Artemis Resources Ltd (PK) (ARTTF) Share Price

Blackwater mine, located 112 kilometres southwest of Vanderhoof, B.C., west of Prince George, will be operated by Vancouver-based Artemis Gold and is expected to generate more than $13.2 billion, including $2.3 billion in provincial revenue, over its lifetime, the company said.

Currently trading with a valuation of $100 million, Artemis Resources (ARTTF) disclosed, in its annual report, a total of 480k gold ounces in inferred resources. Investors pay $1,859 for one gold ounce. Therefore, the company’s resources are estimated to be close to $892 million. Two large asset management firms, Jupiter Asset Management and Ruffer, bought shares of the company. In our view, when more investors get to know the company’s projects, the share price will trade higher.

https://stockmarketrevolution.com/archives/15517

https://themarketherald.com.au/artemis-resources-asxarv-enters-first-trading-halt-since-february-2020-07-13/?__hstc=51568950.6aec3f597b32e6af9be1b156e010867c.1593603336745.1594626355487.1594631826348.37&__hssc=51568950.6.1594631826348&__hsfp=1849968329

Update


https://themarketherald.com.au/artemis-resources-asxarv-provides-updates-on-wa-projects-2020-06-30/

https://themarketherald.com.au/artemis-resources-asxarv-begins-drilling-at-munni-munni-project-2020-06-18/

It is my opinion that Artemis is an Australian stock I wish I had never heard the name. Today’s report of the sale of the muni-muni asset (gift to associates??) for nothing of value just confirms all of the negatives that have been stated about Artemis in the past. Where are the Australian Regulators and their oversight?

Artemis Resources chairman and Dubai royal family member buys shares
2019-10-24 08:33:00
His Highness Sheikh Maktoum Hasher M Juma Al Maktoum purchased the shares on-market.
Artemis Resources Ltd - Artemis Resources chairman and Dubai royal family member buys shares
Exploration has been recently focused on the Carlow Project and Aramada Project

Artemis Resources Ltd (ASX:ARV) non-executive chairman Sheikh Maktoum has purchased 1.11 million shares in the company through on-market trades.

The $36,991 purchase increases his overall holding in the company to 11.26 million shares.

Artemis recently successfully raised $5.9 million through a share placement priced at 3.2 cents.

The funds will be used to pay off a $4.6 million convertible note leaving the company debt-free with the remaining $1.1 million for Artemis key projects in the Telfer and Karratha areas of Western Australia.

Upcoming news flow expected
A new JORC resource estimate is due for the Carlow Gold-Copper Project in late October 2019 and Artemis is preparing to drill its Armada Project, also in Western Australia.

Notably, the Armada project surrounding the Havieron discovery (275 metres at 4.77 g/t gold) made by Newcrest Mining (ASX:NCM) and Greatland Gold PLC

https://thewest.com.au/business/mining/winu-copper-find-in-east-pilbara-could-be-big-for-rio-tinto-ng-b881191152z.amp?__twitter_impression=true

https://thewest.com.au/business/public-companies/artemis-lines-up-more-targets-in-the-paterson-range-ng-b881156620z.amp?__twitter_impression=true

https://twitter.com/Artemis_ARV/status/1112919606765576193?s=19

Artemis accelerates work at Armada
The-Pick Editorial Team The-Pick Editorial Team
2 hours ago

https://the-pick.com.au/artemis-accelerates-work-at-armada/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

https://twitter.com/Artemis_ARV/status/1102804637927628801?s=19

Artemis Resources Sampling Identifies Three Large New Gold Targets in West Pilbara

09:56 05 Nov 2018

Geochemical sampling and analysis techniques prove successful in the company’s extensive tenement package.

Targets are within short trucking distance of the Radio Hill processing plant

Artemis Resources Ltd (ASX:ARV) (FRA:ATY) (OTCMKTS:ARTTF) has discovered three new large gold geochemical targets within 30 kilometres of its Radio Hill processing plant in the West Pilbara of WA.

The targets – Patterson’s Hut, Ruth Well North and Pipeline – were identified in the first regional-scale compilation of geochemical data in the Karratha region.

This program also resulted in Artemis identifying new extensions at the existing Silica Hills and Nickol River targets.

Artemis’ executive director Ed Mead said: “Karratha until recently has remained relatively unexplored for its gold potential.

“This area-wide geochemical and rock chip survey indicates substantial gold prospectivity exists within Artemis’ extensive tenement package, all within a short trucking distance of our Radio Hill processing plant.

“The use of ionic geochemical analysis techniques in conjunction with traditional geochemical sampling has helped Artemis identify numerous new targets and projects such as Carlow Castle and Purdy’s Reward.”

Apart from the high-profile conglomerate related gold occurrences at Purdy’s Reward-Comet Well, the West Pilbara has a long history of small-scale gold production predominantly from quartz vein related systems.

Artemis noted the presence of shear zone hosted gold at Nickol River feeding alluvial/eluvial systems in the area and the axial plane quartz-gold-arsenopyrite mineralisation at the Weerianna Gold Project.

After consideration of this information with the multiple other known gold sources within the greenstones, geochemical exploration was initiated in the Carlow Castle area.

Based on the Carlow Castle success, sampling was subsequently expanded.

Broad regional soil geochemistry sampling was undertaken across the consolidated Artemis tenure on 400-metre spaced lines aligned north-south.

Multi-element responses
There were 12,247 samples collected 100 metres apart along these lines and a major multi-element suite of analyses were then conducted.

All the main areas identified in the geochemistry show multi-element responses.

Gold geochemistry responds strongly at Carlow Castle, Nickol River and Silica Hills, along with the new discoveries at Pattersons Hut, Ruth Well North and Pipeline.

At Patterson’s Hut rock chip samples in veins and gossanous chert returned up to 11.4 g/t gold across a 4.5-kilometre-long surface soil anomaly.

Rock chip samples of up to 5.04 g/t gold were returned from Ruth Well North across a 14-kilometre-long surface anomaly.

A soil geochemistry anomaly in association with numerous nuggets in shear zones has been identified across two 1.0-kilometre-long trends at Pipeline.

Targets being prioritised
Some infill sampling has been completed across the regional tenure and assays are pending.

Artemis is ranking and prioritising targets with plans for first pass aircore drilling being developed following receipt of Plan of Work and heritage approvals.

https://www.proactiveinvestors.com.au/companies/news/208453/artemis-resources-sampling-identifies-three-large-new-gold-targets-in-west-pilbara-208453.html

Artemis locks down new Pilbara drill targets
Monday, 29 October 2018 2:50AM
Matt Birney

Artemis Resources is again locked and loaded and ready for another drill campaign in the Pilbara region of WA.

After significant recent successes with the drill bit, Artemis is not resting on its laurels, with its first regional scale geochemical sampling program across its extensive West Pilbara tenements unearthing multiple new high order cobalt drill targets near Karratha.

The comprehensive exploration program generated over 12,000 soil samples and was completed on 400m spaced north-south lines with individual samples at 100m separations on each sampling traverse.

All samples were assayed for a multi-element suite, with a particular focus on initially defining broad trends in the cobalt mineralisation across the company’s broad land holdings that lie within easy trucking distance of its fully-owned Radio Hill processing plant.

Geographically, the sampling program has outlined 7 priority target areas spread throughout Artemis’ tenure, with many showing multi-element responses at the same locations.

The company used its own “Carlow Index” to provide some context for the plethora of results received from the program by directly comparing the assays and multi-element suites to the emerging high-grade Carlow Castle cobalt-gold-copper project area.

Based on the comparison to Carlow Castle as a baseline data set, the company delineated 3 lookalike cobalt targets in similar rock sequences at Carlow North, Fenceline and Zac.

These targets have been defined over significant strike lengths, with the anomaly at Carlow North showing up over 600m and the cobalt signature at Fenceline exceeding 2km.

The target at Zac is about 900m long and located within a faulted contact of mafic-ultramafic sequences and banded iron formations that look very similar to Carlow Castle, just 25km to the east northeast.

The new Purdy’s Reward target to the south shows strong anomalous cobalt assays associated with sheared basalts close to the margin of a granite.

Additionally, the work has outlined the Dingo and The Gap targets, which are believed to be associated with mafic intrusions and show metallic assay signatures that are also very similar to Carlow Castle.

The Bel’s PGE target is showing an unusual mix of platinum group metal and cobalt responses that are possibly related to a nearby, structurally altered mafic-ultramafic intrusive.

According to the company, there is no other recorded historical exploration over any of the other newly identified regional targets with the only exception being the Dingo target which has seen some minor drilling for PGE mineralisation in the past,

Artemis Executive Director Ed Mead said: “Cobalt has been known … in this region since the early 1920’s but noprovince wide assessment has been undertaken until now. This firstregional compilation of historic and newly acquired geochemical datagives us the first view into cobalt prospectivity and has identified multiplenew cobalt targets across the broader Artemis tenure.”
“Drilling by Artemis at the Carlow Castle … project is informing ourregional view of the cobalt opportunity and this work shows there is muchmore to be discovered in the West Pilbara, with modern techniques.Ranking and prioritisation of these targets is now underway.”
The company is now ranking and prioritising the new target areas and compiling work programs and heritage surveys ahead of its planned first-pass aircore drilling.

Meanwhile, Artemis is busy putting together its updated JORC compliant mineral resource estimate for the Carlow Castle project, which is expected later this quarter.

This announcement will no doubt be hotly anticipated by the market.

https://thewest.com.au/business/public-companies/artemis-locks-down-new-pilbara-drill-targets-ng-b881005711z

Pacton Enters Into Strategic Processing Alliance With Artemis

VANCOUVER, Oct. 17, 2018 /CNW/ - Pacton Gold Inc. (TSXV: PAC, OTC: PACXF, FSE: 2NKN) (the "Company" or "Pacton") is pleased to announce it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding ("MOU") with Artemis Resources Limited (ASX: ARV, FSE: ATY, USOTC: ARTTF) ("Artemis"), an Australian Securities Exchange listed exploration company, to enter into a strategic processing alliance ("Alliance").

Highlights of the Transaction:

Permitted processing facility provides potential of rapid advancement of Pacton's projects through substantial bulk sampling and production scale testing of gold mineralization.

Pacton's multiple mining leases held across a number of projects provides a rapid pathway for trial mining to be undertaken.
Project scale review underway across entire portfolio to identify opportunities for near term production from both conglomerate and shear hosted mineralization styles.

The MOU contemplates collaboration between the two companies, whereby Pacton can utilize Artemis' 100% owned Radio Hill processing plant, located 30 kilometres from the city of Karratha, on a non-exclusive basis. The Alliance provides Pacton with the potential to bulk process conglomerate and shear hosted mineralization from Pacton's multiple mining leases and therefore opens a rapid pathway to production.

Under the terms of the MOU, Artemis and Pacton will seek to work collaboratively to determine how they can together advance, or leverage off, Artemis' Radio Hill operations and processing infrastructure. Commercial terms for any processing arrangement remain subject to negotiation in a formal agreement.

"The strategic processing alliance with Artemis provides a far reduced upfront capital cost of evaluating near term development opportunities within the Pilbara. Pacton's extensive land holding in the Pilbara contains a multitude of prospects requiring evaluation. Through Pacton's granted mining leases in conjunction with the processing solution provided by Artemis, the alliance partners are well positioned to expedite development opportunities," commented Alec Pismiris, Interim President and CEO of Pacton Gold. "We look forward to working closely with Artemis, an established long term operator in the Pilbara region and strive to capitalize on the operating synergies between both parties."

About Pacton Gold

Pacton Gold (PAC: TSXV; PACXF: US, FSE: 2NKN) is a well-financed Canadian junior with key strategic partners focused on the exploration and development of conglomerate-hosted gold properties located in the district-scale Pilbara gold rush in Western Australia.

On Behalf of the Board of Pacton Gold Inc.

Alec Pismiris
Interim President & CEO

https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/pacton-enters-into-strategic-processing-alliance-with-artemis-697770051.html

56% uplift in Whundo copper/zinc resource for Artemis

ASX listed multi-commodity developer Artemis Resources has announced a significantly upgraded remnant JORC mineral resource for its mothballed Whundo base metals open pit mine, south of Karratha in WA.

The new resource, which is all sitting at the more confident “indicated” status, now shows 2.65 million tonnes grading 1.14% copper and 1.14% zinc, representing an impressive 56% jump in contained metal.

Importantly, the new estimate shows a near 30% increase in the fresh rock sulphide material, whilst providing a maiden resource of 390,000 tonnes grading 1.75% copper and 0.47% zinc on the remaining oxide ores at the old mine.

The Whundo mine was mothballed back in 2008 due to the low prevailing copper and zinc prices at the time and this is the first new resource estimate completed for Whundo since early 2012.

The price for copper and zinc has effectively doubled over that period and hence, the updated resource provides a timely review of the Whundo project’s scope and potential economic feasibility in light of the new commodity prices.

Historically, the mineral deposit has seen nearly 53,000 metres of drilling thrown at it and Artemis also completed a further 5,490 metres during 2018 to bring the mineral resource up to a standard where new ore reserves can be delineated with confidence.

The Whundo project is 100% owned by Artemis and is located on a granted mining lease just 7km southeast of the company’s Radio Hill processing plant, which previously treated all the ores from the mine.

Artemis CEO Wayne Bramwell said: “This resource upgrade has seen a circa 30% uplift in the Whundo sulphide resource to 2.2Mt and contained copper and zinc metal tonnes has grown significantly to ˜60,000t combined. The shallow oxide resource is entirely new.”
“Whundo was shut down in 2008 due to low copper and zinc prices. It is a valuable asset, considering it is an approved mining lease and is so close to our Radio Hill processing plant. The oxide grade of 1.75% Cu is tantalising and with this zone extending from near surface to ˜40m below surface, Artemis is evaluating the integration of SX-EW processing at Radio Hill.”
“In addition, the larger sulphide zone could provide an additional blending source that could supplement Carlow Castle ore and further enhance copper grade to the Radio Hill Operations.”
According to the company, the Whundo deposit occurs in two zones called Whundo and Whundo West, which are hosted within a single ore horizon of felsic volcanic rocks as a series of shallowly plunging shoots.

The mineralised shoots can reach up to 20m in width where structurally thickened and they have a down plunge extension of up to 150m based on existing drilling.

Elsewhere, Artemis is steadily building up its geological knowledge of the intriguing Carlow Castle deposit, which is located about 35km northeast of the Radio Hill plant.

Carlow Castle is a high grade cobalt, gold and copper deposit and has been the focus of most of the company’s exploration efforts in the western Pilbara over the last 6 months or so.

Throw in some very interesting conglomerate gold ground in JV with high-flying partner Novo Resources and a recent 70% earn-in to the platinum group metal and gold deposit at Munni Munni to the west of Whundo and Artemis is really juggling a lot of balls in the air at present.

https://thewest.com.au/business/public-companies/56-uplift-in-whundo-copperzinc-resource-for-artemis-ng-b88986967z

Artemis to complete Radio Hill gold circuit upgrade by early 2019
September 21, 2018

Artemis Resources is on course to complete Stage 1 of its 0.5Mt/y gold circuit expansion at the Radio Hill plant in the Pilbara by early next year.

Radio Hill is 100 per cent owned by Artemis and roughly 35km from Karratha, Western Australia. The gold circuit upgrades are designed to expand on and complement Radio Hill’s current base metal ability.

Upon completion of the upgrades, it will serve as a hub for the company’s surrounding gold deposits, including Purdy’s Reward, Weeriana, Nichol River, Silica Hills and others.

Gold circuit construction work at the Radio Hill plant — which originally dates back to 1988 and has seen several owners — commenced on August 20. Works include crushing equipment and tailings installations as well as construction of a gold room to complement the circuit.

It follows on from previous crushing and grinding circuit upgrades announced in November last year led by companies Process 26 and Gekko Systems.

These upgrades included extensive crushing circuit refurbishment (now completed) and slurry pump overhaul and installation, in addition to the installation of high-voltage cables and ongoing milling area upgrades.

Installation of a tertiary crusher has also been completed, as have foundations for a thickener and flocculant plant. Modifications to conveyors and screens are also finished.

Gekko is leading work on the gold circuit installation, while Artemis is advancing negotiations with company Horizon Power for long-term power supply at the site.

Artemis chief executive officer Wayne Bramwell said installation of Stage 1 would bring the process of expanding Radio Hill’s “multi-metal capability”.

https://www.australianmining.com.au/news/artemis-complete-radio-hill-gold-circuit-upgrade-early-2019/

Significant cobalt at Comet Castle. As well as gold.
Additional assays are pending for Carlow Castle and will be released as they become available. This phase of drilling is now complete at Carlow Castle and a resource update can commence once all data has been released.

Nice. Love it.

Up 8.8% overnight on the ASX with 3.4 million shares traded.

https://www.asx.com.au/asx/share-price-research/company/ARV

Would like to see some good upside action tomorrow. Thx.

HIGH-GRADE Au, Co and Cu HITS CONTINUE AT CARLOW CASTLE

132m @ 4.89g/t Au, 0.25% Co and 1.11% Cu from 98m (ARC 139)

Artemis Resources Limited (“Artemis” or “the Company”) (ASX: ARV and Frankfurt: ATY) is pleased to announce high grade intercepts from reverse circulation (RC) drilling at the company’s Carlow Castle Project in the West Pilbara.

HIGHLIGHTS

Excellent gold, cobalt and copper assays continue to be delivered from the Company’s Carlow Castle Project. Best RC drill intersections include:

* 132m @ 4.89g/t Au, 0.25% Co and 1.11% Cu from 98m (ARC 139)
including:
* 16m @ 18.78g/t Au, 0.82% Co and 2.37% Cu from 211m, and
* 5m @ 29.74g/t Au, 1.12% Co and 3.42% Cu from 213m.
* 53m @ 7.6g/t Au, 0.33% Co and 1.57% Cu from 151m (ARC 138).
* 33m @ 17.29g/t Au, 0.37% Co and 2.22% Cu from 151m (ARC 133),
including:
* 4m @ 102g/t Au, 1.22% Co and 9.99% Cu from 175m.
* 15m @ 3.2g/t Au, 0.42% Co and 0.8% Cu from 148m (ARC 102) including:
* 5m @ 7.47g/t Au, 1.04% Co, 1.24% Cu from 148m.
* 3m @ 31.5g/t Au, 1.45% Co and 3.57% Cu from 130m (ARC 102).
* 3m @ 5.8g/t Au, 0.13% Co and 0.59% Cu from 173m (ARC 102).

Carlow Castle is located ˜35km from the Company’s 100% owned Radio Hill processing plant. Additional assays are pending and will be released as soon as they become available.

Artemis’ Chief Executive Officer Wayne Bramwell commented:

“Carlow Castle is new and becoming a significant discovery in the West Pilbara. The gold, cobalt and copper tenor defined by Artemis to date is exceptionally high and the system is open at depth and along strike. Our current drilling footprint only covers an area 500m wide by 1.2km long and the three known targets are rapidly morphing into a much larger system than initially predicted.

Artemis is excited as to the potential local and regional scale of this system. More assays are pending, with Artemisremaining focused upon delivering a resource update for Carlow Castle in the next quarter.”

https://hotcopper.com.au/documentembed?id=uOMxKKzFkiWRTLKhOROKAxjvTDYC6gm8yhmZoeVvke92GA%3D%3D

Artemis Resources Aug 2018 Investor Presentation

http://www.artemisresources.com.au/investors-relations/presentations-speeches/21-aug-2018-investor-presentation/viewdocument

Expect this to go to a dollar fairly easy.

CONTINUITY CONFIRMED IN UPPER GOLD-BEARING CONGLOMERATE FROM COMET WELL TO PURDY’S REWARD

Artemis Resources Limited (“Artemis” or “the Company”) (ASX: ARV) is pleased to provide the following update by Novo Resources Corp. (“Novo”) on the Purdy’s Reward Conglomerate Gold Project. Novo is the manager of this project under the 50/50 Artemis – Novo Joint Venture arrangements. Purdy’s Reward is located south of Karratha in the Western Pilbara Region of Western Australia.

HIGHLIGHTS

* Ground disturbing exploration has restarted at Purdy’s Reward.
* Diamond drilling is underway and is aimed at further defining the prospective conglomerate gold unit along strike and down dip.
* Large area clearing for mapping (like that seen at Comet Well) to be undertaken, followed by bulk samples.
* Structural interpretation has identified faults which are formed during mineralisation.

Artemis’ Executive Director, Edward Mead, commented:

“We are pleased to see the resumption of exploration activities at Purdy’s Reward. The geological and structural understanding of the Comet Well to Purdy’s Reward Conglomerate gold trend has significantly advanced since exploration started. With bulk sampling techniques streamlined by Novo over the past months at Comet Well, Artemis looks forward to improved turn around times for assays from Purdy’s Reward.”

The relevant parts of the Novo news release (including figures) published on 16 August 2018 are shown below, with the addition of the JORC ‘Table 1’ appended to this release to comply with ASX requirements. Novo’s release can be read in full on its website. Artemis does not have an interest in the Comet Well tenement

www.artemisresources.com.au/investors-relations/announcements#

EXCEPTIONAL Au, Co and Cu INTERCEPTS
PERSIST AT CARLOW CASTLE
22m @ 6.10g/t Au, 0.55% Co and 2.35% Cu from 133m (18CCAD010)
Artemis Resources Limited (“Artemis” or “the Company”) (ASX: ARV) is
pleased to provide this drilling update from its Carlow Castle Project in the
Pilbara.
HIGHLIGHTS
Significant gold, cobalt and copper intervals persist in latest diamond results
from Carlow Castle.
? Drilling has intersected mineralisation in a north-south orientation from
Quod Est to Carlow Castle South (over a distance of 500 metres).
? The main strike of mineralisation at Carlow Castle South is east-west (with
current defined strike distance of this east - west trend approximately
1.2km).
? Current Artemis drilling is infilling the 1.2km east - west strike and seeks
to join Quod Est, Carlow Castle South and Carlow Castle South East into
one large resource – then drilling will step out to test further strike
extensions.
Best diamond drill intersections include:
• 22m @ 6.10g/t Au, 0.55% Co and 2.35% Cu from 133m (18CCAD010)
? including 4m @ 15.07/t Au, 1.08% Co and 4.34% Cu from 143m;
and
? including 6m @ 7.89g/t Au, 1.14% Co and 1.21% Cu from 149m.
• 31m @ 1.65g/t Au, 0.11% Co and 0.47% Cu from 37m (18CCAD003)
? including 4.73m @ 7.39g/t Au, 0.44% Co and 1.42% Cu from
60.27m.
• 4.5m @ 2.34g/t Au, 0.23% Co and 0.33% Cu from 45m (18CCAD012)
• 3.5m @ 4.08g/t Au, 0.45% Co and 1.52% Cu from 25.5m (18CCAD008)
• System open at depth and along strike and drilling continues
• Carlow Castle is ˜35km by gazetted roads from the Company’s 100%
owned Radio Hill processing plant.
Artemis’ Chief Executive Officer, Wayne Bramwell, commented:
“Shallow drilling by Artemis continues to define impressive widths and
grades of gold, copper and cobalt at Carlow Castle. Though not fully defined
yet, Carlow Castle looks to be a part of a larger mineralised system that is
open at depth and along strike.
Drilling along strike and at depth could quickly add resource tonnage here.”

http://www.artemisresources.com.au/investors-relations/announcements#

The Smart Money is in Pilbara Conglomerate Gold Plays
Investing News Network - July 26th, 2018

Pilbara’s conglomerate gold discoveries may be a test of mining ingenuity but long-term investor confidence remains.

The Pilbara Gold Rush in Western Australia kicked off in July 2017 with Artemis Resources (ASX:ARV) and Canadian joint venture partner Novo Resources’ (TSXV:NVO) discovery of near-surface conglomerate-hosted gold nuggets over impressive strike lengths at Purdy’s Reward.

By November, more than two dozen resource companies had flooded into Pilbara searching for gold. The discovery also caught the attention of major player Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd (TSX:KL, ASX:KLA), which has invested C$56 million into Novo Resources, as well as kingmaker Eric Sprott who has taken up share positions in a number of players in the region.

The Pilbara Gold Rush is well into its first year and although there have been some road bumps along the way, there is still a healthy momentum rolling through that red earth. Resource companies are quickly securing strategic financial partnerships and acquiring land packages in the hopes of hitting pay dirt on the watermelon seed-shaped gold nuggets being likened to the conglomerate gold found in South Africa’s prolific Witwatersrand Basin.

What is conglomerate gold and why is it important?

Sediment-hosted conglomerates, of which Witwatersrand is the most famous example, account for more than half of the world’s gold production. These types of deposits are known to occur in many Archean cratons globally—including those found in Europe and India—resting unconformably over Archean granite-greenstone terrains.

Western Australia’s resource-rich Pilbara region covers more than half a million square kilometers including some of the world’s most ancient rock formations and is most well-known for its world-class iron deposits. However, the latest developments have shown significant potential for new gold-focused districts. The fact that the region remains underexplored despite a well-entrenched mining industry is all the more attractive to majors and juniors alike.

“The Pilbara Region of Western Australia is one of the most resource rich areas in Australia and there has been very little exploration at depth,” said Artemis’ Executive Chairman David Lenigas. “In essence, Western Australia has been spoilt for choice for shallow mineral wealth. It’s time that someone started looking for the source of a lot of mineralisation in the Western Pilbara that has fed the many surface deposits of cobalt, nickel, copper, zinc, gold and PGE’s, within Artemis’ extensive tenement package south of Karratha.”

The crux of the excitement in the region is over the possibility that the Pilbara Craton shares geological DNA with South Africa’s Kaapvaal Craton, home to the Witwatersrand Basin—which hosts the earth’s largest known gold reserves and is responsible for over 40 percent of the gold produced worldwide to date. The Witwatersrand Gold Rush of 1886 was largely responsible for the establishment of Johannesburg, and so important to the economic development of South Africa that the national currency is today known as the Rand.

While there are significant differences in the two systems (including provenance, tectonics and continuity), there are similarities worth exploring, according to a recent presentation by SRK Principle Geologist, Mike Cunningham. Both Pilbara and Witwatersrand sit on top of Archean granite-greenstone basement similar in age and composition, hosting numerous small mesothermal gold deposits (with high-nugget mineralization). In both regions, gold deposition is closely related to the deposition of detrital pyrite, uraninite and carbonaceous matter.

“Is the conglomerate gold in Pilbara real? Yes, of course it is. Can we use Wits as an analogue? Yes. But there are very important differences,” said Cunningham, who also emphasized that “discovery matters.” That is to say that although the deposit model type for Pilbara’s gold system may not be exactly the same as that found in the epic Witwatersrand Basin, it is in fact conglomerate gold and worthy of all the attention now focused on the region.

The challenge of the nugget effect

While the potential for prolific gold production makes the conglomerate type discovery at Purdy’s Reward attractive, the discontinuous distribution of the watermelon seed size nuggets has posed a problem for Novo Resources. Conglomerate gold by nature can display very irregular and patchy distribution, which can result in huge discrepancies even between adjacent drill holes. This discontinuity is what geologists call the ‘nugget effect’. This reality coupled with the fact that samples from conventional drilling are typically small in size often leads to a high level of uncertainty when generating grade estimates for resource blocks.

“The nugget effect for Pilbara gold poses a bit of a challenge, making it difficult to define a mineral resource estimate,” notes Cunningham. “Therefore, it’s hard to encourage money from investors because you need to obviously prove that you’ve got something worthwhile to invest in.” In fact, news of Novo’s first few exploration results fell flat and the market responded with a savage sell-off.

And yet, Novo’s challenge isn’t a reason to call it quits, take your ball and go home. Other resource companies have faced the challenge of nugget effect and won. It’s about being able to think outside the box. In his talk at the RIU Explorers Conference 2018, Cunningham posed the questions: How do we tackle this challenge? Is bulk sampling the answer?

Cunningham uses Inventus Mining’s (TSXV:IVS) Pardo conglomerate-gold host project in Sudbury, Ontario as an example. He points out that after obtaining an average gold grade of 1.34 g/t over 11 diamond drill holes, the company decided to conduct a large 1,000 tonne bulk sampling program which returned an average grade of 4.2 g/t gold.

Recognizing that the best way to advance the their JV project “is to ultimately move it toward large-scale bulk sampling,” Novo and Artemis recently announced a AU$5.4 million exploration program that both companies have referred to as an “important step” toward completing a JORC-compliant resource estimate in order to convert the exploration license to a mining lease and in turn boost investor confidence.

“Novo is at a critical point here with this next bulk sampling program. We’re talking about a new region with a new geology and new way of understanding the right exploration methods to develop an accurate resource model in a district that has the potential to become the next Witwatersrand ,” Jeb Handwerger, long-time gold stock analyst and founder of Gold Stocks Trade, told INN. “We can expect to see some important developments at Novo over the next few months as the complete their bulk sampling.”

Follow the smart money

It’s important that investors understand that when it comes to junior gold exploration, discoveries tend to build high expectations in the market sending share prices up; on the flip side when reality sets in—such as a challenging deposit type—those expectations can cool and settle down a bit until development and production bring another big rise in valuation.

“I understand that the discontinuity and the challenges of the nugget effect are causing some hesitation on the part investors and some of this critique may have truth to it,” said Handwerger. “What has really attracted me to the Pilbara region is the involvement of Eric Sprott and Kirkland Lake, whose shareholders include heavies such as Van Eck, Fidelity and Oppenheimer. This is an early-stage discovery, but the involvement of a company like Kirkland Lake—which has been one of the top gold mining stories in recent years—speaks highly of its potential.”

Kirkland chairman Eric Sprott is also a major shareholder in Novo Resources. Following the release of Novo’s first bulk sampling results from the Comet Well area of the project in May 2018, Sprott purchased 47,900 shares of Novo stock at an average cost of C$4.72 per share, for a total transaction of C$226,088.00.

Other players in the region with Sprott’s confidence

Pacton Gold (TSXV:PAC; US:PACXF) controls the third largest land package in the Pilbara region following a round of acquisitions of several projects located between the properties of Novo Resources and De Grey Mining. Pacton’s expanding portfolio includes properties known to host gold nuggets as well as several existing mining leases which provide the potential for immediate large-scale bulk sampling programs. The company’s most recent purchase is the Bellary Dome project from Marindi Metals (ASX:MZN) from which nuggets similar to those discovered by Novo have been recovered. The significance of Pacton’s land holdings has attracted the investment of Eric Sprott who holds 10.1 percent of the outstanding common shares in the company.

De Grey Mining (ASX:DEG) recently received a $5 million investment from DGO Gold (ASX:DGO) to advance exploration and pre-feasibility work at its Pilbara gold property. The project is unique for the area in that it has an established resource of more than 1.2 million ounces of conventional gold, with upside coming from its most advanced conglomerate prospects on the property (Loudens Patch, Jarret Well and Steel Well) which it plans to bulk-sample as well. About 100 kilometers east of Purdy’s Reward, the Loudens Patch alone has yielded more than 200 gold nuggets. Kirkland Lake has invested A$5million in De Grey.

Kairos Minerals’ (ASX:KAI) Pilbara gold project hosts the conventional Mt York deposit and recently reported an updated JORC resource estimate of 643,000 ounces of gold for the project. Kairos also holds 1,158 square kilometres of tenure which is highly prospective for conglomerate-hosted gold. Kirkland has invested $5million in Kairos.

The takeaway

The Pilbara Gold Rush is still in its infancy and the deposit type is not as yet understood, so challenges are to be expected. The geology may not be an exact replica of the prolific gold fields of South Africa’s Witwatersrand, yet all the signs are there that Pilbara has the potential to become a significant gold district in its own right.

https://investingnews.com/daily/resource-investing/precious-metals-investing/gold-investing/pilbara-conglomerate-gold-rush-nugget/

Artemis Resources (ASX:ARV) in Telfer neurology play – Western Australia’s Pilbara region.
July 19, 2018

ASX listed Artemis Resources has beaten mining giant Rio Tinto to a prospective copper-gold tenement just 40km east of Newcrest Mining’s Telfer copper-gold mine in Western Australia’s Pilbara region.

Artemis Resources (ASX: ARV) is exploring for gold, cobalt, platinum and other deposits across 1400km2 in the Pilbara – and now own the fully-permitted Radio Hill processing plant.

The small-cap junior explorer applied for the 600 square kilometre tenement, known as the Armada Prospect, about 3 hours before Rio Tinto, which perhaps says something about its prospectivity.

Armada is located in the highly sought after Paterson Ranges

Artemis said in a market update this week that the geological structures that host the Haverion discovery in the adjacent permit run due north into Armada.

Early stage exploration drilling by London listed Greatland Gold at Haverion returned some highly anomalous copper and gold hits, the best of which was a 121m drill intersection going 2.93 grams per tonne gold and 0.23% copper from 497m downhole.

Another solid Greatland hit in the region was 21m @ 3.78g/t gold and 0.44% copper from 418m including 1m @ 29.12g/t gold and 0.4% copper from 428.5m.

Armada also hosts northwest to southeast structures that are consistent with other observed mineralised trends.

Artemis Chief Executive Officer Wayne Bramwell said: “The existence of major mining operations in the Proterozoic Orogen such as Telfer and Nifty, coupled with the recent early stage exploration success by Greatland Gold at their Haverion discovery has provided impetus for the company to further expand its exploration holdings in the Pilbara.”

“The Armada Prospect sits within the well-endowed Paterson Orogen mineral province, of what may become a new region for iron oxide copper gold (IOCG) deposits.”

The Armada Prospect is also close to Newcrest’s O’Callaghan’s Deposit and Metals X’s Nifty copper mine.

The area has sealed roads and rail networks nearby which branch out from the regional industrial hub of Port Hedland, 500km to the west.

Armada’s proximity to existing mines including Telfer and Haverion’s serious copper-gold discovery places it in an excellent and highly prospective mineralised region.

That Rio Tinto would seek to get its foot on the same patch of land also somewhat validates Artemis’ decision to apply for the tenement.

Artemis will soon become the first Pilbara gold explorer to start bulk sampling Resources
July 16, 2018 | Angela East

Artemis Resources is set to become the first Pilbara explorer to process bulk samples of nuggetty gold after winning the first of three approvals needed to upgrade its local Radio Hill plant.

Once operational, the new three-stage “circuit” system will crush ore at the rate of 100 tonnes per hour.

The crushed ore will be fed directly into the circuit which can recover coarse conglomerate-style gold nuggets and fine free gold.

Conglomerate gold refers to nuggets hosted in rock containing rounded gray quartz pebbles and other minerals. The world’s most productive gold region, South Africa’s Witwatersrand Basin, is famous for its similar geological formation.

Artemis and Canadian partner Novo Resources kicked off a mini gold nugget rush in the Pilbara a year ago after a legendary announcement regarding a gold nugget find at their Purdy’s Reward site south of Karratha, WA.

Since then most of the Pilbara gold stocks have cooled, however, as the explorers work on economically viable extraction strategies.

At the moment, Artemis may be closest to figuring that out.

“The installation of this new gold circuit into the existing 0.5 [million-tonne-per-annum] Radio Hill concentrator is the first stage of our strategic plan at Radio Hill and importantly provides Artemis the ability to bulk sample the gold targets that it has within its regional land holdings,” chief Wayne Bramwell told investors.

The news pushed shares up over 3 per cent this morning to 16.5c.

Executive director Ed Mead told Stockhead Artemis (ASX:ARV) expects to receive the other two approvals “imminently” — though that depends on the State government’s approvals process – which has blown out since the downturn due to cutbacks.

“We’re hoping that we get them imminently and then the construction phase for the installation of the [circuit] is not very long, we’re talking probably circa a month,” he said.

The full capital and installation cost of the circuit and gold room equipment remains on budget at about $3 million.

This will not only be the first time conglomerate-gold will be processed in the Pilbara, but it’s the first time the West Pilbara will have an operational gold plant.

The nearest plant is about 40km away.

“There’s never been a gold processing plant in this area,” Mr Mead said. “It’s got the potential to change the dynamics of companies looking for resource definition of gold.

“Because previously if you were going to try and drill up a gold deposit you need to look for something that can support the capex of a large gold processing plant. This will be the first time the West Pilbara has had the ability to do it.”

https://stockhead.com.au/resources/artemis-will-soon-become-the-first-pilbara-gold-explorer-to-start-bulk-sampling/