Embark on a journey to the heart of mineral exploration with Zac Komur, the trailblazing CEO of Equinox Resources Limited, who brings to life the gritty and audacious world beneath our feet. As he maps out Equinox's bold approach to delivering high-grade commodities, Zac's dedication to speed, precision, and cost-effectiveness is nothing short of remarkable. With an impressive 85% of company resources pumped directly into project exploration, Equinox's ventures stretch from the rich terrains of Australia and Brazil and extend their ambitions across the globe. This episode promises to be an enlightening exploration of the strategic blueprint that's defining the mining industry's future and the tangible value being forged for stakeholders at every level.
Zac takes us behind the scenes of staking over 400,000 hectares for rare earth exploration, and the swift transition to drilling operations within a mere four months—a testament to Equinox's efficiency and expertise. The Campo Grande Rare Earths Project emerges in our conversation, not just for its proximity to a venture by mining magnate Gina Reinhart but for its potential to emulate the surrounding area's ultra-high-grade findings. Zac, whose experience spans continents and commodities, infuses this discussion with firsthand insights from the drilling frontline, ensuring this episode is packed with the kind of insider knowledge that can only come from someone who has not only led the charge but has felt the thrill of the drill.
Andrew Musgrave:
Welcome to ASX Briefs, where we peel back the layers of the stock market to discover the gems within. I'm Andrew Musgrave and I'm thrilled to guide you through the intricate world of mineral exploration and development. Equinox Resources is a name that's becoming increasingly prominent for its ambitious projects across Australia and Brazil. Today, we are joined by Zac Komur, chief Executive Officer of Equinox Resources Limited. Thanks for joining us today, zac, and welcome to ASX Briefs.
Zac Komur:
Thank you for having me, Andrew.
Andrew Musgrave:
All right, Zac, to kick things off, could you give us a brief overview of Equinox Resources' core mission and the strategic focus behind your exploration activities in Brazil and Australia?
Zac Komur:
Thanks, andrew. Our core mission is really to discover and deliver high-grade, high-volume and high-margin commodities and create lasting value to our shareholders, customs and communities we serve. We do this by meticulously doing our work and following the geology, looking at the anomalies and fault lines in the earth's crust, and staking greenfield, unexplored virgin territories, acquiring assets or forming partnerships along the way. We then get to work with speed and precision to unlock the full potential of that asset as soon as possible. We are a very cost-effective organization, with more than 85% of our spend dedicated to projects and exploration with little overhead cost. This is the blueprint of our strategic focus on exploration in Brazil and Australia, but we're also looking at prospects around the world.
Andrew Musgrave:
Very good, though, looking at prospects around the world, very good. And now this year you've seen significant milestones for the company, especially with the staking of over 400,000 hectares of prospective rare earth tenements and kicking off drilling only four months after staking that ground. Could you delve into the achievements and what these mean for the company's trajectory?
Zac Komur:
Yeah, thanks, andrew. As the CEO of Equinox Resources, I have over 24 years experience hands-on experience in the resources sector, working through mine development, project delivery, commercialization, commissioning and startup mining and mineral processing operations across various commodities, including iron ore, nickel, cobalt, lithium. I also was the commissioning lead and the managing team for Sweden's first gigafactory, or Europe's first gigafactory based in Sweden, and I've worked at various senior leadership positions within BHP Billiton, where I spent 10 years, and also Fortescue and I already have a passion for mining and mineral processing. Since joining Equinox, I knew that we had to add something else to our portfolio and I initially ventured into Brazil in early 2005 for a nickel and cobalt project with BHP. So November last year I reached out to my contacts in Brazil and with a team of geologists, we ended up staking over 400,000 hectares of highly prospective virgin ground for rare earths and niobium.
Zac Komur:
And there are more opportunities to come across Brazil that we are exploring and Brazil ticks a lot of boxes for us. It's a tier one mining jurisdiction. We have the full support of the community and mining agency on the areas that we are operating mining agency on the areas that we are operating. The country also runs off a green electric grid with hydrant wind backing. We have a great experienced team of professionals in Brazil, with great infrastructure and it is a low-cost jurisdiction, and we're just really getting started in Brazil.
Andrew Musgrave:
Excellent. So, with the drilling programs, you've kicked off the drilling at the Campo Grande Rare Earths Project, which is next door to Brazilian Rare Earths, which is backed by Gina Reinhart and that has a market cap of just shy of $200 million. Can you share more about the objectives of this program and how it fits into the overall resource development strategy?
Zac Komur:
Thanks, andrew.
Zac Komur:
I'm not sure if it was luck, but as we were following the geology in early November last year with the team and I pegging and staking new ground, we noticed that we were adjacent to the Brazilian rare earths project, which is backed by Gina rare earths project, which is backed by gina, and I was on site uh last month as we kicked off our drilling program and I actually operated the first drill with the team at our neo rio negro prospect there, at our cup of grande project, where we have over 170 000 hectares spanning across some great geology, just adjacent to Brazilian rare earths, and we would like to replicate the ultra-high grades that they're seeing.
Zac Komur:
They've reported the world's highest grade of rare earths at 45,000 ppm and they're doing some great work and we're just really getting started to really unlock what that potential has, what those prospects has to offer. But I just want to point out that we ended up staking the ground in November and within four months we've kicked off drilling and there's a lot of work that was involved in that securing an experienced team in Brazil, securing all the environmental authorization, the land access, finding a drilling contractor, engaging with the community and a lot was pulled together to make that possible.
Andrew Musgrave:
Very good. Now I'm just moving back on shore. You've got some projects here in Australia as well. Can you give us an update on the Hammersley Iron Ore Project?
Zac Komur:
Our Hammersley Iron Ore Project is our flagship project, which was the pivotal project which Equinox Resources IPO'd in late 2021. It's strategically located in the infrastructure-rich Pilbara region of Western Australia, adjacent to the Fortescue Solomon mine and Rio Tinto's operations near Tom Price. The project includes a granted mining lease a native title agreement, with the Wintowarri-Gurumah Aboriginal Corporation. We have conducted terrestrial fauna surveys and nothing material has been found during those local fauna and habitat studies and that would feed into our environmental impact assessment. We also have a mineral resource there which is a draw-compliant mineral resource of 343 million tonnes at 55% iron and a total of 23,000 metres has been drilled on the mining lease. But we also realise that there is high-grade near-surface iron ore above the water table that integrates a potential for direct shipped ore with open mineralization at 62% iron and we are currently working with the traditional owners to kick off a drilling program in late 2024 to get some better resource definition of that high grade pocket and kick off some metallurgical test work that could then help commercialize that asset.
Andrew Musgrave:
Excellent. Well, there's plenty of activity going on within the company Zac, within Brazil and both here in Australia as well. What can we expect from the company in terms of news flow over the next few months?
Zac Komur:
Drilling is underway at our Rio Negro rare earths project in Brazil so we'll hope to get some assay results.
Zac Komur:
As those assays come back from the labs and we foresee those results come back in Q4 FY24, may, june of this year the results should follow our high-grade rare earths that we're seeing in Brazilian rare earths tenements adjacent to us. We also expect to receive some additional surface sample results across the Capo Grande project to then highlight our next prospective drilling target. We are also carrying out some exploration reconnaissance work across our other tenements in Brazil, across our Noiobium project at Canastra and also our Mata da Corda rare earths project. So we'll start getting some results there. We should also receive an outcome on our way forward for the Heritage Committee assessment underway with the Hammersley Iron Ore Project which should come out in mid-June to then have a pathway there for drilling in at that iron ore asset and I plan to head back to Brazil and also our iron ore asset as those projects kick off and also our iron ore asset as those projects kick off, but also focusing on a Brazil trip to size some strategic MOUs with partners and community members on our projects in Brazil.
Andrew Musgrave:
All right. Well, as I mentioned, plenty of activity going on. We wish you all the best. So thanks for your time today, Zac, and we look forward to the next update from Equinox Resources in the upcoming months.
Zac Komur:
Appreciate it. Thanks for having me, Andrew.
Andrew Musgrave:
That concludes this episode of ASX Briefs. Don't forget to subscribe and we look forward to catching you on our next episode.