Uvre, which was previously focused on uranium exploration, announced the A$6 million scrip acquisition of a package of gold projects in NZ in May.

The vendors were well-known mining executives Norman Seckold and Peter Nightingale.

Seckold is best known as chairman of ASX 200 producer Nickel Industries, but also chairs Alpha HPA, Fulcrum Lithium and Sky Metals.

Both Seckold and Nightingale have joined the Uvre board and Seckold has become a major shareholder with just under 16.3% of the company.

The acquisition closed this week, giving Uvre ownership of 332 square kilometres of ground across the North and South Islands.

The company raised A$4 million as part of the deal, with Seckold chipping in A$500,000, which will allow it to fast-track exploration.

The stock has already started to re-rate, up 44% this month, though the market capitalisation still sits at less than A$25 million.

NZ a hot spot

The land of the long white cloud hasn’t always been considered a mining-friendly jurisdiction, but the current government has been trying to change that.

Last year, NZ resources minister Shane Jones declared the country as being “open for business” to the mining sector.

The government has set a target of doubling mineral exports to NZ$3 billion by 2035.

In December, it passed the Fast-track Approvals Act, establishing a “one-stop shop” for permitting major projects.

AustralianSuper-backed Federation Mining is aiming to achieve first production from its Snowy River gold project in NZ next year, while ASX-listed Santana Minerals, of which Seckold was once chairman, is aiming for first gold in mid-2027.

Earlier this month, Jake Klein joined Federation as executive chairman after stepping back to non-executive chairman of the ASX 200 gold miner he founded, Evolution Mining.

Klein joins Federation’s star-studded board, which also features Genesis Minerals chairman Tony Kiernan, Ramelius Resources chairman Bob Vassie and Northern Star Resources director Sally Langer, while its management team includes several former Evolution senior executives.

Excitement building

Uvre’s new ground includes the drill-ready Waitekauri epithermal gold project on the North Island and the Oturehua orogenic gold project on the South Island.

Last month, the company reported that the first reconnaissance sampling from the projects returned up to 18.4 grams per tonne gold at Waitekauri and 9.3g/t gold at Oturehua, including visible gold.

Waitekauri is the company’s flagship project and will be a focus of initial exploration given it sits in a field that has produced more than 10 million ounces of gold.

The project hosts an 18km mineralised corridor featuring multiple targets and historical workings, with three main prospects, Scotia, Sovereign and Jubilee.

Jubilee previously produced 29,000 ounces of gold and silver bullion at grades of 48g/t gold plus silver.

While the deposit has only been lightly drilled, a historical result included 0.3m at 521g/t gold roughly 50m parallel to the historically stoped Jubilee vein.

Given the potential and lack of exploration, Uvre plans to aggressively explore Waitekauri with drilling to begin in the current quarter targeting bonanza-style gold-silver low-sulphidation veins.

High-profile neighbour

Waitekauri also sits just 8km west of OceanaGold Corporation’s long-running Waihi gold mine and is adjacent to four 1Moz-plus deposits.

While Waihi only produces around 50,000oz of gold per year currently, Toronto-listed OceanaGold has big plans for its future.

In December, OceanaGold released the Waihi district prefeasibility study, which incorporated the high-grade Wharekirauponga (WKP) discovery made in 2017.

WKP, which is along trend of Waitekauri, is a proposed underground mine and has an initial reserve of 4.1 million tonnes at 9.2g/t for 1.2Moz of gold.

First ore from WKP is expected in 2032 and OceanaGold approved US$40-45 million of capital for early works.

The enlarged Waihi operation is set to produce 1.6Moz over 15 years at all-in sustaining costs of US$994/oz, or US$634/oz for WKP only.

The study returned a post-tax net present value of US$621 million and internal rate of return of 24%, based on a US$2400/oz gold price.

Three weeks ago, OceanaGold reported new results from WKP which included 4m at 43.8g/t gold from 467.5m; 8.1m at 11.8g/t gold from 646.4m; 5.9m at 14.7g/t gold from 398.6m, 4.1m at 11.5g/t gold from 532.4m; and 6.1m at 5.6g/t gold from 446.9m.

It extended gold mineralisation to more than 1.4km of strike and the orebody remains open in all directions.

“Ultimately, we think WKP grows, and its life is extended, as the bounds of the EG vein have not yet been encountered, and there are several others to test,” Canaccord Genuity analyst Jeremy Hoy said.

OceanaGold has three rigs drilling at WKP and plans to double that to six once approvals are received.