Leeuwin listed on the ASX in 2023 as a Canada-focused nickel and lithium explorer and while those projects remain in the portfolio for when commodity prices improve, the company made the pivot into gold just before Christmas last year.

The company acquired the Marda gold project, 120km north of Southern Cross in WA’s Goldfields region, from Ramelius Resources.

Upfront consideration was a modest A$500,000 worth of Leeuwin shares, while a further A$500,000 is due on the definition of a 500,000-ounce resource and another A$1 million is due if the company defines a resource of at least 1 million ounces.

Marda produced 2.3 million tonnes at 1.9 grams per tonne gold for 143,000oz for Ramelius from seven pits between 2019 and 2023, but mining ceased as Ramelius wound down the Edna May mill.

The acquisition closed in March and Leeuwin has been busy since then.

“We raised over A$3 million so that we’re well-funded to do the work and execute on the exploration strategy at Marda,” Leeuwin executive chairman Christopher Piggott said.

The first results from Marda Central, reported in May, included 16m at 2g/t gold from 134m; 8m at 3.04g/t gold from 215m; 22m at 1.25g/t gold from 123m, including 3m at 6.3g/t gold from 123m; 9m at 2.46g/t gold from 190m; and 2m at 5.45g/t gold from 77m.

The results extended the known mineralisation below the existing open pit.

Following the first 2000m of drilling, Leeuwin completed the phase two program of 3000m last month.

Those assays are due this month and the company will start drilling at the high-grade Evanston area this month.

Evanston previously returned 2m at 16.75g/t gold from 12m; 3.6m at 16.4g/t gold from 1m; and 8m at 5.76g/t gold from 8m.

Leeuwin is planning to drill a total of 10,000m at Marda this year.

The company has also been carrying out regional mapping, soil sampling and geophysics.

“The project is over 500sqkm of tenure. We know that there’s mineralisation along strike of the existing pits, but we’re also here to find new areas and new targets, and that’s what we’ve been doing,” Piggott said.

“Because there’s no resources on the project yet, we’ll build on the existing mineralisation that we know will eventually become resources but also look for some kind of earlier opportunities that maybe haven’t been assessed in a long time.”

Brownfields the go

With the gold price trading at more than A$5000 an ounce, it’s never been a better time to be a gold explorer.

“We’re in the fortunate position where, with the gold price performing the way it has, previous explorers maybe weren’t able to look at [the project] in the same way we’re currently looking at it, so it opens up a lot more target areas that maybe were dismissed in the past for not being the grade that’s required,” Piggott said.

“We think it’s got legs because obviously, from an exploration point of view, the best place to find gold is next to a gold mine.”

Unlike a greenfields explorer in a remote location, there would be a clear path to production if Leeuwin were to define sufficient resources.

The project sits on granted mining leases.

“There’s a handful of mills in the region, within 100-150km,” Piggott said.

“It’s a gazetted road that cuts through the project that’s well maintained, and then, with the gold price, you have an ability to truck this dirt quite a distance, compared to a decade ago.

“But it also means that we can go out there and do some exploration. Maybe we can find enough to justify our own standalone project.

“I think for us, it gives us optionality to know that if we do have some exploration success, there’s a pathway to commercialising ounces.”

Leeuwin enjoyed a small re-rate when it announced the Marda acquisition and another when it completed and drilling got underway.

Still, its market capitalisation is less than A$15 million and its enterprise value is just over A$10 million.

The company also has an experienced board, rounded out by Predictive Discovery chairman Simon Jackson and Blackstone Minerals managing director Scott Williamson as non-executive directors.

Piggott believes there’s still plenty of upside for the stock.

“I think that’s part of why we purchased Marda, because, in WA there’s a pathway you can follow,” he said.

“There’s a lot of examples of companies like us starting out this size and then becoming something of significance.

“The pool of potential small gold explorers to developers is shrinking, and I think that’s due to the difficulty in finding the projects, but it’s also the opportunity for investors. If they look at companies like Leeuwin and that peer group, it’s highly leveraged to increases in the gold price and exploration success.”