Red Rock Resources (LON: RRR) has charged ahead in Australia, announcing on Wednesday that another two licences have been granted for its exciting Australian gold joint venture with more soon to come. The project has serious potential, being located in the same state as the widely renowned Fosterville mine.

The company’s Red Rock Australasia joint venture (“JV”) with Power Metal Resources (LON:POW) now has five licences already granted in Australia’s Victoria Goldfields. The JV is split almost evenly, with Red Rock holding a slightly higher 50.1% stake.

Importantly, all five licences so far are located in Red Rock Australasia’s high priority areas, where the JV is already developing its early drill targets.

Victoria has undeniably drawn huge attention in recent years after Kirkland Lake Gold’s (NYSE:KL) incredible discoveries at Fosterville, the world’s highest-grade and lowest-cost gold mine.

Red Rock Australasia now has licences covering 279 square kilometres (“sq km”). The latest two licences are EL007385 – named Sardinia – and EL007327, aka Blue Stocking. Sardinia is a 60 sq km licence south west of Ballarat, and Sardinia is 4 sq km in size and located north of existing JV licence Daylesford. Both new licences are for a five-year period.

More licences soon

In yet more excellent news, Red Rock chair Andrew Bell has revealed that “several more” of the 11 other JV licences are in the final processing stage. In total, these 11 cover a further 2,057 sq km of the Victoria Goldfields.

Red Rock and Power Metal plan to list core Red Rock Australasia assets with a Canadian public listing, a process well underway and taking place in parallel with other work.

Bell described these newly granted licences, and those just ahead, as “an encouraging background to our continuing work on the planned IPO”.

Both Red Rock and Power Metal were enthusiastic over new appointments at the JV. This includes the addition of current Red Rock Australasia exploration manager David Holden as a director on the JV board, and the hire of Jack McInerney as exploration geologist at the JV.

Bell noted McInerney’s “four years of regional experience at the Ballarat Gold Mine” in particular.

Meanwhile, Paul Johnson, chief executive officer of Power Metal, emphasised the recent announcement that Red Rock Australasia’s exploration programmes have already begun. He added that work is “targeting a large scale gold discovery or discoveries” with first exploration results expected to be announced “in the near future”.

Gold’s shine hasn’t dimmed yet

Gold has risen 11% since the start of 2020, from $1,557.32 per ounce to $1,734.28 an ounce. While it has fallen from its July peak of more than $2,036, as investors look towards the end of the pandemic, a later rise doesn’t seem too unlikely.

Not only will markets have to keep enduring the Covid-19 virus, likely indefinitely, but they will also have to reckon with the massive amounts of debt issued in the weeks after the 2020 pandemic. This could well trigger a return to the safe haven asset.

Alongside all this, Red Rock announced that the IPO date for its iron ore spin-out, Juno Minerals, has been delayed so that a general meeting can be called to remove some conditions after compliance issues with an overseas shareholder.

Bell said Red Rock has “sought guidance and taken appropriate advice” and can now move forward with the deal “with minimal delay”.

Author: Anna Farley

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