Ausgold (AUC) Site Visit Katanning Gold Project

Date: 6 April 2022

Shares on issue (current): 1,959m
Option and rights: 56m
Cash: A$12m
EV: A$119m

We visited Ausgold’s (AUC) Katanning Gold Project, located 275km south-east Perth and 40km from the wheatbelt town of Katanning (WA).
AUC is a gold explorer, having built a large ground position within the Katanning Greenstone, an under-explored but highly prospective gold belt.
The Company is building criterial mass for future gold development opportunity, resource base 1.84Moz @ 1.24g/t Au with 1.2Moz (65%) in M+Ind.
Recently completed drilling will further upgrade resources with potential for some growth and grade improvements in some zones – next resource update due this month (late April’22).
Importantly higher confidence resources bodes well for a maiden reserve, due in the PFS late June’22.
The standalone gold operation has scale potential of +3Mpta which implies +100kozpa, but with further resource growth could be provide scale opportunities to 4Mtpa for +130kozpa.
Initial open pit operation, vast majority of ounces in the Central Zone with potential upside to come from the Southern Zone.
Good metallurgy with all free-milling ores, high gravity recoveries (+40%) and conventional leaching for total recoveries of +88-94% (using a 75μm grind), optimisation work now underway.
Following the PFS release, AUC is expected to progress environmental studies and approvals with the DFS at this stage flagged for 1HCY23.
AUC is considered a “whole of belt exploration play” with the Northern, Central and Southern Zones covering a mineralised trend of 17km, core resource area over 4.5km and numerous satellite opportunities to add mine life and sustain potential higher production levels.
We like the near-term catalysts – resource update, PFS, ongoing resource definition drilling and regional exploration (new discoveries).
No formal coverage.