The huge mineralised upside of the Paterson Range moves into focus once more, as Greatland, Antipa and others swing into action

Metal Tiger PLC (LON:MTR) recently announced that it had participated in a fundraising conducted by Antipa Minerals Ltd (ASX:AZY). Joining Tiger in the fundraising were some impressive names, most notable among them Newcrest Mining (ASX:NCM) and IGO Ltd (ASX:IGO), currently capitalised at A$25bn and A$5.6bn respectively. Antipa is no slouch either, although not quite in that league, its shares having doubled in over the past 12 months to give it a current valuation of just over A$110mln. Metal Tiger, by contrast, despite its notable successes in Botswana, is the junior player here, capped at just over £30mln. Nevertheless, it does boast a strong track record of generating value for shareholders, and by joining the big leagues here it may very well be on the right track again. What the money is chasing here is another exploration success along the lines of the Greatland Gold PLC (LON:GGP) discovery that was made at Havieron, on the Paterson Range, a few years ago. The initial gold intercepts at Havieron were some of the best seen in the mining industry in recent years, and after that performance was repeated it was no surprise to anyone that Newcrest horned in on the project to put up some big bucks for a big stake, in the process carrying Greatland’s market capitalisation up beyond the £900mln mark. That’s were the valuation is now, mark you – it has been even higher. These types of successes don’t come along very often, to be sure, but what’s interesting about the Paterson district, which Greatland’s success put on the map again, is that actually it has long been known to be highly mineralised. The famous Telfer mine was discovered in Paterson in the early 1970s, and the district also hosts the previously producing Nifty copper mine and the Woodie Woodie manganese mine. There’s also a well-established but undeveloped uranium project there too, not to mention countless other smaller discoveries. But the terrain is very difficult, and the cover is formidable, and Australia has plenty of other well-endowed and easier to access areas. So it took a discovery of the magnitude of Havieron, and a gold price that seems well consolidated above US$1,700, to relight the fires of enthusiasm. But once Greatland’s success had become clear, a scramble started, ground got staked enthusiastically, and the challenges which had once put off even the most optimistic of prospectors and promoters were now pronounced surmountable. It helped too, of course, that surface-based ground penetrating exploration techniques, like magnetic surveys, had advanced technologically quite significantly since the days of the Telfer discovery. So now, when a company like Antipa boasts, as it does on the homepage of its website, that it has “the majority of exploration tenure in the eastern Paterson” it’s a statement that carries real resonance. Antipa’s stated aim is to make world-class discoveries and, with Havieron as everyone’s go-to example, the claim seems ambitious now rather than outlandish. Antipa will soon get to work, now that the newly-raised A$25mln has come into its coffers, but it won’t by any means be the only one generating newsflow as the winter exploration season starts to roll around in Australia. Greatland, itself, for one, is also on the hunt for a Havieron lookalike, both on its Juri exploration joint venture with Newcrest and also on ground that it holds on its own. Exploration on both has kicked off within the past few days. Others who continue to work up ground in the district include Boadicea Resources (ASX:BOA), Artemis Resources Ltd (ASX:ARV), and First Development Resources, the latter being a company in which Power Metal Resources PLC (LON:POW) is looking to acquire. Meanwhile, Cyprium Metals Ltd (ASX:CYM) has taken ownership of Nifty, and plans to put it back in production next year. And in the background to all this, rumours continue ebb and flow about Rio Tinto and whether or not it’s found another Olympic Dam-style deposit in the region. Rio is in any case all over the area, with its interests in Winu and Citadel, and may be setting itself up to be the major force in Paterson for decades to come. But in the meantime, there are a few juniors and mid-tiers who are a long way down the road of creating significant value of their own.