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.
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Resources → muscle → 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.
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which → sit → 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.
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deal → boost → project
Notably, the company secured exclusive rights over all three on staged low-risk terms in less than a month.
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company → secure → 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.
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Critical → enter → commitment
The arrangement includes a US$10,000 (A$14,326) exclusivity fee, giving the company 60 days to conduct its due diligence.
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arrangement → include → 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.
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company → have → projects
Suriname has quietly become a hotspot for global gold capital over the past few years.
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Suriname → become → 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.
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production → generate → 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.
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kind → locate → output
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.
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region → see → 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.
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Fields → tip → stake
At the same time, private investment house La Mancha has taken significant positions in other Canadian-listed explorers active in Suriname.
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Mancha → take → Suriname
Big gold deposits rarely live in isolation.
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deposits → live → 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.
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geologists → boast → 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.
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pits → add → 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.
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timers → give → 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.
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three → sit → 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.
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Shield → host → discoveries
Critical Resources managing director Tim Wither said: “Gadu Manda will be a strong addition to our Suriname portfolio.
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Manda → say → 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.
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Project → locate → miners
This gives us a head start in developing our understanding of the Project.
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This → give → Project
Together with Gonini and Greenstars, Gadu Manda will give Critical Resources three granted gold projects in a proven gold province.
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Manda → give → 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.
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work → complete → 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.
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which → acquire → 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.
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company → mine → Gonini
Its second asset, the Greenstars project, sits just 35km west of Zijin’s Rosebel mine.
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asset → sit → 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.
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It → have → 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.
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targeting → say → 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.
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which → make → 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.
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Critical → own → 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.
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company → have → commodities
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.
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Critical → build → 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.
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being → bet → bonfire
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting?
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company → list → something
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