Inflection Resources is the largest owner of exploration licenses in the northern Macquarie Arc, amounting to a district-scale land position of over 7,000 km².
The company is currently aggressively drilling a large portfolio of previously untested targets undercover as part of a comprehensive Phase I drilling programme. This has come in at AU$10m to date; a cost carried entirely by AngloGold Ashanti, with which Inflection has forged a multi-year, large-scale exploration alliance.
Virgin territory
In contrast to the rocks to the south, the northern section of the Macquarie Arc remains largely unexplored, with an approximate 300km north-south trend being under a blanket of post-mineral sediment to varying thicknesses up to 400m.
In 2018, now advisor to Inflection, Dr Douglas Haynes brought his several decades of experience as former chief geoscientist with Western Mining and chief geologist with BHP to bear to analyse and interpret newly available high-resolution airborne-magnetic data covering the region. From this, he identified approximately 35 massive never-before-tested targets he considered analogous to major Macquarie Arc mines located further to the south.
For president and CEO of Inflection Resources, Alistair Waddell, that such an opportunity was open ground, entirely free of claims or exploration licenses constituted a highly compelling rationale for him to get involved, and founded Inflection at that time. Thereafter, the company worked to tie up the entire northern Macquarie Arc district, which provided the foundations to attract a major partner much earlier than would typically be possible for a junior explorer.
Phase I nearing completion
Fast forward to today, and Waddell is focused on the company's Phase I drilling programme which is nearing completion. This typically sees two to three holes drilled in each target, and if key geochemistry or alteration attributes are not discernible, the team moves on to the next one.
Once Phase I is completed, AngloGold Ashanti reserves the right to select up to five designated projects, with mechanisms in place whereby ever greater financial commitment in respect of each of those individual targets translates to the major receiving a greater share of the pie. To get to 75%, it is required to deliver a pre-feasibility study, which would also see it cede a 1 or 2% royalty back to Inflection.
So promising was exploration work at the Duck Creek project, it has already been designated as a Phase 2 project, and is advancing, courtesy of the AU$7m therefore allocated to it as per the deal terms with AngloGold Ashanti. As a nearology play, it has solid credentials, marked by local magnetic high anomalies truncated by cross arc structures; a setting with strong parallels to proven Macquarie Arc bedfellows, Cadia, Cowal and Boda's deposits, and also a familiar setting for other global porphyry belts of renown.
All bases covered
Inflection's multi-year Heads of Agreement with AngloGold Ashanti has acted to de-risk its greenfield exploration by realising the requisite capital to drill test and potentially develop its large portfolio of copper-gold porphyry targets. The deal also has Inflection as the operating party in return for a 10% management fee, meaning no requirement to raise capital to cover corporate overheads in what has been a challenging market.
As to having ‘skin in the game', the Inflection Resources management team owns 26% of the company. In addition, the company continues to benefit from a very supportive long-term relationship with its core institutional shareholders, Crescat Capital and Resource Capital Funds, both out of Denver.
