angelo North deposit, which measures 23,000 tonnes of copper, 680,000 ounces of silver and 25,000 tonnes of zinc, it sits directly adjacent to AuKing Mining’s (ASX:AKN) Koongie Park Project.
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed in December 2022, under which Cazaly’s Bommie and Mount Angelo North deposits would be included in a scoping study — carried out by AuKing — for Koongie Park’s Sandiego deposit.
“We’ve both got VMS deposits, we’ve both got porphyry copper deposits. In that light, we know that, separately, the deposits would not be economic to mine. However, if we pull those deposits together, we have a development proposal for a copper mining hub at Halls Creek. They’re all within a 10km radius,” French says.
“The positive scoping study, initially, as the first outcome, is the best first step you can expect. We’ve got a good relationship and an MoU with AuKing, but no binding agreement. There are no hard and fast terms there. We both know this is potentially the best way to progress the project, and we’ll pursue a number of options in order to get these projects into development.”
“We both know this is potentially the best way to progress the project, and we’ll pursue a number of options in order to get these projects into development“
Where to from here?
On the question of project development and potential production, French was unwilling to make any firm predictions.
“It’s got to be the right project, it’s got to be the right commodity. And that would then have to be the company’s focus, moving forward,” she says.
“We would never say no, because we’ve got a good background in exploration, development and mining projects. However, at the moment, our current business model fits us pretty well. But having said that, if we do get a project and we think it would be a real game changer for the company and something we wanted to move forward with, then we certainly would build the team to push that project forward.”
“It’s got to be the right project, it’s got to be the right commodity”
For now, though, French and the rest of the Cazaly team seem content simply doing what they said would be done. In our current age of grand plans and empty promises, the capacity to actually follow through often means the difference between success and failure.
“That’s really the key, to add value to the projects we’ve got, introduce new projects we think have real value to add as well, and then obviously prioritise how we work those projects,” French said back in March.
Originally from Perth, Oliver has a keen interest long-form journalism. He has written for a number of publications and was most recently Contributing Editor of The Market Herald’s opinion section, Art of the Essay.
Cazaly Resources (ASX:CAZ) Managing Director Tara French joins Mining.com.au live from the New World Metals Investment Series at the Grand Hyatt, Melbourne. Also in today’s Mining Minute: Black Canyon (ASX:BCA) has hit more thick, shallow manganese-enriched shales at the KR1 discovery within its Balfour manganese field tenements in Western Australia’s Pilbara region.
Joining Mining.com.au from the West Coast, finance presenter Carolyn began her journalism degree in Townsville and developed a passion for mining news after a FIFO stint in WA's Goldfields.
Cazaly Resources (ASX:CAZ) is ready to execute the first pegmatite sampling campaign on the Sundown Project in the James Bay lithium province of Quebec, Canada.
Due to fire bans being lifted and the Sundown property becoming safely accessible for exploration, the $16.98 million market capitalisation company can begin its initial reconnaissance expedition.
The campaign will focus on previously defined priority pegmatite target areas and samples assayed for lithium, which will provide essential data to direct future exploration activities.
The heli-supported field exploration program will include rock chip sampling and geological mapping. Cazaly says the initial fieldwork will be critical for fact-checking existing datasets and optimising future targeting techniques.
Commenting on the exploration activities, Cazaly Resources Managing Director Tara French says: “This is what we have been waiting for. The access restrictions were lifted across our property last weekend and our in-country team are ready to execute this very important initial reconnaissance program.
This will be the first time any of the +200 pegmatites on the property have been sampled for lithium. We are very excited to be testing the pegmatites of the Gladman suite, recently identified by MERN as a new lithium prospective zone.”
Cazaly says the 4 priority areas include clusters of potential outcropping pegmatites with several exposures up to 1.5km in length.
The Sundown Lithium Project lies in the James Bay province in Canada and comprises 510 mining claims covering pegmatite outcrops spanning over 260km-square.
The Sundown project represents a significant acquisition for Cazaly. The tenement holding is strategically positioned between Allkem’s (ASX:AKE) James Bay deposit with a lithium resource of 110.2Mt @ 1.30% Li2Oiv, and Patriot Battery Metals (ASX:PMT) Corvette Lithium Discovery with a maiden lithium resource of 109.2Mt at 1.42% Li2O within a 214km-square land package.
More recent news from the James Bay area includes Allkem’s updated mineral resource for the James Bay Lithium deposit with 110.2Mt @ 1.3% Li2O which surpasses Patriot’s maiden mineral resource for the Corvette Project of 109.2Mt @ 1.42% Li2Ov as the largest pegmatite resource in the district. Cazaly reports these resources attest to the significant lithium endowment in the James Bay area, and with a limited lithium exploration history, the company is further encouraged that the James Bay area has significant potential for new discoveries.
Cazaly Resources is an Australian based resources company with a diverse portfolio of mineral projects in Australia, Namibia, and Canada. As of 30 June 2023, the company had $3.8 million cash at hand, according to its latest quarterly report.
Relocated from the East Coast in New Zealand to Queensland Australia, Aaliyah is a fervent journalist who has a passion for storytelling. When Aaliyah isn’t writing stories, she is either spending time with friends and family or down at the beach.
Cazaly Resources (ASX:CAZ) has mobilised a field crew team for an initial exploration expedition at its Carb Lake Rare Earth Element (REE) Project in Ontario, Canada.
On 21 August 2023, a 4-man crew was mobilised to traverse as much of the property as possible and conduct prospecting alongside geological field mapping to determine any areas of float or outcrop suitable for sampling.
The company, which has a market capitalisation of $17.77 million, says all available datasets have been used to plan the reconnaissance trip, including recently acquired high-resolution satellite imagery. This field program will provide Cazaly with ‘essential’ information for planning future exploration activities.
This announcement comes after the company purchased Aeromagnetic survey data from 2011 that provided ‘excellent’ detailed imagery across the bulk of the carbonatite.
Cazaly says the carbonatite demonstrates multiple magnetic circular features within the complex that extend beyond the detailed surveyed area of 3.2km by 3.7km.
The company says while the Carb Lake carbonatite complex is in a very early stage of exploration, the size of the intrusive complex in the area is ‘compelling’.
The Carb Lake REE Project comprises 93 mineral claims covering a ‘large’ +3km diameter circular magnetic anomaly prospective for REEs and niobium.
Cazaly Resources is an Australia-based resources company with a diverse portfolio of mineral projects in Australia, Namibia, and Canada. The company’s portfolio of exploration projects includes the Carb Lake, Halls Creek, Ashburton, Abenab North, Kaoko Critical Minerals, Mckenzie Springs, and Mt Venn projects.
As of 30 June 2023, the company had $6.7 million cash at hand, according to its latest quarterly report.
Relocated from the East Coast in New Zealand to Queensland Australia, Aaliyah is a fervent journalist who has a passion for storytelling. When Aaliyah isn’t writing stories, she is either spending time with friends and family or down at the beach.
Cazaly Resources (ASX:CAZ) has generated priority target areas for its planned inaugural exploration program, scheduled for early September 2023, at the Sundown Lithium Project in Canada.
The company, which has a market capitalisation of $15.80 million, says priority target areas have been defined to focus its initial efforts for rockchip sampling among the +200 observed pegmatites on the property.
These areas include clusters of potential outcropping pegmatites with several exposures up to 1.5km in length.
As part of its initial exploration work, Cazaly will conduct a heli-supported field exploration program on the Sundown priority targets. This will include rockchip sampling and geological mapping.
Cazaly says the initial fieldwork will be critical for fact-checking existing datasets and optimising future targeting techniques.
Commenting on the planned activities, Cazaly Resources Managing Director Tara French says: “Through Sundown, Cazaly has strategically positioned itself between these major resources with an extensive landholding of significant exploration potential with a host of relatively untested outcropping pegmatites.
Given the short history of lithium exploration in the district, and with the Sundown Project unexplored for lithium mineralisation, the potential for new discoveries is there for the making.
“… With the Sundown Project unexplored for lithium mineralisation, the potential for new discoveries is there for the making. “
The widespread forest fires have displaced many communities in the district, and our sympathies are with those impacted. While our in-country exploration team has been delayed due to the safety risks and associated access restrictions, we are hopeful that we will be able to proceed with our planned activities shortly.”
Cazaly notes that the target generation was conducted through data extracted from Quebec’s SIGÉOM database, including geofiche and compilation outcrop data, geological mapping, and various satellite imagery.
The ranking of targets is based on satellite imagery, geological observations of pegmatite occurrences made by the geologists of the Quebec Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MERN), elevated levels of lithium in lake bottom sediment samples, and proximity to the Gladman Suite.
Cazaly says the Gladman Suite is a new lithium-prospective zone uncovered by MERN geologists in 2022.
The Sundown Lithium project is located in the James Bay lithium province in Quebec, Canada. The project covers an area of 260km-square, with over 200 documented outcropping pegmatites.
Cazaly Resources is an Australia-based resources company with a diverse portfolio of mineral projects in Australia, Namibia, and Canada. As of 30 June 2023, the company had $3.793 million cash and cash equivalents at hand, according to its latest quarterly report published on 27 July.
Relocated from the East Coast in New Zealand to Queensland Australia, Aaliyah is a fervent journalist who has a passion for storytelling. When Aaliyah isn’t writing stories, she is either spending time with friends and family or down at the beach.
Cazaly Resources (ASX:CAZ) has finalised the agreement terms to acquire up to 100% of the Sundown Lithium Project, located in the James Bay lithium province, Quebec, Canada.
The Sundown project represents a significant acquisition for the Company, comprising 510 mining claims covering an area approximately 260km2 and possessing over 200 documented outcropping pegmatites.
The large tenement holding is strategically positioned between Allkem’s (ASX:AKE) James Bay deposit with a lithium reserve of 37.2Mt @ 1.3% Li2O, and Patriot Battery Metals (ASX:PMT) Corvette Lithium Discovery which is host to 70 lithium bearing pegmatites over a 214km-square land package.
Further recent success in the region includes Critical Elements’ Rose deposit (37.2Mt @ 0.94% Li2O), Nemaska’s Whabouchi deposit (36.6Mt @ 1.3% Li2O) and Winsome Resources’ (ASX:WR1) Cancet exploration target with 15-25Mt @1-2% Li2O.
Cazaly and vendor 1Minerals Corp entered into a property option agreement, which includes various cash, stock, and non-refundable option fee components, as well as a 2% net smelter royalty.
As part of the agreement, shares will be issued, based on the volume weighted average share price for the period of 5 consecutive trading days on which shares are traded up to and including the trading day prior to the relevant issue date, at the then prevailing C$/A$ exchange rate as published on the website of the Reserve Bank of Australia.
1Minerals Corp work with companies focused on the acquisition, exploration, and development of mineral properties in Canada and internationally. They have one of the largest grassroots lithium portfolios in North America and Quebec, Canada.
Commenting on the acquisition, Cazaly’s Managing Director Tara French says: “We are excited to be able to announce the completion of the acquisition of this special asset. Through Sundown, Cazaly now possesses a major plot of land in an emerging lithium province with significant exploration potential courtesy of relatively untested, outcropping pegmatites.
We are nestled in amongst some other major lithium projects and while our in-country exploration team have been delayed by the damaging forest fires, we cannot wait to get boots on the ground to start confirming targets once the area has been deemed safe for entry.”
“Through Sundown, Cazaly now possesses a major plot of land in an emerging lithium province with significant exploration potential courtesy of relatively untested, outcropping pegmatites”
This all follows the completion of due diligence activities by Cazaly, encompassing a review of historic exploration activities at Sundown. The Cazaly board is satisfied that the various reports identify the potential for significant lithium mineralisation at the project, which represents a strong opportunity to deliver value for shareholders through exploration.
Following the completion of due diligence, Cazaly has finalised desktop target generation activities for further follow-up exploration.
The company has engaged an in-country team to conduct its first phase of exploration that will consist of a reconnaissance field work program and rock chip sampling, in order to conduct on-ground assessments at key targets to be compared with historically documented reports.
Cazaly remains ‘excited’ about the potential of the Sundown project however access has been severely affected due to forest fires in the region.
Access restrictions are now easing as the fires have abated, and areas become safe to explore. The initial field program is now scheduled for Q3 2023 subject to clearances from the relevant authorities.
Mining.com.au Managing Editor Adam Orlando has more than 20 years’ experience in the media having held senior roles at various publications, including as Asia-Pacific Sector Head (Mining) at global newswire Acuris (formerly Mergermarket). Adam has worked in newsrooms around the world including Hong Kong, Singapore, London, and Sydney.
Junior explorer Cazaly Resources (ASX:CAZ) is looking to undertake fieldwork in Q3 2023 after securing more than 1,000km-square of tenure within the Gascoyne province of Western Australia.
The company, which has a $13.90 million market capitalisation, says this tenure comprises a total of 6 tenements that together form the Lyons Project, which is considered a ‘very prospective’ package of ground in the Bangemall Basin. This area lies within an emerging rare earth element (REE) district in the Gascoyne province.
Cazaly reports it targeted and pegged 4 of the tenements around the Lyons River and Talga faults, with 1 of the 4 tenements now granted.
The remaining 2 granted tenements along the Lyons River Fault are noted to consolidate the Lyons projects through an exclusive binding option agreement to acquire the 100% interest with private company Murchison REE.
Cazaly also notes the Lyons River Fault is associated with multiple phases of REE and base metal mineralisation. Moreover, this fault is considered to be the conduit for the mineralised fluids that formed the ferrocarbonatites that host Dreadnought Resources’ (ASX:DRE) Yin prospect, where an updated resource was recently defined.
The terms of the purchase agreement include Cazaly paying $50,000 for a 12-month exclusive option to acquire up to 100% of tenements E09/2671 and E52/4040. Cazaly may execute the option by paying the vendors $30,000 in cash or shares to earn 50% project equity, and by committing $200,000 to exploration expenditure within 2 years to earn the 100% interest.
Other terms include paying an additional $200,000 in cash upon the delineation of a minimum JORC-compliant resource of 300,000oz gold (Au) and paying $1 million in cash or shares upon a decision to mine. As part of the agreement, Murchison REE will maintain a 1% NSR on the project.
With Cazaly well on its way to securing the sole interest in the Lyons project, it announces it has moved forward with work to compile all available historical data sets for the project.
This data is being reviewed to prioritise targets for an initial field assessment. Fieldwork is expected to follow in Q3 2023 and will consist of ground checks as well as prospecting where access is available.
Speaking on the acquisition, Cazaly Resources Managing Director Tara French says: “The Gascoyne is emerging as a hot spot for rare earths, and we are excited to have secured such a significant landholding in the region. Importantly, the new tenements sit along the Lyons River Fault, which is considered to be the conduit for mineralised fluids that formed the ferrocarbonatites which are host to the world-class Yangibana and Yin REE deposits.
“The Gascoyne is emerging as a hot spot for rare earths, and we are excited to have secured such a significant landholding in the region”
The structural complexity around the Lyons River Fault highlights the potential for further discoveries along this structure. This package represents an excellent opportunity, with only limited historical exploration for lead, zinc, and manganese. A reconnaissance field trip has been planned to determine the best exploration methods to apply to this area to advance the project and delineate REE targets early.“
Cazaly Resources is an ASX-listed multielement explorer with a diverse portfolio of mineral projects in Australia, Namibia, and Canada.
The company’s portfolio includes the Carb Lake REE and Sundown Lithium projects in Canada, as well as the Kaoko and Abenab North projects in Namibia. Cazaly’s Western Australian assets include the Halls Creek Copper and Ashburton projects.
Cazaly had $6.7 million cash and investments at hand as of 30 June 2023, according to its latest quarterly report.
Born and raised in the UK, Adam is a sports fanatic with an interest in Rugby League and UFC/MMA. When not training in Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Adam attends Griffith University where he is completing his final year of a Communication & Journalism degree.
Diversified explorer Cazaly Resources (ASX:CAZ) is planning a fresh field reconnaissance trip to its newly acquired Carb Lake Rare Earth Element (REE) Project in Canada later this year.
The company says the planned field program will encompass geological mapping to determine any areas of float or outcrop, as well as prospecting to collect any rockchip samples where float and outcrop are observed.
Cazaly’s in-country team will mobilise a 4-man crew and establish an onsite field camp to facilitate the program. The reconnaissance trip is scheduled to be conducted around September and October 2023, subject to access approvals.
This announcement comes after the company reported the results of a portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) program completed on historical core samples, which confirmed anomalous levels of lanthanum, cerium, neodymium, praseodymium, and niobium.
Cazaly reports these results validate the Carb Lake Project’s potential for economic REEs and niobium mineralisation, which reinforces its confidence in the future prospects of the project.
The company says the best pXRF results include 0.6% Nb, 3.36% La, 4.34% Ce, 0.42% Pr, and 1.49% Nd.
Meanwhile, the company has sourced and purchased aeromagnetic survey data from the project area compiled in 2011, with the delivery of the digital data pending. Cazaly says this will help expand its understanding of the subsurface geology in the area and aid in identifying potential future exploration targets.
This comes hand-in-hand with detailed high-resolution satellite imagery data also recently acquired by Cazaly.
The Carb Lake REE Project is located in the Red Lake District of Ontario, Canada. The project comprises 93 mineral claims covering a ‘large’ carbonatite prospective for REEs.
Cazaly Resources is an ASX-listed resources company with a diversified portfolio of mineral projects across Australia, Namibia, and Canada.
Relocated from the East Coast in New Zealand to Queensland Australia, Aaliyah is a fervent journalist who has a passion for storytelling. When Aaliyah isn’t writing stories, she is either spending time with friends and family or down at the beach.
Cazaly Resources (ASX:CAZ) is planning a channel sampling program across the stratigraphic unit at its Ashburton Project in Western Australia.
During the June 2023 quarter, Cazaly planned a follow-up surface sampling program across the rare earth element (REE) trend where previous helicopter support surface sampling returned 7 samples with anomalous total rare earth oxide (TREO) above 0.5% and 2 samples above 1% TREO.
The company says this second phase of sampling will include close-spaced surface rockchip sampling and geological mapping to provide more information on the style, width, and distribution of the REE mineralisation.
In the company’s latest quarterly report released today (27 July 2023), Cazaly says it has enhanced its exposure to the battery and critical minerals markets through strategic acquisitions of 2 ‘highly prospective’ projects in Canada.
In April, Cazaly secured an option agreement to acquire the Carb Lake rare earth elements project in Canada and completed the acquisition in June, following extensive due diligence.
Cazaly also entered into a binding agreement in May to acquire the Sundown Lithium Project in the James Bay lithium province.
The company is continuing to progress with due diligence at Sundown and plans to conduct an initial field reconnaissance mapping and rock chip sampling program to assess the ‘large’ number of documented outcropping pegmatites for spodumene and lithium mineralisation, upon completion of due diligence.
Cazaly adds that this will be part of the company’s exploration strategy to drill test the best targets in the subsequent phase of exploration.
As of 30 June 2023, the company had $6.7 million cash and investments at hand.
Commenting on the past quarter, Cazaly Resources Managing Director Tara French says: “Cazaly is delighted to secure the Sundown Lithium Project in the James Bay lithium province in Canada, as well as the outright acquisition of the Carb Lake Rare Earth Project in Canada’s Red Lake mining district.
The Cazaly team cannot wait to start conducting modern, systematic exploration to further improve our understanding of the potential scale on offer at Sundown and Carb Lake.
Meanwhile, progress has also continued at Cazaly’s other assets during the quarter, namely the positive Scoping Study completed by AuKing, which modelled operations at the company’s Hall Creek and Boomie copper projects.
“With 2 major acquisition opportunities this quarter, we are even better placed to continue the business model with a view to progress the best assets to development”
With 2 major acquisition opportunities this quarter, we are even better placed to continue the business model with a view to progress the best assets to development.”
Cazaly Resources is an ASX-listed company with a diverse portfolio of mineral projects across Australia, Namibia, and Canada.
Relocated from the East Coast in New Zealand to Queensland Australia, Aaliyah is a fervent journalist who has a passion for storytelling. When Aaliyah isn’t writing stories, she is either spending time with friends and family or down at the beach.
Diversified explorer Cazaly Resources (ASX:CAZ) has completed the acquisition of the Carb Lake Rare Earth Project in the Red Lake District of Ontario, Canada.
In April 2023, Cazaly announced it had entered into an exclusive binding agreement to acquire the Carb Lake Rare Earth Project, which comprises a ‘large’ 2.5km-3km diameter circular magnetic anomaly known as the Carb Lake Carbonatite Complex, considered prospective for rare earth elements (REE) and niobium.
The company reports it has now completed due diligence to its satisfaction and, as a result, has finalised the acquisition of Carb Lake. As part of this due diligence process, Cazaly gained access to the diamond drill core stored at the Ministry of Mines Geological Survey in Kenora.
Cazaly says the diamond core is ‘very narrow’ at 22mm in diameter and stored in wooden core trays in a ‘largely poor’ state. While some diamond core was available for drillholes DD001 and DD002, the majority of drill core from holes DD003 and DD004, which were drilled closest to the centre of the carbonatite, was unavailable, as it had been consumed for historical analytical work.
Nevertheless, geological observations were consistent with historical reported work. Cazaly says the carbonatite predominantly consists of calcite with variable amounts of biotite, hornblende, apatite, actinolite, minor pyrite, and chalcopyrite.
Based on the core condition and the uncertainty relating to the downhole measurements, Cazaly reports a program of non-invasive geochemical testing will be conducted this week using portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF), portable gamma-ray spectrometer, and magnetic susceptibility readings.
These measurements will provide information on the geochemical nature of the carbonatite at the drillhole location. However, it will not be possible to attribute any values to exact downhole depths.
Additionally, the company has agreed to purchase the raw data from the original contractors that collected high-resolution magnetic, radiometric, and XDS VLF-EM data completed in 2011. Re-processing this data will be prioritised to facilitate drill planning.
Once Cazaly completes initial drill core testing and re-processing geophysics, a field reconnaissance program will be refined. This program has been planned to initially assess the project with surface mapping, float, and rock sampling, where possible, to determine the accessibility of future drill site locations.
The company expects this field-based program to begin in late August following the receipt of appropriate land access approvals.
Commenting on the acquisition and due diligence, Cazaly Resources Managing Director Tara French says: “It was great to be able to locate and have the opportunity to complete further test work on core from drilling which was conducted on the project more than 50 years ago.
“While visually it’s apparent that there is significant variation and zonation of the mineralogy in the drill core, the XRF data will provide more detailed information on geochemical variability”
In order to preserve what drill core is left, a non-invasive geochemical program will be conducted. While visually it’s apparent that there is significant variation and zonation of the mineralogy in the drill core, the XRF data will provide more detailed information on geochemical variability.
Once the airborne magnetic and radiometric data has been re-processed, we will be in a position to plan drillhole locations that can be assessed on the ground during the upcoming field reconnaissance exploration program.
We are very excited to be progressing the project with our in-country technical team and planning the early exploration work with a view to drill-testing the Carb Lake Carbonatite Complex in the coming winter months.”
Cazaly Resources is a Perth-based mineral explorer with a portfolio of projects in Australia, Namibia, and Canada. The company’s assets include the Halls Creek Copper, Ashburton, McKenzie Springs Nickel-Graphite, and Mt Venn Gold projects in Western Australia, along with the Abenab North and Kaoko Critical Minerals projects in Namibia.
In Canada, the company holds the Carb Lake Rare Earth Project in Ontario and has recently entered an exclusive binding agreement to acquire the Sundown Lithium Project in Quebec.
Hailing from the Central Coast region of NSW, Harry is a passionate journalist with a background in print, radio and ESG news. When not bashing away on his keyboard, he can be found brewing a coffee or playing with his dog.
