Fathers Day Vein coughs up 90kg stone at Beta Hunt Father’s Day Vein coughs up 90kg stone at Beta Hunt
Josh Chiat
Thursday, 11 October 2018 6:47PM
A 90kg slab has added to RNC’s Father’s Day Vein discovery. Picture: RNC Minerals Beta Hunt is continuing to cough up gold stones from RNC Minerals’ Father’s Day Vein discovery, the latest a 90kg slab of rock containing $1.7 million of the yellow metal.
The 1000-ounce slab was mined from the roof of the Father’s Day Vein find, a living room-sized area 500m underground in the Kambalda mine the Canadian company estimates will deliver as much as 35,000oz in a month, the same as it produced across 2017.
It is a nice sweetener for RNC at Beta Hunt, with the company planning to provide its long-anticipated production results next week.
The slab was cut by workers at the mine, exposing the high-tenor visible gold within it. It will be cut into smaller specimens to go to auction alongside massive 2440oz and 1620oz stones that sparked worldwide interest in the discovery when they were revealed publicly in September.
RNC Minerals chief executive Mark Selby said he expected the specimens to garner a premium on the prevailing gold price — $1686/oz yesterday, according to Kitco data.
“We expect that these spectacular specimen slabs will be highly sought-after by mineral specimen collectors,” he said.
“RNC will be able to accumulate smaller specimen stones as these are produced. Based on the current faces, we expect that the next firings should generate a substantial number of specimen stones and begin direct sales of these slabs and smaller specimens to the public, which we expect will allow us to capture the significant premiums above their gold content.”
A collection of big stones, including the 93kg King Henry, are on display to the general public at the Perth Mint.
It has capped a spectacular run for the 45-year-old mine, which has struggled since its transition from nickel to gold production began three years ago.
RNC shares closed yesterday at C74¢, having been as low as C9¢ before announcing the discovery and pulling its plan to sell Beta Hunt last month.