Investor Perception
Tartana Minerals is a brand new copper producer producing robust money movement, with a considerable exploration footprint in a tier 1 mining jurisdiction. Tartana Minerals is creating shareholder worth via funding in growing its current copper, zinc and gold assets and accelerating exploration of key initiatives inside its extremely potential exploration portfolio. Tartana Minerals presents a compelling funding towards the backdrop of a robust macroeconomic atmosphere for copper.
Overview
Tartana Minerals (ASX:TAT) is a copper, gold, silver and zinc, producer, explorer and developer in Far North Queensland. Its flagship mission is the 100% owned Tartana copper and zinc mission which contains 4 mining leases situated north of Chillagoe. The corporate’s enterprise mannequin has concerned refurbishing an current heap leach – solvent extraction – crystallisation plant which is situated on the Tartana mining leases. The refurbishment and commissioning of this plant is now accomplished and the corporate is producing copper sulphate pentahydrate which is offered to offtaker, Kanins Worldwide. Copper sulphate is priced on a premium plus proportion of the LME copper worth and offers traders with leverage to anticipate growing copper costs.
The corporate, previously generally known as R3D Sources, modified its identify to Tartana Minerals in April 2024. Tartana Minerals is predicated in Sydney, Australia.
Tartana Minerals has reported the next assets:
- 45,000 contained copper at 0.45 % copper in mixed inferred and indicated assets within the Tartana open pit and northern oxide zone
- 39,000 tonnes of contained zinc at 5.29 % zinc in inferred assets within the Queen Grade mission, additionally situated on the Tartana mining leases, and
- 415 koz contained gold at 0.34 g/t in inferred assets at Mountain Maid – topic to a mining lease utility.
These copper, zinc and gold assets stay open at depth and alongside strike and the corporate has designed drilling applications to increase these assets. Specifically, the copper mineralisation and doubtlessly the gold mineralisation have scope to be upgraded via ore sorting.
Nevertheless, the refurbished heap leach – solvent extraction – crystallisation plant utilises current copper within the ponds and the heaps and these copper sources shall be replenished after we start mining from the open pit.
The primary and second shipments of copper sulphate have been offered through the June 2024 quarter with additional shipments are at the moment being ready. The copper sulphate incorporates 25 % copper steel and cost is predicated on the LME copper worth for the previous month plus a premium. It is without doubt one of the few types of saleable copper the place the copper content material receives the total LME worth.
Sprinklers working on the decrease heap. Observe the presence of copper (blue).
Exploration
Chillagoe area of Far North Queensland is extremely potential with the invention and growth of various key initiatives over the previous few a long time together with Purple Dome (2.5 Moz gold), Mungana (1.2 Moz gold), and King Vol (250 kt zinc). These deposits happen alongside the Palmerville Fault in an analogous location to the Tartana Mining leases.
The mining leases at Tartana include copper, zinc and gold mineralisation however the firm additionally has vital initiatives that are each east and west of the Palmerville Fault. Within the west it has the Cardross and Mountain Maid copper-gold initiatives and additional north it has the Beefwood mission. Mountain Maid has gold assets talked about above and that are open to the south and at depth whereas the corporate is finalising a maiden copper useful resource for the Cardross mission. The Beefwood mission contains a buried geophysical goal and floor sampling has recovered samples grading as much as 180 g/t Au with no obvious supply. Drilling is deliberate to check this goal within the present dry season.
Within the east of the Palmerville Fault, the corporate has the Bellevue/Dry River mission, the OK South mission and the Dimbulah Porphyry mission, all copper initiatives with historic copper mines and prospects. Like many elements of Far North Queensland, historic exploration has not been systematic and thorough regardless of many promising expressions of floor mineralisation.
On the Nightflower mission, Tartana has upgraded its exploration goal after reviewing its earlier estimation, in mild of the latest will increase within the antimony worth. Nightflower is a high-grade silver-lead deposit with beforehand missed vital antimony credit. Nightflower exploration goal consists of 2.75 Mt @ 364 g/t silver equal for 32 Moz silver equal to five.36 Mt @ 270 g/t silver equal for 47 Moz silver equal (the exploration goal is conceptual in nature solely and there’s no assure that additional exploration will outline a useful resource). Drilling is now being deliberate to check the goal and improve beforehand recognized mineralisation to JORC 2012 reporting requirements.
Tartana’s exploration staff contains of skilled exploration geologists with supporting money movement from their copper manufacturing, they anticipate to have the opportunity drill essentially the most promising targets within the brief time period.
Sturdy Macroeconomic Surroundings for Copper
General, the macroeconomic atmosphere for copper stays robust. The LME three-month copper worth hit US$5.24/lb on Could 17, the very best since March 7, 2022, pushed by a weaker US greenback, Chinese language property stimulus measures, and a brief squeeze on the Chicago Mercantile Change futures market.
Within the near-to-mid time period China’s demand for refined copper is anticipated to develop, attributable to better-than-expected performances from key shopper segments, together with the ability grid, photo voltaic installations and electrical automobile and air con equipment gross sales. On the availability facet the copper focus market is anticipated to stay in a vital deficit as a result of estimated delay within the Cobre Panama mine restart however shall be partially offset by the upper projected manufacturing from smelters in China. Because of this, we see additional demand development and provide tightening for the copper market as constructive for base steel equities who keep vital leverage to growing costs.
Firm Highlights
- Tartana Minerals is producing copper sulphate pentahydrate from its heap leach – solvent extraction – crystallisation plant in Chillagoe with a 100% offtake settlement with Kanins Worldwide.
- Copper sulphate is priced at a premium plus proportion of the LME copper worth, offering publicity to the booming copper market
- With copper, zinc and gold assets in separate initiatives and all inside granted or quickly to be granted mining leases, the corporate is investigating processing choices which might doubtlessly utilise accessible infrastructure.
- Close to-term catalysts embody targetted drilling applications to extend the JORC useful resource and increase on metallurgical check work, growing the useful resource grade and estimate
- With the copper sulphate plant absolutely commissioned and in manufacturing, the corporate is now accelerating its exploration actions. The corporate has a variety of prospects from superior brownfields initiatives close to current historic mines to many prospects containing ‘ore grade’ floor mineralisation which haven’t been examined at depth.
- The corporate’s exploration portfolio consists of the Beefwood/Bulimba, Bellevue, Dimbulah, Cardross and Maid initiatives. The exploration staff is concentrated on track era, significantly with the addition of essential minerals inside its current tenure and elsewhere.
Administration Crew
Jihad Malaeb – Non-executive Chairman
Jihad Malaeb is an skilled entrepreneur throughout various industries, together with hospitality and building, in addition to having vital expertise in mineral exploration and mining operations – each as an lively investor and firm director. He at the moment owns and operates a portfolio of hospitality companies and actual property throughout Australia, which have been established over the previous 30 years. Malaeb was beforehand a non-executive director of Vital Sources (ASX:CRR), the place he helped steer CRR via the previous few years as one in all its largest shareholders and as a board member.
Dr Stephen Bartrop – Managing Director
Steve Bartrop’s skilled expertise spans greater than 30 years overlaying intervals in each the mining business and monetary sector. With a geology background, Bartrop has labored in exploration, feasibility and analysis research and mining in a variety of commodities and in several elements of the world. Within the monetary sector, he has been concerned in analysis, company transactions and IPOs spanning greater than 20 years, together with senior roles at JPMorgan, Bankers Belief and Macquarie Equities.
Bartrop can be a director of Southwest Pacific Bauxite (HK), an organization growing a bauxite mission within the Solomon Islands and chairman of Breakaway Analysis.
Bruce Hills – Government Director
Bruce Hills is an accountant and is at the moment an government director of Breakaway Funding Group, which operates the Breakaway Non-public Fairness Rising Sources Fund. Hills is a director of various unlisted corporations within the mining and monetary companies sectors together with The Threat Board and Stibium Australia. Hills has 35 years’ expertise within the monetary sector together with 20 years within the banking business primarily within the areas of technique, finance and threat.
Dr Alistair Lewis – Non-executive Director
Dr Alistair Lewis is a profitable entrepreneur and extremely skilled medical physician with over 40 years’ expertise. For the previous 10 years Lewis has been concerned within the administration of mining and exploration corporations. In 2017, Lewis established Oosen Lewis Mining in North Queensland. He financed the aggregation of a considerable portfolio of gold, tin, tungsten and antimony belongings and instigated subsequent intensive exploration applications. These belongings now type a part of the QSM portfolio.
Michael Thirnbeck – Unbiased Non-executive Director
Michael Thirnbeck is an skilled geologist with over 25 years in managing quite a few mineral growth initiatives in Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and Australia. He has been a member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy since 1989 and holds B.Sc (Hons.) diploma from College of Queensland.
Shuyi (Kiara) Wang
Shuyi (Kiara) Wang was appointed a director of Tartana Minerals on July 17, 2024. Wang is an completed, rising chief with a robust tutorial {and professional} background. She holds a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Philosophy from The College of Melbourne and is at the moment pursuing a Juris Physician on the prestigious Melbourne Legislation Faculty.
