Maximus Resources has sights set on becoming long-term gold producer

Maximus Resources Ltd (ASX:MXR) (FRA:M5F) has proclaimed it will take “significant steps” towards becoming a long-term gold producer in 2021 after a “transformative” 2020. The company has 48 square kilometres of granted mining licences in the fertile Spargoville Shear Zone, which hosts the historic, high-grade Wattle Dam Gold Mine. Wattle Dam, via a package of tenements, has been owned by a number of companies associated with the late Bob Kennedy for some 20 years; Kennedy was a former chairman of Ramelius Resources Ltd (ASX:RMS), which mined Wattle Dam between 2008 and 2012. Maximus’ licences are just 25 kilometres from Kambalda, a famous Western Australian mining town home to BHP Group Ltd’s (ASX:BHP) (NYSE:BHP) (LSE:BLT) nickel concentrator, and within 50km of six gold processing plants. The company received its latest round of drilling results on January 13, trumpeting an “outstanding” high-grade gold intersection at its S5 prospect within Spargoville. The latest drill results The latest reverse circulation drilling program intersected 32 metres at 3.2 g/t gold, which was highlighted by 13 metres at 5.9 g/t from 118 metres. Maximus managing director Tim Wither said the new results were a testament to the company’s new geology team, appointed in 2020. “These results have been an amazing start for the new geology team at Maximus. The broad high-grade gold assays show similar tenor and widths of the initial drilling campaigns as the historic high-grade Wattle Dam Gold Mine located only 300 metres north and along strike of the S5 Prospect,” he said. “The geological setting increases confidence in the company’s belief that Wattle Dam Gold Mine, Redback, Golden Orb and now S5 are part of a much larger inter-linking mineral system. “We are testing this concept with the project-scale diamond drill program currently underway at the Redback Deposit.” Looking ahead Maximus chairman Gerald Anderson said that he was confident of the company’s progress after a challenging, but affirming, 2020. “I believe we can now look forward with confidence that in 2021 we will take significant steps towards the company extending its exploration success and taking steps to become a long-term gold producer,” he said. “2020 was a transformative year and perhaps the most important year in the company’s history. Maximus has endured and come out in great shape to advance our exploration and development plans.” Long-term gold producer Anderson said the company’s plan was to produce gold from Spargoville, where it had a mineral resource estimate of 1.45 million tonnes containing 112,000 ounces of gold across five known gold deposits. The company is undertaking drill programs to update that resource estimate, progressing several necessary approvals, and doing reconnaissance exploration programs to determine what is down there in the dirt. “We will conduct systematic exploration to identify new gold resources for future development,” Anderson said. “Our known gold resources will form the backbone of our mining efforts where revenue from these operations will fund ongoing exploration. “We are very confident that there are repeat high-grade Wattle Dam-style ore bodies to be found. During its life, the Wattle Dam Gold Mine was the richest grade active gold mine in Australia delivering over 260,000 ounces of gold at an average all-in sustaining cost of < $700 AUD.” Not just gold Spargoville is highly prospective for both gold and nickel, and Maximus’ geology team identified more than 60 gold and nickel targets within the company’s tenements. The under-explored northern tenements owned by Maximus have been identified to be hosting nickel targets that will require drilling assessment. Directors confident Maximus directors are confident about its prospects around Wattle Dam; they participated strongly in the company’s recent strategic placement that raised nearly $3.2 million. Anderson acquired more than half a million shares valued at $50,000, while managing director Tim Wither made his first purchase in the company by acquiring $20,000 worth of shares. - Daniel Paproth