This article is a sponsored feature from Mining.com.au partner Lodestar Minerals. It is not financial advice. Talk to a registered financial expert before making investment decisions.
A diverse portfolio may raise concerns about convoluted focus and risk, however, Lodestar Minerals (ASX:LSR) has used its diversity to leverage strong results. Coraline Blaud is the newly appointed CEO and Executive Director of Lodestar. Mining.com.au sits down with Blaud to discuss the company’s extensive portfolio, which guarantees that Lodestar remains hot on the radar of industry observers and stakeholders alike.
A diverse approach
With four major projects across multiple jurisdictions, Lodestar is steaming ahead with exciting developments and is expanding rapidly. This means that the company can capitalise on the current market and remain ahead of the beat.
“We are actively managing numerous portfolios and scaling rapidly. This is working very well for us as we can take advantage of the current markets which are very strong in gold, copper, and rare earths”, Blaud says.
The team at Lodestar is working industriously on several projects. These currently encompass gold and copper exploration in Western Australia and Chile, as well as rare earth exploration in Arizona, US.
In Chile, the Los Loros and Three Saints projects are positioned within one of the world’s largest IOCG (iron oxide, copper, gold) and porphyry belts. The Virgin Mountain Rare Earths Project in Arizona is focused on the exploration of heavy rare earth elements (HREE). Close to home in Western Australia, Lodestar is focusing on gold, copper, and base metals at its Ned’s Creek and Earaheedy Projects.
Blaud shares that Lodestar’s strategy is to use its Chilean copper portfolio as a long-term stable foundation, while advancing its gold and rare earth projects.
This diversification across projects, countries, and jurisdictions is pivotal to keeping Lodestar moving forward and — when asked what sets the company apart from other junior explorers — is what Blaud believes is key to the company’s success.
“It certainly never gets boring”, Blaud says with a chuckle.
The snowball effect: Ongoing momentum
A snowball-effect expansion to new jurisdictions has meant Lodestar has been building continual momentum in exploration. As a result, this has yielded rapid advancement in its key projects.
In Western Australia, the Ned’s Creek Gold project is moving quickly with a massive 10,000 metres of drilling set to take place in less than a week. This will define the scope and continuity of known mineralisation as well as expanding it. The company expects a maiden resource estimate mid-year, with potential mining in 2027.
While in the US the Virgin Mountain Heavy Rare Earths Project is also progressing, with a team of three specialist rare earth geologists scheduled to be in the field this month. They will work on mapping the identified 5km shear trend proven to host the Heavy Rare Earth mineralisation, as well as completing a targeting exercise to expand their rare earth footprint in the US.
In Chile, visual results from the second drill hole at Three Saints are predicted in the next few weeks, which will provide a potential continuity and scale of this newly identified IOCG-style mineralisation. In parallel, the Los Loros Porphyry project is also progressing towards a maiden drilling program in May with the completion of the IP and magnetometry geophysical survey. Los Loros was acquired by Lodestar in January and is an identified outcropping porphyry with potential for shallow Cu-Mo mineralisation and high-grade gold structures, all within 30km from a mining port with existing infrastructure.
These speedy developments indicate milestones for stakeholders to monitor and mean that there is no shortage of news in Lodestar’s world. “Whether you prefer gold, copper, rare earths… there’s always news”, Blaud says.
People power
At the heart of Lodestar’s success is a team with the skills to oversee its diverse portfolio across multiple sites. Blaud shares some big news that the company has just brought on new key players, with two rare earth specialists to join the US project team. These new team members bring a wealth of knowledge and will add another layer of technical depth and expertise to the projects.
“It’s common to hear of rare earth specialists in the industry who have around six months’ experience, but we have been able to assemble a team of three geologists who all have close to 10 years of experience each”, Blaud says, demonstrating the immense value that these individuals are going to add to the team.
Of course, there are industry hurdles to overcome in the landscape of exploration, but Blaud is optimistic about the future of Lodestar due to the unwavering support from shareholders and the highly capable team.
“We have a very good base of shareholders, and our share price has been tracking up. We are getting recognised for the work we do. We have a fantastic team running in each country, on each project”, Blaud shares.
Greener mining
Blaud says that Lodestar is well positioned in terms of reducing its carbon footprint. The company is exploring resources that, if successfully developed, could aid in clean-energy advancements. Rare earths and copper are fundamental to the development of renewable energy technologies, such as wind turbines, solar panels, and electric vehicles.
Lodestar’s projects are strategically positioned close to existing infrastructure, particularly in Chile, to limit its carbon footprint. Its US rare earths project contributes to supporting local supply chains by strengthening future security and generating regional work.
The future
Continual project innovations and new vital team members mean that Lodestar is expanding its repertoire daily. Through a diverse portfolio, Lodestar is successfully setting itself up to capitalise on opportunities.
Blaud is excited to see what the future holds and is confident that “these four projects, within three different countries, mean that we can manage any ups and down of the market”.
Multiple projects being advanced concurrently — rather than sequentially — has meant that the company has been able to stay on top of trends and ahead of market value.
“Lodestar is very busy advancing all of our projects and can see that each has their different capacities and capabilities. We are very much looking forward to seeing them come to fruition”, Blaud comments.
Write to Delila Bevan Zavadsky at Mining.com.au
