The movers and shakers in Australia’s mineral exploration industry could be channelling Tom Cruise’s character from the movie Jerry Maguire because they constantly seem to be shouting: “show me the money!” Known as the lifeblood of the mining industry, exploration is an expensive game which is as much a gamble as it is an investment.
There are never any guarantees a rich mineral deposit lies beneath the surface and for all the mining industry’s technological advances in recent decades, the best way to make new discoveries is by drilling into the earth. The pay-off can be big if a company strikes it lucky.
Case in point is one-time penny dreadful stock Sirius Resources, which was almost broke when it discovered the Nova nickel-copper deposit in Western Australia in 2012 before completing one of the great rags-to-riches stories in 2015 with Independence Group’s $1.8-billion takeover.
Australian explorer Gold Road Resources is another success story, making its Gruyere gold discovery in WA’s Great Victoria Desert in 2013 before joining forces with a South African mining giant to build a $621-million mine which poured its first gold bar in June.
Traditionally, Australia’s exploration geologists and drillers are at their busiest when times are good. The country’s most sought-after mineral is gold and there has never been a better time to be a gold miner.
For the rest of this article: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-11-07/gold-prices-near-record-highs-so-why-are-explorers-broke/11677144