TG Metals makes ASX debut to advance nickel exploration at Lake Johnston
TG Metals will start trading on the ASX on Thursday under the ticker code ‘TG6’.
Nickel and lithium explorer TG Metals (ASX: TG6) is making its ASX debut this week with high hopes to transform a “historically overlooked and underexplored” area of Western Australia’s eastern goldfields into a quality nickel asset.
The Perth-based explorer has a portfolio focused on nickel, lithium and gold and ambitions to identify “forward facing metals” project opportunities.
The company launched an initial public offer last month seeking to raise $6 million through the issue of 30 million shares at $0.20 each.
Funds will mainly be used to explore its base metals, lithium and gold projects located within the Lake Johnston Greenstone Belt, which runs between the prolific gold and nickel producing Norseman-Wiluna and Southern Cross greenstone belts in WA.
TG Metals is slated to start trading on the ASX this Thursday under the ticker code ‘TG6’. Its indicative market capitalisation upon listing is around $11.5 million.
Lake Johnston project
TG Metals’ 100% owned Lake Johnston tenements are comprised of five projects: Bremer Range, Lake Tay, Maggie Hays South, Medcalf South and Lake Percy. The tenements cover approximately 333sq km and are located about 450km east of Perth in WA’s eastern goldfields region.
The company considers the area “historically overlooked and underexplored” as it was never the main project focus for the nickel majors that previously held the ground and surficial cover and deep weathering made discovery a challenge.
TG Metals is hoping to turn this around by planning an aggressive exploration strategy, assisted by modern geophysical systems, which it says is expected to “deliver discoveries”.
The company plans to employ “more powerful” electromagnetic (EM) techniques where there is potential for the conductive targets to have not been fully tested or completely missed in past exploration.
Of the five sub-projects at Lake Johnston, the Bremer Range nickel laterite deposit presents a near-term opportunity with further drilling and sampling planned to define nickel-cobalt oxide resources.
Planned exploration at Lake Johnston
Following its ASX listing, TG Metals’ first objective is to firm up an economic mineral resource that has the potential to be developed into a mine.
It plans to spend $3.7 million on exploration in the next two years with its scope of work including the collation of more than 27,000 historical geochemical surface samples and drilling results from more than 6,000 historical holes.
The company then intends to identify basement nickel-copper-cobalt anomalism and define the nickel-cobalt oxide potential for areas that have already been drilled.
TG Metals will prioritise untested targets and follow-up with more powerful infill geophysics and, where appropriate, drill on existing and new targets.
It also plans to seek work program approvals for initial exploration program potentially including a combination of high-powered ground geophysical surveys and drilling.
TG Metals’ main focus areas are Bremer Range and Lake Tay, located south of the Maggie Hays nickel sulphide mine which produced close to 120,000 tonnes of nickel before operations ceased in 2014.
Bremer Range is believed to be the southern extension of the Maggie Hays ultramafic trend, while more than 40 prospects have been defined by preliminary work at Lake Tay including eight priority areas and 19 individual targets recommended for follow-up.
TG Metals’ board
TG Metals’ board is headed by non-executive chair Richard Bevan whose resume includes being the former managing director of Cassini Resources and other leadership roles at Killi Resources and Narryer Metals Limited.
Geologist David Selfe has been appointed as chief executive officer in recognition of his experience in lateritic and sulphide nickel deposits. Mr Selfe’s expertise extends to base metals, particularly copper-gold and copper-cobalt exploration including ore estimation and grade control.
Fellow experienced geologist Brett Smith and international business advisor Gloria Zhang have also joined the board as non-executive directors and the company secretary position is occupied by legal and corporate advisory expert Nicki Farley.