The circus of despair that has been 2020 was – among other things – a transformative time for the vast majority of industries, businesses and people around the world. From the utter collapse of global stock markets in mid-March to a soaring gold price that peaked in early August at an all-time high of more than US$2,000 per ounce, the COVID-19 pandemic has been a time of both disaster and opportunity.
Among those companies focusing on the latter is Outback Goldfields (
CSE.OZ,
Forum), which resumed trading on the Canadian Securities Exchange on December 17 under the symbol “OZ” following a name change from Skarb Exploration.
On December 15, Outback Goldfields acquired a package of four gold projects in Victoria, Australia, from ASX-listed Petratherm. According to the terms of the purchase agreement, the company issued just over 33.33 million common shares to Petratherm in order to acquire the Silver Spoon, Yuengroon, Glenfine and Ballarat West properties.
Notably, all of the four assets sit within the Fosterville Gold District – a region made famous by Kirkland Lake’s Fosterville Mine, which sits directly adjacent to the western side of Outback Goldfields’ new Silver Spoon property.
Commencing operations in 2005, the Fosterville Mine quickly made headlines throughout the global mining industry for its “bonanza” gold grades and extremely low production costs.
Its position as one of the largest gold producers in Australia was further cemented in 2018 with the release of an updated mineral resource estimate, which outlined a whopping 2.7 million ounces at an average grade of 31 grams per tonne of gold.
In years past, the Fosterville Gold District had been a key region in the gold rushes of the 1850s and 1930s with its established mesozonal – “Ballarat style” – gold deposits. However, the recent discovery of epizonal – “Fosterville style” – deposits (such as that found at the Fosterville Mine’s Swan Zone) has afforded the opportunity to explore and develop previously overlooked areas.
With roughly 1,100 hectares of land, Outback Goldfields is in an enviable position with significant potential to discover a large, extremely high-grade resource typical of Fosterville style deposits.
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In an effort to capitalise on this potential, Outback Goldfields has been busy building out its management team. Chris Donaldson, who was appointed CEO on October 1, currently leads a team of experienced mining figures that include Craig Parry as Chairman – who also acts as Chairman of Vizsla Resources, Skeena Resources and Goldbull Resources – and Christopher Leslie, who was appointed as Senior Consulting Geologist in early December.
We spoke to Chris about the company’s recent name change, how it constitutes a “fundamental change” of business, and what the future holds for Outback Goldfields.
Chris, thank you for taking the time to speak with us today. Perhaps you could give us some background information regarding the decision to rename from Skarb Exploration to Outback Goldfields, does it signify a shift for the company?
Yes absolutely. The focus of the company has now been centred on the 4 properties we put into Outback Goldfields in our recent transaction with Petratherm. The properties are all located in the Fosterville Gold district in Victoria, Australia.
The region has a long history of gold mining and has produced over 80 million ounces of gold historically. The assets are located in proximity to Kirkland Lake’s Fosterville Gold mine. It is one of the highest grade and lowest cost mining districts in the world.
We have a strong technical management team with boots on the ground at our properties and an eagerness to start exploration work early in the new year. 2021 is going to be an extremely busy year for the company with a steady stream of catalysts.
The four recently acquired gold projects – Silver Spoon, Yuengroon, Glenfine and Ballarat West – were acquired from Petratherm, which was founded by Peter Reid. Peter now acts as part of Outback’s technical team – does it help to have someone with experience in the region assisting the company?
Peter is a visionary geologist who had the foresight to start acquiring our tenements almost 5 years ago. Having a very strong local presence for the technical team with a deep understanding of the jurisdiction is paramount for the success of the company. We are fortunate that Peter is continuing with the projects and is acting as our Senior Technical Advisor. The combination of Peter and other in-country members of the technical team is providing a strong understanding of the best way to unlock value on our properties.
What does it mean for the gold properties to be in such close proximity to Kirkland Lake’s Fosterville Mine?
The “size of the prize” in this part of the world is incredible. The Fosterville mine is considered the highest grade and highest margin mine in the world. One of our properties (Silver Spoon) is sandwiched between Kirkland Lake and Newmont’s tenements. In fact, Kirkland Lake recently announced that they will be spending upwards of $100 million on exploration on their Victorian assets. Exploration success for Kirkland Lake or any of the other companies in the region will “float all companies”. With a solid treasury and plans for a significant exploration program in 2021 we are confident that we can put the Company in the best possible position to unlock value for shareholders.
What does the discovery of “Fosterville style” mineralisation mean for Outback Goldfields? Does it change the approach to exploration and development?
Our primary focus, at least at the start, is to make discoveries or identify drilling targets on all our properties and make the proper decisions at that timing. At the moment, were we to discover a “Fosterville style” type mineralization on any of our properties, we would need to then adjust our focus to determine the most efficient method to both maximize the resource and study the best method to mine that mineralization. At this point though for the company our focus is on ranking and prioritizing our exploration targets.
Thanks again for taking the time to speak with us. Is there anything you’d like to add before we finish?
Yes, great to speak with you and introduce your audience to Outback Goldfields. 2021 is going to be a very busy year for the Company as we intend to aggressively explore our properties. We anticipate having plenty of catalyst and news flow over the entire year as we are able to drill year around in this area. Be sure to follow the story!
For more information, visit
https://outbackgoldfields.com/
FULL DISCLOSURE: This is a paid article produced by Stockhouse Publishing.