Navarre Minerals (ASX:NML) is busying itself ahead of next month’s Noosa Mining Conference as it works to complete a recapitalisation and resume trading on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX).
The junior explorer is one of the big contingent of companies taking to the stage at the Noosa Mining Conference running from 13 to 15 November at Peppers Noosa Resort on the top end of Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.
Managing Director James Gurry says Navarre will be discussing its drilling progress under the new exploration plan funded by the recent capital raise.
Navarre listed on the ASX in 2010, operating as a Victoria-focused gold exploration company until 2021.
The company found itself with excess financial commitments in 2022-2023 that saw it enter administration, and shares suspended from the ASX in June 2023.
In late 2023, the directors struck an agreement to regain control of the company with the aim of restarting and recapitalising.
In early June 2024, Navarre completed a $1.7 million convertible note capital raise with the funds used to secure the company, fund drilling at the Tandarra joint venture in Victoria, and for ASX re-compliance expenses.
The company is now undertaking the second stage of its complete recapitalisation by way of a new equity issue to raise between $4 million and $6 million, at $0.10 per share, to fund activities across its portfolio of exploration projects in Victoria.
“NML shares are due to trade on the ASX for the first time in over a year under a new team, new capital structure, reset valuation with existing set of high-grade gold projects in Victoria well known by the market,” Gurry tells Mining.com.au.
Navarre previously welcomed privately held Dunkeld Pastoral as an early cornerstone investor, which committed to invest at least $1 million by acquiring $500,000 worth of shares and providing convertible debt worth $500,000.
The company, which has a portfolio of five advanced exploration projects in Victoria, is gearing up for a 12-month continuous drilling campaign, set to begin in November and December.
“So we should have plenty of updates (assay results) for our investors from Q1 2025, which should, in the medium term, lead to an update to our existing JORC resource and exploration target, as well as maiden resource numbers for our other key projects,” he says.
Navarre recently completed a seven-hole diamond drilling program at the Lawry prospect within the Tandarra Gold Project.
In the company’s September quarter report released last week, Gurry said that drilling has already yielded results that confirm Navarre can grow the gold mineralisation further, with a focus on increasing activity over the coming months.
“With tremendous support and confidence from a range of new and existing investors, I am confident that Navarre can fully uncover the significant gold endowment within its tenement package,” he said.
In the gold-prolific Stawell Corridor, Navarre has defined a resource of 304,000 ounces @ 2.43 grams per tonne (g/t) gold, and has identified further resource potential of 280,000 to 420,000 ounces @ 2-3g/t gold.
Gurry is the former head of natural resources equity research at Deutsche Bank Australia and Credit Suisse London, roles that included covering large and small cap gold equities.
Most recently he was a small cap specialist and executive Director at PAC Partners Securities.
He says that with gold at a record high it is a “great time to bring well understood high-grade Victorian gold projects back to our existing and new investors with a heavily marked down valuation after the financial travails of the company in 2023”.
“We see and sense pent up value, but ultimately the market and investors will decide,” Gurry tells this news service.
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Write to Angela East at Mining.com.au
Images: Navarre Minerals
