GOLD: Nations Need It, Investors Want It & The Politician Who Is Helping Find It
“If there is a mining opportunity and it’s impeded by a blind frog, goodbye Freddy!”
This controversial statement was made recently in New Zealand’s parliament by Shane Jones, the country’s Minister Responsible for Mining. The first time I saw the clip I honestly couldn’t believe what I’d heard! A politician unequivocally saying that developing resources would take precedence over trivial environmental concerns?!
Jones’ fresh approach to resource extraction in New Zealand – and tongue in cheek rhetoric - follows nearly four years of bewildering decisions made by former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s now-defeated government. A supposed political superstar lauded by the international mainstream press for her approach to Covid-19, Ardern’s domestic natural resource policies seemed more designed to hurt the country she was leading. For example, her government closed New Zealand’s only oil refinery and banned oil exploration. This means the island nation is now completely at the mercy of other countries for diesel and gasoline in the event of a natural disaster or war. Given the current state of the world, it’s a decision that could have terrible long-term consequences.
New Zealand’s new government led by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is laser focused on putting the economy back on track and securing the future via mining, developing more infrastructure, and oil & gas projects.
Stepping into this opportunity is a new publicly-traded mining company called RUA GOLD. The firm is exploring the country for gold – and has already made a gold discovery – while being backed by a very accomplished group of mining financiers and geologists. They are responsible for founding companies including K92 ($1.5 billion market cap from an initial $2 million investment) and selling others like Fronteer Gold (sold to Newmont for $2.3 billion) and Roxgold ($1.1 billion merger with Fortuna Silver).
RUA GOLD is led by 36-year-old CEO Robert Eckford. A Kiwi himself, he has an incredible pedigree for someone his age, having begun his career working in the Congo followed by stints with BHP (the world’s largest mining company) and Barrick (third-largest gold miner). Eckford then joined forces with mining and Hollywood legends Neil Woodyer and Frank Giustra at Leagold before the company merged with billionaire Ross Beaty-backed Equinox in 2020 for nearly $600 million. Eckford took two weeks before teaming up with Woodyer and Giustra again to launch Aris Mining, where he most recently was Head of Finance before exiting for the RUA GOLD opportunity.
Most intriguing for me was why Eckford would leave Woodyer and Giustra to work for a small gold explorer? I put the question to him directly during a recent interview and his answer was very direct.
“It’s quite simple,” Eckford explained. “We’re coming in at the ground floor. It’s significantly undervalued…we know there’s high grade gold in the area and we’re going to create something very valuable.”
Where that value is going to come from is why I was recently in New Zealand. I joined the RUA GOLD team at their project sites on both the north and south islands of the country, making the documentary above about their efforts.
They have assembled a series of projects that show remarkable promise. In the south RUA GOLD’s permitted lands include 39 historical gold mines that returned 690,000 ounces of gold at an average grade of 25 grams per tonne. All of the mining stopped in the 1950’s. They’re now actively drilling and applying modern mining methods to see what the old-timers may have left behind. According to RUA GOLD’s incredibly impressive COO, Simon Henderson, they have already made a completely new gold discovery. The challenge is whether that discovery can translate into something economically viable, which they are working on now.
On the north island RUA GOLD’s Glamorgan project sits 2.8 km north of OceanaGold’s Wharekirauponga (WKP) project. WKP is considered one of the richest gold finds globally in the last 30 years. It is believed to be part of the same geological system that includes OceanaGold’s Waihi Mine, located just 10 km south. The Waihi Mine has produced 10 million ounces of gold, worth $20 billion+ at today’s gold price.
At one time OceanaGold also owned the Glamorgan project. However, they made the logical decision to explore WKP first due to its closer proximity to the Waihi Mine. New Zealand’s mining rules say you must convert an exploration permit to a mining permit by proving up a resource within a decade. If you don’t, the land goes back to the government. OceanaGold didn’t have the bandwidth to explore both WKP and Glamorgan, so Henderson - having been part of the team that originally fingered both projects as potential gold finds - was able to secure Glamorgan for RUA GOLD.
Now the trick is to see if all that potential can translate into something real.
Full disclosure: RUA GOLD paid the travel costs associated with me and my crew heading to New Zealand. However, my crew and I were not compensated by the company or any third party to produce the documentary. I was a long-time shareholder of the public shell company that became RUA GOLD. When I heard their story I was immediately sold…as I think you may be, as well.
I hope you enjoy it!
DISCLAIMER:
All statements in this article and video, other than statements of historical fact should be considered forward-looking statements. These statements relate to future events or future performance. Forward-looking statements are often, but not always identified by the use of words such as "seek", "anticipate", "plan", "continue", "estimate", "expect", "may", "will", "project", "predict", "potential", "targeting", "intend", "could", "might", "should", "believe" and similar expressions. Much of this video is comprised of statements of projection. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements. Risks and uncertainties respecting mining, exploration, and/or natural resource companies are generally disclosed in the annual financial or other filing documents of those and similar companies as filed with the relevant securities commissions, and should be reviewed by any viewer of this video.
Jonathan Roth is an online video producer and journalist. He is focused on researching and marketing resource and other public companies, and analyzing current economic and geopolitical events and trends. Nothing in this video should be construed as a solicitation to buy or sell any securities mentioned anywhere in this video. This video is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only!
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