Norfolk Metals primed for uranium-gold exploration in lead up to ASX listing
Norfolk Metals is listing on 22 March after raising $5.5 million in an initial public offering.
When Perth-based junior Norfolk Metals makes its debut on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), it will hit the ground running with a portfolio of drill-ready uranium and gold targets in South Australia and Tasmania.
The eight-month-old company plans to carry out two sequential exploration programs at projects it will inherit following the acquisition of private exploration firms Blake Lake and Roger River Resources.
Since opening its doors for business in July, Norfolk has focused on negotiating binding agreements for the acquisitions, which will provide opportunities to discover a new epithermal gold district at Roger River near Hobart and gain exposure to prospective uranium territory at Orroroo, northwest of Adelaide.
Initial public offering
The exploration will be funded by the $5.5 million IPO, which is issuing 27.5 million shares at $0.20 each, for a maximum indicative market capitalisation of $6.6 million.
The company will have an enterprise value of $1.1 million prior to settlement of associated listing costs.
IPO funds will secure the above acquisitions and be combined with existing cash reserves to work up the early-stage projects in line with a phased two-year exploration plan.
Norfolk has appointed JP Equity Holdings as lead manager to the offer. The company will operate under the ticker code ‘NFL’.
Orroroo uranium project
The Orroroo uranium project comprises one granted exploration licence covering 280sq km of land and approximately 274km from Adelaide.
Based on a new targeting model for South Australia, Norfolk will be exploring for roll front uranium via well proven methods utilised in Kazakhstan, China and South Texas.
Alligator Energy (ASX: AGE) is conducting similar work at its Big Lake prospect, which is also in South Australia.
Norfolk will conduct an economical exploration campaign to better understand gamma anomalies defined from prior coal drilling in the Walloway Basin, which has no known basement uranium source defined in the nearby ranges and outcrops, but is underlain by granitic basement rocks, which Norfolk said could be the source of roll front uranium occurrences.
Historic drilling
Drilling by Linc Energy in 2010 comprised down hole surveys with gamma ray, caliper, resistivity and high-resolution density logs completed for each hole.
A range of anomalous gamma downhole readings are reported to have represented potential uranium mineralisation. Norfolk has planned a re-entry program to the Linc drill holes using a prompt fission neutron (PFN) logging tool to determine the elemental uranium values as an initial proof of concept.
In areas where re-entry might not be possible, the company said it will twin an anomalous hole to undertake PFN and sample analysis followed by staged exploration and drilling if primary uranium is present.
The independent geologist report issued with the company prospectus outlines the potential outcomes of the exploration of the historical down hole anomalies, including that the anomalies may not necessarily relate to uranium.
Roger River gold
Within the first 12 months of its ASX listing, Norfolk plans to complete up to 3,000m of diamond drilling at Roger River, with the aim of identifying epithermal gold occurrences in targets defined from ground-based gravity and airborne aeromagnetic surveys.
The project comprises one granted exploration licence and one application over 261 square kilometres of land northwest of Hobart.
It is known to have intense silicification, argillised zones and diatreme breccias in proximity to the 50km long Roger River Fault and carbonate-rich host rocks, but only has minor copper and gold flagged by the Tasmanian Geological Survey.
The area is known for minor quarrying for aggregate, although exploration has been limited and sporadic. The only drilling of note was completed in the early 2010s and involved three diamond holes for 600m to assess induced polarisation (IP) chargeability anomalies and clarify the geology.
This found anomalous gold, arsenic and zinc values in silicified rocks.
Low-level anomalies
Roger River comprises low-level soil anomalies available for testing, and it is hoped the project contains epithermal gold and silver mineralisation with little surface expression.
An independent geologist’s report noted it is “prospective for defining epithermal gold mineralisation by ongoing systematic exploration”.
The region is unknown for gold and silver with only minor copper occurrences noted in historical surveys.
Norfolk said the significance of the copper occurrences is poorly known at this stage and requires additional work.