Gold Retracement- Gold Exploration Once Again on Agenda- Ramelius and Gold Road

Summary

• Gold prices are currently retracing back after reaching a top of USD 1,765.94 per ounce on 18 May 2020.
• In the recent past, the gold spot has slipped below its psychological support of USD 1,700 per ounce, leading to a brief fall in ASX-listed gold stocks.
• The market risk appetite is now improving, which could be inferred from witnessing bull rally in many of equity indices across the globe, with some such as Nasdaq even hitting a record high.
• The current FOMO buying on the global front is making the gold future momentum hard to anticipate; however, the gold spot has recently given and confirmed a short-term breakdown.
• While a lot is happening on the bullion front, many ASX-listed gold miners such as Ramelius Resources Limited (ASX:RMS), Gold Road Resources Limited (ASX:GOR) are again putting gold exploration on the agenda and moving forward at a rabbit-pace to leverage on the present high-price environment.

Gold prices are once again trading at its near-term psychological support of USD 1,700 per ounce at USD 1,717.38 (as on 10 June 2020 12:16 PM AEST), which in turn, is supporting some of the ASX-listed gold stocks once again after their secondary correction previously.

To Know More, Do Read: Gold Slips Below USD 1,700 Per Ounce, ASX-Gold Stocks At the Brim of A Top

While the gold spot is showing some recovery, many industry experts believe that the improved risk appetite of the market, which is further leading towards a gush in equity market across the globe, could keep gold under check ahead. However, ASX-listed gold mining companies are now moving forward with exploration projects to secure the current high price environment.

ASX-Listed Gold Mining Companies Under Deep Exploration

• Ramelius Resources Limited (ASX:RMS)

Ramelius Receives Encouraging Intercepts from West Australian Gold Projects

In the recent past, RMS acquired the Penny Project from Spectrum Metals Limited (ASX:SPX) and post the acquisition, the Company continued on the work of SPX to complete 4,222m of resource development RC drilling and 1,516.8m of diamond drilling at Penny West, Penny North and Magenta prospects.

RMS now suggested that further considerable intersections have been received as a result of the ongoing drilling; however, the result of DD is still awaited.

Some of the encouraging intersections are as below-

• The drill hole identified as SPWRC180 intersected 4m at 18.06 g/t of gold from 216m, including 2m at 31.63 g/t.
• The drill hole identified as RPWRC006 intersected 3m at 18.42 g/t of gold from 184m, including 2m at 27.39 g/t.

RMS further plans for a Pre-Feasibility Study of the project, in which it would also include the outcome of shallow infill RC drilling completed at the Magenta prospect, which was aimed at strengthening confidence in reported shallow oxide intersections. Some of the high-grade intersections of the drilling are as below:

• The drill hole identified as RPWRC022 intersected 5m at 8.45 g/t of gold from 48m.
• The drill hole identified as RPWRC018 intersected 5m at 5.49 g/t of gold from 22m.

Apart from that, RMS is also receiving very robust thicknesses of mineralised granodiorite below the designed Stage 2 pit cutback at the Eridanus prospect, Mt Magnet.

The Company suggests that highly encouraging results have been returned from the drill hole ahead of a Scoping Study assessment; some of which are as below-

• The drill hole identified as GXDD0103 intersected 203m at 2.18 g/t of gold from 297m, including 22m at 13.07 g/t.
• The drill hole identified as GXDD0096A intersected 114m at 1.11 g/t of gold from 288m.
• The drill hole identified as GXDD0097 intersected 103m at 1.19 g/t of gold from 319m.

At Mt Magnet, RMS received a number of follow-up holes drilled around a single deeper RC hole- GXRC2014, which aimed at testing the deeper mineralisation below the Boomer pit at Mount Magnet, and the drill recovered some significant intersections such as 7m at 77.0 g/t of gold and 2m at 250 g/t of gold.

From the Orion prospect, which is the eastern strike extension of the Eridanus Granodiorite, the Company received results such as 9m at 1.02 g/t of gold, and 11m at 1.60g/t of gold.

At its flagship, Edna May, the Company targeted dip continuity of the northern lodes within the Tampia Resource and has now disclosed results of four infill RC drill holes, as the drilling was cut short due to COVID-19 outbreak.

Some of the encouraging results are as below-

• The drill hole identified as THRC687 intersected 14m at 1.32 g/t of gold from 42m.
• The drill hole identified as THRC688 intersected 11m at 1.04 g/ of gold from 42m.
• The drill hole identified as THRC687 intersected 9m at 2.42 g/t of gold from 42m.
• The drill hole identified as THRC687 intersected 4m at 1.16 g/t of gold from 42m.

RMS notified stakeholders and suggested that further step-out drilling is scheduled to re-commence throughout the Company’s portfolio of targets in the WA Wheatbelt around mid-December.

The market seems to have liked the outcome of recent drillings conducted by the Company over a range of prospects, and the stock closed at $1.655 (12:59 PM AEST, 10 June 2020), up by 4.1 per cent against its previous close on the exchange.

• Gold Road Resources Limited (ASX:GOR)

The stock of the Company is trading under pressure with the stock correcting from its recent record high and top of $1.800 (intraday high on 2 June 2020) to the present low of $1.395 (as on 9 June 2020), which marks a fall of 22.5 per cent.

However, the recovery in the gold spot above USD 1,700 mark is somewhat keeping the stock ignited, and presently it is trading at $1.472 (as on 10 June 2020, 01:51 PM AEST), up by 4.76 per cent against its previous close.

Just like Ramelius and other miners such as West African Resources Limited (ASX:WAF), the Company is presently focusing on more exploration.

Drilling at the Lake Grace and Yandina Joint Venture

On 5 June 2020, the Company notified about the drilling at the Lake Grace and Yandina JV with Cygnus Gold Limited (ASX:CY5), where CY5 manages the exploration while GOR funds the project.

CY5 started the drilling at the prospect, which would consist of ~ 7,320m of aircore drilling (AC drilling), 950m of RC drilling, and 400m of DD drilling to target gold mineralisation on three prospects identified within the Hammerhead Project.

The JV partner of the Company suggested that to date it has identified over eight discrete prospects, out of which four, i.e., Gunsmoke, Lakeside, Hammerhead, and Hideaway, are at the highest priority.

The drilling program is designed to test for depth and areal extensions of the highest priority prospect, which includes Hammerhead, which is a part of greenstone rock package- where the JV is targeting gold mineralisation associated with the Yandina Shear, which is large gold mineralisation, anticipated to control regional gold structures.

The drilling target over the high priority prospects are as below-

(Source: Company’s Report)

As per the CY5, it also plans to move ahead with 1,900m aircore drilling at the Hideaway prospect, which is a large historical gold-in-soils anomaly coincident with a 1.1 km-long mafic-felsic granulite contact. Some of the previous exploration results over the prospect demonstrate some significant results including 1m at 1.3g/t of gold from 7m, 1m at 1.0g/t of gold from 31m, and 1m at 0.83g/t of gold from 37m.

The JV exploration is further anticipated by the partners to be completed by next month.