This article is a sponsored feature from Mining.com.au partner Sunshine Metals. It is not financial advice. Talk to a registered financial expert before making investment decisions.
One of Sunshine Metals’ (ASX:SHN) goals of 2024 was to strengthen its local presence in northern Queensland, where its projects are located.
In early December, the junior explorer announced it had nabbed Joanne Bergamin, a seasoned communications and sustainability professional with expertise across the resources and energy sectors in Queensland.
Bergamin joined Sunshine from her former role with vanadium explorer QEM (ASX:QEM) and has previously worked for gas producer Arrow Energy (ASX:AOE).
She is also a staunch advocate for more women in mining, having founded the national Women in Sustainable Energy & Resources network, which she chairs.
Bergamin recently took out the inaugural Mining.com.au Women in Mining Leadership award. The Masters of Mining award recognises a team leader, manager, or company executive who has made a significant contribution to the mining industry over the course of their career.
With Bergamin’s addition to the board as a non-executive Director, Sunshine Metals now has two directors based in the company’s home city of Townsville along with an entire team of geologists and field assistants.
Local connections drive Sunshine Metals
Managing Director Damien Keys tells Mining.com.au Sunshine Metals is fortunate enough to have a head office 150km from its flagship Ravenswood Consolidated copper-gold-molybdenum-zinc-lead project.
“We have solid relationships with our landholders, native title groups, drilling contractors (Charters Towers-based) and local laboratories (Townsville),” he explains.
“The local workforce results in operational flexibility; we can ground truth that soil anomaly or historic mapped gossan the next day, continue to work between rainy days through the wet season etc.
“It’s a huge competitive advantage to other explorers in North Queensland who often explore in seasonal campaigns.”
According to Keys, having a local communications expert is imperative to progressing from junior explorer to producer.
“Jo is across the regulatory framework and already has established relationships with many of the key stakeholders (government, NGO and private) at local, state and federal level,” he notes.
Bergamin has worked closely with MITEZ (Mt Isa to Townsville Economic Zone), local councils, and the Department of Resources in prior roles.
Keys says all these parties have specific relevance to Sunshine Metals and its ambition to commercialise assets in the region.
The Charters Towers-Ravenswood district is a prolific gold region, with local mines producing around 20 million ounces of gold over 150 years. The district has also produced 14 million tonnes of copper-gold and zinc-lead.
Despite this, the region is “seriously underexplored”, with reverse circulation and diamond drilling limited to the main deposits and immediate surrounds – typically within 1km.
Keys says even base line datasets like soil sampling are limited to copper, lead and zinc, with very few gold samples.
The most significant period of exploration in the district was in the late 1980s. Esso collected 26,500 samples but only 640 have been assayed for gold.
“Geologically we believe we have the pick of the crop in terms of ground,” Keys says.
Sunshine Metals has secured roughly 85% of the Mt Windsor Volcanic belt, which hosts the Liontown, Thalanga and Highway Reward prospects.
Thalanga has about 10 million tonnes of zinc, copper, lead, silver and gold of past mining and resource, while Highway Reward has past mining totalling 3.9 million tonnes @ 5.4% copper and 1.1 grams per tonne gold.
“Very little modern exploration has been done. We have essentially inherited a blank canvas within a prolific gold and base metal district,” Keys says.
Liontown fuels resource growth
2024 was bookended by resource upgrades at the Liontown prospect.
Drilling over the course of last year returned top intersections including 20m @ 18.21g/t gold from 114m; 16.2m @ 4.54g/t gold and 1.11% copper, including 6.2m @ 9g/t gold and 2.52% copper, from 319m; and 6m @ 8.54g/t gold, 0.8% copper and 2.7% zinc from 73m.
As a result, the resource for the broader 1,760km² Ravenswood Consolidated Project now sits at 7 million tonnes @ 4g/t gold equivalent for 904,000 contained gold equivalent ounces following two resource updates.
The most recent upgrade was largely contributed by Liontown, which is large, shallow and high grade.
Since acquisition in 2023, Sunshine Metals has grown the resource by 42%, with Liontown hosting 4.5 million tonnes @ 3.6g/t for 511,000 contained gold equivalent ounces.
Liontown now accounts for 64% of the tonnes in the total Ravenswood resource.
At the same time, metallurgical recoveries have been optimised on gold-copper and gold now surpasses zinc as the dominant metal in the system, accounting for 68% of the contained metal in the resource.
At 904,000 ounces @ 4g/t gold equivalent, the Ravenswood Consolidated Project compares favourably to other large-scale producers and pre-producers in north-east Queensland.
These include Twin Hills, which has a resource of 999,000 ounces @ 1.3g/t gold, Pajingo – which hosts 923,000 ounces @ 5.8g/t gold, and the 5.92-million-ounce @ 0.7g/t Ravenswood Gold Mine.
“Ravenswood Consolidated is rich in gold and strategic minerals (copper and zinc) that have been the backbone of the Queensland metalliferous mining scene,” Keys says.
“Jo played a huge role in putting vanadium on the critical mineral agenda at state and federal government level in her last role at QEM,” he notes.
“We have no doubt that Jo will be a loud voice for the company and project and offer valuable insights at board level.”
Queensland’s next big discovery
2024 was marked by several milestones including improved gold and copper recoveries from the Liontown footwall to 92.6% copper and 86% gold – up from 80% and 65%, respectively – producing a concentrate grading 23.5% copper and 71.6g/t gold.
“Sunshine Metals has made huge advances at the flagship Liontown deposit,” Keys says.
The company defined electromagnetic geophysical anomalism to the west of the Liontown resource and completed induced polarisation surveys at the Highway East and Truncheon prospects.
First-pass drilling followed, defining gold in barite veining analogous to the top of the nearby (2km east of) Highway Reward Mine.
Meanwhile, Sunshine Metals also divested its non-core Triumph Project for $1 million cash and $1 million worth of Dart Mining (ASX:DTM) shares.
Keys says Sunshine Metals retains upside to the project as it now holds 13.9% of the issued Dart Mining stock.
With 2024 now in the rear view and 2025 underway, Sunshine Metals has “no intentions of slowing down”.
Early fieldwork and geophysical programs will kick off the new year at prospects such as Highway East, Truncheon (EM surveys), Mt Windsor, Coronation and at potential shallow gold systems Double Event and Lower Lighthouse.
Drilling will restart at Liontown in February or March, subject to weather, focusing on resource extensions at the western end of the prospect and heading toward targets at Tigertown, where 17m @ 3.05 g/t gold from 22m has previously been reported, and Cougartown.
“We will look to build on the solid start at Liontown and grow the resource, but we are also keen to make Queensland’s next gold-copper discovery, and we have the technical team to do it,” Keys concludes.
Write to Angela East at Mining.com.au
Images: Mining.com.au & Joanne Bergamin
