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Auric Mining managing director Mark English said: “This acquisition gives Auric greater control over our destiny for open pit mining at our Munda gold mine. We’ve moved mining at Munda along rapidly this year and are pleased this hurdle to progress our future expansion will be removed.”
Meanwhile, Auric has lit the fuse on a starter pit at Munda to grab a quick $5.3 million in cash from extracting 6100 ounces of gold. It expects to wrap up mining at the pit by October.
The initial dig will kill several other birds with one stone. By pre-stripping waste rock at a 7.6:1 ratio while gold prices are flying high, the company is laying the groundwork to slash future costs and shield itself from market volatility.
The early phase will also deliver vital insights into the broader orebody ahead of a major production ramp-up.
Below the surface at Munda, a much bigger story is looming. At a 0.5 grams per tonne (g/t) cut-off, the deposit hosts 3.65 million tonnes grading 1.23g/t for 145,000 ounces of gold. If the cut-off is loosened to 0.2g/t, that figure swells to 189,000 ounces.
A 2023 scoping study by Minecomp used a now modest US$2600 (A$3952) per ounce gold price to estimate a higher grade 1.716Mt resource at 2.2g/t gold, which, once processed could generate a whopping $76.9 million in surplus cash flow. With today’s roaring bullion prices, that number could shoot well north.
Auric is now gearing up to lock in plans for the much larger pit, with full-scale mining scheduled to kick off in 2026.
From WIN Metals’ perspective, today’s transaction offers a clean divestment of non-core assets, which were not part of its near-term plans for its 180,000-tonne Mt Edwards nickel project. The Munda nickel deposit, while hosting an estimated 7260 tonnes of contained nickel, didn’t make the cut for WIN’s development priorities.
WIN’s managing director Steve Norregaard pointed to the sluggish nickel price outlook and the company’s sharpened focus on gold as primary reasons for doing the deal.
Norregaard said the sale has unlocked latent value from an asset the company wasn’t planning to develop in the short term and funds would now be directed towards follow-up exploration at its 359,000-ounce Butchers Creek gold project in the Kimberley.
The deal seems to highlight a rare win-win transaction for the mining sector, with both parties walking away stronger and better focused.
As Auric accelerates gold production at Munda and WIN targets new ounces in the Kimberley, this asset swap may go down as a pivotal growth moment for both companies.
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