Relative ASX newcomer CGN Resources is hoping to make a major discovery in the hot West Arunta region of Western Australia.
The company listed on the ASX in October 2023 after a A$10 million initial public offering but has been active in the West Arunta since 2010, making it one of the early movers.
“Now there is no ground left in the West Arunta,” CGN managing director Stan Wholley told the Tribeca Future Facing Commodities Conference in Singapore.
“It’s probably one of the hottest districts at the moment.”
That’s largely thanks to WA1 Resources’ Luni niobium discovery in the region, but IGO, Encounter Resources, Rio Tinto and Tali Resources are also active.
CGN stands for copper-gold-nickel but the company is also looking for critical minerals including rare earths.
Wholley said the West Arunta could be one of Australia’s last unexplored copper provinces and had known iron oxide-copper-gold mineralisation.
“To not have a big red blob [on the map] in this area is unusual and we hope to be the ones to find it,” he said.
CGN has identified six priority targets.
Snorky, Horton, Surus and Tantor are IOCG targets, Shep is a nickel target and Hathi is a rare earth target.
The company just completed induced polarisation surveys at Surus, Shep, Snorky and Horton, which confirmed the presence of gravity anomalies at all four prospects.
Drilling will begin at Surus next month, assisted by A$220,000 in Exploration Incentive Scheme funding from the WA government.
CGN has already spent A$7 million on geological data.
“Which gave us a really great pool of geoscience data,” Wholley said.
The company still has A$8.5 million in cash.
“That gives us enough money to deliver on our project pipeline,” Wholley said.
“We’ve got cash, we’ve got the time, let’s get it done.”
CGN shares hit an all-time high of A32c during ASX trading on Wednesday.
