ASX-listed explorer, Magmatic Resources acquired an advanced gold-copper target portfolio in the Macquarie Arc in 2014 from Gold Fields. Today, that portfolio encompasses three advanced projects: Myall, Wellington North, and Parkes.
Major discovery at Myall
In 2022, Magmatic made a major discovery of a porphyry copper-gold deposit at Myall, with extensive drilling leading to a maiden resource in 2023 of ~350kt contained Cu-equivalent. This led to Magmatic signing a $14M six-year farm-in and joint venture (JV) agreement with Australian major Fortescue in March 2024 to further explore Myall's copper-gold potential. In parallel, Fortescue took a 20% cornerstone position in Magmatic.
On taking over the helm in 2022, managing director, Adam McKinnon decided to switch the focus from the well-advanced Wellington North project to Myall, having identified that promising exploration work at the latter had not been fully followed up. This proved to be a smart move with the first hole drilled hitting >700m of mineralisation, something McKinnon described as "pretty exciting."
An active programme is currently underway at Myall, with Magmatic as the JV operator and Fortescue set to earn up to a 75% interest in the project. Moreover, the financial security now afforded Magmatic by virtue of this development has allowed the company to expand its attentions to its two other projects at Wellington North and Parkes without any loss of focus on Myall.
A rich portfolio
The Wellington North project adjoins and surrounds Australia's newest gold-copper porphyry discovery at Alkane's 14.7Moz AuEq Boda/Kaiser complex. Magmatic is actively exploring similar Boda-style targets and can already point to comparable mineralisation intersected. Ergo, investors should know that Wellington North's promise is not conceptual, and results from further exploration to come will be eagerly anticipated.
Further to the west, Magmatic's Parkes Project is characterised by a recently defined six-kilometre copper trend with outcropping mineralisation. The prospect has had little modern exploration and with a large induced polarisation (IP) survey having just kicked off, its potential is clear, representing what McKinnon described as "an incredible opportunity".
Yet, given the scale of what has already been discovered, of the three Magmatic projects across the Macquarie Arc, it is Myall that possesses the Tier 1 ingredients to really excite the market. And with it, the potential to provide Magmatic Resources with what McKinnon describes as "a transformational opportunity for the Company."
As McKinnon explained, the key to Myall is the very large-scale potential of the project, offering up even at this early stage a huge resource still open in every direction.
Magmatic has demonstrated that Myall has the same age rocks, the same style of mineralisation and similar scale intrusive complexes as the decades-long established Northparkes mine just 50km to its south, now majority owned by Evolution Mining. It also shares similar geological credentials to Newmont's famed Cadia deposit nearby, with that mine representing one of Australia's largest gold and copper mining operations. This should all be reassuring and inspiring music to the ears of shareholders both current and prospective.
Rome wasn't built in a day
The managing director further highlighted that Northparkes was not all discovered in one hit and that over a 40+ year period no less than 22 individual porphyries have been discovered at the project. With Myall enjoying so many geological parallels, he was making the point that while he believes there is lots more to find, uncovering these deposits is somewhat of a process.
Similarly, Wellington North is hosted in the same package of rocks as Alkane's Boda deposit, and it has already demonstrated porphyry mineralisation at numerous areas across the tenement. Exploration work to date should just be seen as the beginning of the process, with good reason to think that Boda-type endowment and broader scale potential are around the corner, given that early-stage results are comparable.
As Magmatic Resources managing director, Adam McKinnon noted, "in terms of geological provenance, you won't find a better area for this exploration."
Next steps
Looking forward, at Myall, Magmatic is currently engaged in an extensive historic core resampling program to provide essential geochemical vectoring data. This will feed into an upcoming drilling program that will include six relatively deep diamond holes into the deposit by the end of 2024. These holes are planned for the greater Corvette-Kinswood area, which has produced many significant copper and gold intersections over the last two years.
At Wellington North, Magmatic has programmes coming up that will test three key porphyry targets at various states of progress, which will include drilling at the promising Rose Hill site.
At Parkes it's all about the newest discovery, Black Ridge, where an IP survey is currently underway, with further mapping and sampling set to take place to advance the project.
And in terms of being well positioned for making further discoveries, McKinnon takes pride in Magmatic's active exploration credentials, asserting that the company "puts more money into the ground than just about any other junior in our area."
