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Murray Ward
Critical Resources has muscled its way deeper into South America, securing exclusivity over a third gold project in Suriname, just a nine-iron from a monster mine. The company’s new Gadu Manda project sits a mere four kilometres west of Chinese giant Zijin Mining’s Rosebel open pit gold mine, which has churned out more than six million ounces of gold since 2004.
The savvy deal boosts the company’s significant ground package in the gold-rich nation to 228 square kilometres, including the new 29-square-kilometre Gadu Manda project, the recently acquired 164-square-kilometre Gonini and its 35-square-kilometre Greenstars gold project. Notably, the company secured exclusive rights over all three on staged low-risk terms in less than a month.
Under the terms of the latest deal, Critical has entered an exclusivity agreement to acquire a 90 per cent interest in Gadu Manda for a staggered consideration of US$200,000 (A$287,000) in cash over two years and 2.5 million Critical Resources shares, along with a A$287,000 minimum exploration commitment. The arrangement includes a US$10,000 (A$14,326) exclusivity fee, giving the company 60 days to conduct its due diligence. With management already having boots on the ground in Suriname, the company is well placed to fast-track due diligence at Gadu Manda alongside its other recently secured gold projects.
Suriname has quietly become a hotspot for global gold capital over the past few years. Precious metal production generated US$2 billion (A$2.87B) in earnings for the nation in 2024 and accounted for almost 80 per cent of its total exports.
‘The project is located about 4km from the pits of Zijin’s Rosebel gold mine, on ground already being worked by small-scale miners.’
Critical Resources managing director Tim Wither
That kind of output has not gone unnoticed. The region has seen a flurry of corporate activity of late, led by Zijin’s US$360 million (A$516M) acquisition of the Rosebel mine in 2023. More recently, gold giant Gold Fields tipped C$77 million (A$78.28M) into explorer Founders Metals for a 19.9 per cent stake. At the same time, private investment house La Mancha has taken significant positions in other Canadian-listed explorers active in Suriname.
The real sizzle in this deal is the project’s address. Big gold deposits rarely live in isolation. Gadu Manda’s proximity to the Rosebel mine, which boasts a whopping 11.6 million ounces of gold, is the kind of nearology that gets geologists leaping out of bed in the morning.
Adding to the intrigue, small-scale artisanal miners have already been working the northern part of the Gadu Manda permit area, with pits and trenches exposing quartz veining. This potentially gives Critical a ready-made set of walk-up targets, with the old-timers having already done the initial sniffing for near-surface gold.
All three of Critical’s new projects sit within the Guiana Shield, a well-endowed but relatively underexplored geological province, considered the South American counterpart to West Africa’s phenomenally rich Birimian Shield. While the Birimian belts host more than 500 million ounces of discovered gold, the Guiana Shield lays claim to a still-impressive 100-million-ounce inventory, suggesting there may be plenty of room for new discoveries.
Critical Resources managing director Tim Wither said: “Gadu Manda will be a strong addition to our Suriname portfolio. The Project is located about 4 km from the pits of Zijin’s Rosebel mine, on ground already being worked by small-scale miners. This gives us a head start in developing our understanding of the Project. Together with Gonini and Greenstars, Gadu Manda will give Critical Resources three granted gold projects in a proven gold province. We are currently in Suriname completing due diligence on all three projects, including site visits, while high-level structural targeting work is under way.”
The company’s other recently acquired Suriname projects include Gonini,which lies in the historic Sara Creek district within the Marowijne greenstone belt, just 66km from Newmont’s multi-million-ounce Merian gold mine. While gold has been mined in the district for 150 years, the company says there is no record of modern systematic exploration at Gonini.
Its second asset, the Greenstars project, sits just 35km west of Zijin’s Rosebel mine. It has road access from the capital, Paramaribo and contains active small-scale alluvial workings, confirming the presence of gold in the local system.
Critical says structural targeting by Guiana Shield geophysics specialists GexplOre is now underway across the permits as well as 6000 square kilometres of the surrounding greenstone belt.
While the company is clearly making an aggressive push into South American gold, it also holds several other cards in its hand, including the flagship Mavis Lake lithium project in Ontario, Canada, which already holds an 8-million-tonne resource grading 1.07 per cent lithium oxide.
In addition, Critical owns the Halls Peak base metals project in New South Wales, with an inferred resource of 840,000 tonnes at 3.7 per cent zinc and 1.5 per cent lead, and is evaluating next-generation solid-state lithium-ion battery intellectual property in the United States. The company also has interests in a suite of gold, antimony and tungsten prospects in New Zealand, giving it exposure across multiple critical commodities and jurisdictions.
For now, however, all eyes are on Suriname. With management on site and a clear strategy to build a significant landholding next door to a world-class mine, Critical appears to have its foot on the accelerator. The company is betting that where there’s smoke, there’s fire – and being just 4km from a 6-million-ounce bonfire seems potentially a very good place to start looking.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: mattbirney@bullsnbears.com.au
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