Emerging Australian nickel player, Rox Resources, is a company prepared to put its money where it believes its future lies. Addressing the 2017 Paydirt Australian Nickel Conference in Perth this week, Managing Director, Ian Mulholland, said the company was backing itself in to be the next big nickel player in Western Australia.
He said Rox was confident of doubling its nickel resources at its two WA projects – located only 70 km apart – to more than 100,000 t. “We are a company that is prepared to puts its money in the ground….to invest money where it believes its future lies,” Mulholland said.
“Over the past five years, we have committed about A$20 million – or about 80% of funds – to our exploration activities,” he said. “Since its inception, about 70% of our funds has been committed to exploration. As such, we have built a strong portfolio of projects in nickel, gold and copper across WA.
“We are well positioned – poised and waiting for the nickel price to recover.”
Much of the Rox’s recent exploration investment has been made at its Fisher East nickel and Collurabbie nickel-copper-cobalt-PGE projects in the highly prospective Northern goldfields region of Western Australia.
The projects are situated only 70 km from each other –offering “synergies for development”.
The Fisher East project contains Mineral Resources of 2.0 Mt at 2.5% Ni in three open deposits – Camelwood, Musket and Cannonball. Over 95% of the resource is in the indicated category. A scoping study and a prefeasibility level mining study have been completed.
Mulholland said the project was technically low risk – but highly sensitive to the nickel price.
He said ongoing exploration had discovered news zones of mineralisation at other prospects such as Sabre, Mt Tate and Horatio, with drilling and resources definition still underway.
The Collurabbie project is prospective for nickel and gold and hosts the Olympia nickel sulphide deposit, with a JORC 2012 Inferred Mineral Resource of 573,000 t @1.63% Ni, 1.19% Cu, 0.082% Co, 1.49 g/t Pd, 0.85 g/t Pt. The style of mineralisation at Collurabbie is different to Fisher East, with significant copper and PGE components.
Mulholland said as a stand-alone project, the Collurabbie project offers significant opportunities for new discoveries and growth. The project also has the potential to add value to the Fisher East project.
If both projects are brought into production, there is potential for ore from Collurabbie and Fisher East to be treated at the same plant.
Mr Mulholland believes with A$17 million in cash (A$12.9 million) and receivables (A$3.75 million) – and holding no debt – the company is severely under-valued by the market.
“We believe we are undervalued based on the size and grade of our nickel resources compared to our peers,” he said. “But Rox is confident of a re-rating once the nickel price improves. Rox is ready – and have the finances available – to progress nickel projects quickly and expeditiously…when the time comes.”