Nic Earner on the Australian gold bull market, Alkane’s M&A deals and the Tomingley Gold Mine

“At the end of September we had $82.4 million in cash and bullion. We have been accruing that cash up. We looked at the kind of gold investments that are a little smaller than what the majors might want. Think in that 50,000 to 100,000 ounce per annum range that people do not really go for. They tend to be a bit unloved by investors. We look at how can we contribute to those and become a major investor in those and then use our expertise to help develop them and therefore create value for both companies.” States Nic Earner, Managing Director of Alkane Resources Ltd. (ASX: ALK | OTCQX: ANLKY), in an interview with InvestorIntel Corp. CEO Tracy Weslosky.

Tracy Weslosky: Nic you just put out your most recent quarter announcements and it looks like you are right on track on your gold production. Can you give us a bit of an update please?

Nic Earner: We operate the Tomingley Gold Mine in the central west of New South Wales. In the last financial year we did just under 80,000 ounces of production. In the last quarter we did just under 15,000 ounces of production. It is an open cut mine that has been producing well for us. We are actually right now making the transition to go underground on that mine. We are very happy with how it is progressing.

Tracy Weslosky: Correct me if I am wrong. I saw a lot of drilling. It looked like a lot of drilling results in that 80-page update you had. Can you talk to us about some of the more outstanding updates?

Nic Earner: Compliance does drive a large appendix in all of these announcements. Alkane operated a heap leach gold mine at the town of Peak Hill, which is about 15 kilometers south of Tomingley from the mid-nineties to the mid-2000s. That corridor is quite prospective. We have been drilling about 4 kilometers south of our existing infrastructure, the Tomingley Gold Mine, where we have a mill and processing facility operating at present. Quite interestingly, we have 3 major prospective types. We think each of them is as large as a potential hit area or as our largest pit at Tomingley. We are drilling those right now, between now and Christmas. Those results will come out next year. We got some of the intersections circa, people will see in the announcement, circa 10 meters around that, sort of, 2 gram at different depths. A lot of mineralization and we are trying to define what may be economic and what may not be economic, so quite interesting.

Tracy Weslosky: Speaking of quite interesting and economic, I noticed you have been doing a number of M&A activities too, actually in the last month and a half. Can you talk to us about the highlights?

Nic Earner: Yeah, we have. At the end of September we had $82.4 million in cash and bullion. We have been accruing that cash up. We looked at the kind of gold investments that are a little smaller than what the majors might want. Think in that 50,000 to 100,000 ounce per annum range that people do not really go for. They tend to be a bit unloved by investors. We look at how can we contribute to those and become a major investor in those and then use our expertise to help develop them and therefore create value for both companies. The first one that we did was a company called Calidus. They are up in the Pilbara region probably known to quite a few listeners for their whole conglomerate gold story, not that they are part of the conglomerate gold story. They have some very, very interesting surface mineralization…to access the complete interview, click here

Disclaimer: Alkane Resources Ltd. is an advertorial member of InvestorIntel Corp.