Siren Gold (SNG.ASX)

by Barry Dawes

Redeveloping the Reefton Gold fields
Past production of 10moz (2moz underground and 8moz alluvial)
New NZ Government now encouraging mining
New Langdons tenement in the Papora Goldfield in same Greenland Group rocks of the Reefton Line of Lode
Antimony byproduct becoming more significant in a strengthening antimony market
Sams Creek exploration leading to potential additional resources
Geochem and geophysics surveys here increasing the mineralisation footprints
Notional in-ground value yardstick of SNG resources is US$2,670m (A$3,985m) vs A$10m market cap

Key points

Siren Gold has 1.3moz in two projects in South island New Zealand
- holds major portfolio of Reefton tenements
- has 81% JV at Sams Creek with OceanaGold

Current Reefton resource of 511koz @ 4.4g/t AuEq (including antimony)
- This is > US$1,000m in ground value
SNG building towards a central plant treating ores from several sites
Bonanza grade maiden results in gold and antimony from new Langdon’s Prospecting Permit in SW near Greymouth
- Results included with notional in-ground value per tonne
  - 506g/t Au 6.0% Sb = US$32,721/t
  - 6.08 g/t Au 9.30% Sb = US$1,593/t
  - 10.90 g/t Au 3.90% Sb = US$1,195/t
- Total of 400m strike and 200m wide
- Outcropping reefs beneath shallow coal measures
  - Expect to find reef structures are much longer here under the coal

Sams Creek resource of 824koz @ 2.8g/t expected to be increased in 2024
Geochem and geophysics surveys highlight large anomalies
Market cap A$10m on 161m shares @ A$0.061

An MPS report on Siren Gold on 19 December 2023 detailed the aggregation, consolidation and development of a number of tenements in SNG’s Reefton Goldfield portfolio.

The portfolio has tenements ranging over ~100km of the strike of the Reefton Line of Lode from the Lyell tenements in the north to Alexander River and down to tenement over Bell Hill in the south.

Siren Gold – Reefton Project Tenement Location

Siren Gold has steadily built up its gold resource base as it has carried out effective detailed exploration work on these tenements on its program towards a target of >3.5moz by end 2025.

Exploration work on the Reefton Goldfield along strike and downdip on the veins and reefs is expected to add around 500koz within the next 12months.

The Reefton style of mineralisation will allow this statement to have validity.

The Line of Lode is over 50km along strike and reefs have been mined or followed 1500m down dip.

Reef drilling can give multiple repeats of data like this for inferred resources at each project and each year.

300m strike x 1500m down dip x 1m wide = 450,000m3 x 2.6 SG = 1.17mt @ 4g/t = 145koz

3 or 4 of these basic units gets 500koz each year.

Note too, that in the diagram below, Sams Creek is expected to essentially double its resources of 825koz in 2024 through new work and with the new anomaly at Anvil.

Siren Gold’s Resource table

Note that the in ground value for these resources is US$2679m (A$4,600m).

For an A$10m market cap company.

These are gross figure of course but revenue on even half as recoverable mineralisation would cover very large capital and operating costs and still provide a very good return.

The focus on the Reefton Goldfield from the above full table shows 511koz with the southern permits primarily gold with minor antimony.

But Auld Creek in the more northerly Golden Point tenement has a resource with 1.5% antimony (Sb).

Antimony will become more important for military purposes and at around US$13,000/t is very valuable.

The inground value of Reefton to SNG is US$1012m including US$113m for the antimony.

Siren Gold’s Targets along the Reefton Line of Lode (Note Federation Mining has 700koz @ 23g/t) so total combined current defined resources on the Reefton Goldfield are 1.1moz @16g/t.

The Langdons tenement in the Paparoa Goldfield was granted in May 2023 on a section of Greenland Group Ordovician Lachlan Fold Belt rocks just east of Greymouth.

This is the same rocks of the Reefton Line of Lode but to the west and closer to the coast.

The outcrop of these rocks is quite sparse but several small historic high grade gold and antimony mines are known from the 1880s but most of this geology is covered by later sediments including coal measures.

Several open cut coal mines have operated in the area and Siren is assessing whether these overlying Cretaceous coal measures are actually quite thin over the Greenland Group rocks.

Langdons Tenement showing Cretaceous Coal Measures (in green) and other overlying sediments with islands of Ordovician Greenland Group

The Langdons Reef was discovered in 1879 and early reported grades were up to 80oz/t (2,610g/t).

Several mines were opened and a battery was established in 1885 and a second in 1890.

Langdon and Victory reefs were mined over a period of five years with reported production of 1,586oz @ 60g/t.

These mines were also considered as antimony mines.

Langdons and Victory were reopened after WWII and ran for several years with Victory being mined over three levels but no hard data is available.

Adits were developed at Langdons, Liberty and Victory(>100m).

Geochem surveys in the 1980s highlighted a broad 150m wide zone over 400m along the Langdons-Liberty axis with a smaller sub parallel zone over the Victory.

Outcrop is sparse but recent rock chip samples by Siren gave very high grades for gold and antimony.

These are only rock chip samples but look at the value per tonne.

Sample F is still US$261/t against probable operating costs of US$70/t but before refining and dilution costs.

The Langdons tenements strike NW-SE and dip to the north.

This is quite different alignment to that of the N-S Reefton Line of Lode.

SNG assesses that the strike is likely to extend to the NW beneath the coal measures.

Drilling should test that later in 2024.

A fault bounds the SE sector.

Geochem sampling and historic antimony-gold workings

It is early days for the Langdons targets but very little modern work has been done and no drilling at all.

With these high antimony grades there is clearly potential for finding additional mineralisation and perhaps resources.

Langdons, together with the high antimony in the Auld Creek resource, where the value of the antimony is almost equal to the gold, SNG could have a viable antimony stream with gold mining.

Auld Creek is not far from the old OceanaGold Globe Progress mill site which is the obvious choice for a new gravity and flotation mill.

The mill would treat Auld Creek, any potential Langdons ores as well as the gold ores from Big River and Alexander River.

The Golden Point tenement surrounds the Globe Progress tenement where the old mill site is located.

Auld Creek with 132koz AuEq is in the north and SNG has another 103koz at Supreme just outside the Globe Progress tenement.

Antimony

The importance of antimony is growing.

Demand growth is expected run at 5-7%pa so that demand is likely to exceed 200,000tpa within a decade.

Antimony is most often alloyed with lead (Pb) and tin (Sn), making the elements more rigid or stiff hence in cast bullets.

It is used in lead-acid batteries and fire retardants and has an important and growing requirement in munitions.

With the continuing hostilities in Ukraine and now the Middle East much ammunition has been expended and is in short supply.

And in the US there is an ongoing ammunition shortage driven by the recent strong growth in gun sales.

In addition to being an important metal for ammunition and other defence needs, antimony is in high demand because of its use in clean energy infrastructure.

Renewable energy – Solar panels, wind turbines, generators, batteries, and nuclear reactors.
Technology – Smartphones, computers, semi-conductors, and automotives.
Defence – Ammunition, tanks, submarines, warships, communication systems, night vision goggles, infrared sensors, and other military technology.

Global production is around 110,000tpa but >50% comes from China, 18% from Russia and 15% from Tajistan.

Western-aligned output is <7%!

US demand from non-China sources is increasing and antimony project developers like SNG and NAG.ASX have had approaches from mandated metals merchants.

US Mines Dept data in tonnes.

Antimony prices were above US$14000 in 2022 and are now rising above US$13,000 again after being quite low early in 2023.

Australia has a gold-antimony mine at Costerfield in Victoria not far from Fosterville run by TSX-listed Mandalay Resources.

Costerfield produces about 40kozpa gold and around 2000tpa of antimony.

Mandalay is quite profitable.

The Mandalay share price is at an interesting juncture with its uptrend being tested.

Its reserves include around 29kt of contained antimony at 2.5% from resources of ~40kt contained antimony at 2.8%.

Antimony mines can make money.

Sams Creek

Sams Creek has 824koz @ 2.8g/t in a hydrothermally altered granite porphyry dyke and is analogous to NSW’s Lachlan Fold Belt and to the Cadia and Ridgeway porphyry copper gold deposits.

The dyke is 60m wide and can be traced on surface for over 7km from Riordans in the west to Barrons Flat in the east and gold mineralisation is notable 1000m down dip.

The dyke fits within geological folding over this entire distance with gold mineralisation observed in the fold hinges, resulting in NE plunging mineralised shoots.

Three folds have been intersected in the Main Zone and additional folds have been mapped on surface and indicated in the soil and rock chip sampling.

These additional mineralised fold hinges have the potential to significantly increase the Sams Creek Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) of 824koz @ 2.8g/t Au in the Main Zone.

SNG is projecting a doubling of this resource in 2024, particularly from the Anvil prospect.

The 3D visualization shows the folded dyke dipping NE and the large magnetic anomaly generated by two separate data sets of magnetism and radiometrics.

It also shows the at surface arsenic geochem signatures indicating the extent of the hydrothermal alteration.

At Sams Creek, Siren Gold also carried out Ionic Leach (IL) Geochemistry which has a deep sensing capability that can identify blind mineral systems with potential for hosting metal deposits.

The IL survey gave a strong gold-arsenic-molybdenum association within the Main Zone and it also found another strong anomaly to the east at Anvil.

The Anvil prospect had mineralised outcrop with rock chips up to 57g/t and two discrete IL anomalous zones coincided with elevated results from rock chips.

lement associations for many other metals including copper, lithium and rare earths were generated but the gold-arsenic-molybdenum appears to have given the most conclusive result.

This work is helping towards doubling the Sams Creek resource in 2024.

Change of government in New Zealand.

Christopher Luxon, New Zealand’s 42nd prime minister, is leading a centre-right government with the National Party, ACT New Zealand and New Zealand First, with clear policy plans to support regional development and the resource sectors.

Key Coalition Agreement Policies include:

Update the Crown Minerals Act 1991 to clarify its role as promoting the use of Crown minerals.
Explore the potential for a critical minerals list, where such minerals would have a preferential pathway for development once identified.
The Parties commit to establishing a fast-track one-stop-shop consenting and permitting process for regional and national projects of significance (Amendment of Resource Management Act 1991).
Investment the strategic opportunities in New Zealand’s mineral resources, including vanadium, and develop a plan to develop these opportunities.1

The Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Resources, Regional Development, Oceans & Fisheries, delivered his first full speech to parliament (address in reply debate) with strong support for mining and rare earth mineral extraction, as well as mining on Department of Conservation (DoC) land, stating:

“We’re going to have not only a plan but we’re going to have some certainty for the providers of international capital who are going to help us develop our economy. Fast track for aquaculture, fast track for mining, fast track for energy, fast track for infrastructure. Mining is coming back”.

SNG has had personal contact with the Minister and a local MP and has been assured of full support for the company’s plans for new mines and a mill.