RENEGADE EXPLORATION LIMITED (RNX) - Unlocking Defense Resources: Chairman Rob Kirtlan on Germanium and Gallium Discoveries, Strategic Collaborations, and Future Exploration Opportunities

What if your next investment could be the key to unlocking critical defense resources? Join us on ASX Briefs as we sit down with Rob Kirtlan, Chairman of Renegade Exploration Limited, to uncover the electrifying developments in their exploration ventures. Renegade is not just another player in the mining sector; they're making significant strides with their projects in Northwest Queensland and the Yukon Territory, focusing on copper, gold, and rare earth elements. Rob reveals the intriguing story behind the recent discovery of germanium and gallium in their Yukon zinc deposit, a revelation that has piqued the interest of major defense and infrastructure entities in North America.

Discover how these findings are reshaping Renegade's strategic outlook and what steps they're taking to verify these valuable resources. Rob shares candid insights into the company's plans to resample drill cores amidst challenging conditions, as well as the gold and antimony discoveries that present further exciting opportunities. With potential collaborations on the horizon and an eye on neighboring success stories, this episode paints a vivid picture of the dynamic landscape of mineral exploration and the high-stakes decisions that could alter the future of the industry. Tune in for a riveting conversation that promises to be as informative as it is inspiring.

Transcript

Andrew Musgrave Host

Welcome to the latest episode of ASX Briefs, and joining me today is Rob Kirtlan, the Chairman of Renegade Exploration Limited. Renegade is an emerging exploration company with a diverse portfolio of copper, gold, vanadium and rare earth projects, primarily in Queensland and Canada's Yukon Territory. Rob, thanks for joining me today and welcome to the ASX Briefs podcast. 

Rob Kirtlan Guest

Thanks for having me on, Andrew. 

Andrew Musgrave Host

Okay, Rob, for listeners that may be unfamiliar with Renegade Exploration, can you just provide a brief overview of the company? 

Rob Kirtlan Guest

Yes, we have a primary area of focus which anyone who has taken a look at us will notice is Northwest Queensland and copper focus. It's something we started several years ago, and we've been developing our base and our assets up in that region because we have a reasonably firm view on the medium long term outlook on copper. Secondly, as part of this company, when we came in and took over management of it, we inherited an asset in the Yukon. That's a zinc deposit. Until recently I had been looking to sell that and had two goes at it. We've made money out of it along the way, but that recently has also given us some cause for joy over this Christmas sort of early new year period. So yeah, two areas of focus now Northwest Queensland with copper and Yukon with this base metals and also gold focus. 

Andrew Musgrave Host

Okay, and the company has recently announced the discovery of germanium and gallium at the Yukon Andrew deposit. So how do these critical defence metals enhance the strategic importance of the project? 

Rob Kirtlan Guest

Quick snapshot on how that came about and why didn't we see it earlier. You know, fundamentally, as I said, we were looking to sell that asset to fund the Northwest Queensland operations and our neighbours announced funding from the US Defence and also the Canadian Infrastructure Fund back in early December. We saw that and we decided that and we also saw they've got tungsten and in their zinc deposit they've got this germanium and some gallium and stuff like that. So, we thought, hey, we better open up the database. So, we got through December and the Christmas period and we've been working on that since and we've come up with very high grade germanium in the zinc and also some gallium credits. So that's pretty interesting. We also think that potentially the gallium may increase it. 

The other thing that came out as we move through the database was a. It's a, it's a gold play. It's a very big soils rock chip footprint over two kilometres by one, one and a half kilometres, so huge, as anybody who follows gold will know and that's got just in the soils and the rock chips north of a gram gold. Very high-grade silver credits and also antimony. So, you know, we sort of our ears pricked up at this, not that antimony is useful, but to have that footprint for us really gave us some cause for let's have a really hard look at this and what can we do with it? Because it's, as the crow flies, 80 kilometres from one of the really major discoveries in the last two years in the gold space globally at a company called Snowline. But they're currently at 7.5 million grams and growing, and it's an outstanding project. So that's really caught our attention as well, apart from what might be in the zinc. 

Andrew Musgrave Host

And can you just elaborate on your plans for further analysis and potential resampling of the drill cores to confirm the germanium and gallium presence? 

Rob Kirtlan Guest

Yeah, we think the germanium may have been underreported. You know, using the assaying technique previously. So, I'm actually going to Whitehorse in a couple of weeks. We've got a storage unit up there, so I'm going up there to check out the pulps and all that sort of stuff and pull out some or all, because it's a very cheap exercise to send pops off for a re-assay. So, we're thinking we're going to probably do that. I just have to get there and be able to do it and of course it's very cold up there at the moment, sort of minus 20 type on a good day type stuff. So hopefully that will all be okay because we're hoping nobody's been in there and thrown them out. They've been there a fair while. They've been there for a dozen years if not longer. So that's the plan with that one. 

Andrew Musgrave Host

Okay, and you touched on the antimony and gold. So, you've announced what looks like very good soil and rock chip plays there at Yukon. So how do you progress that project? 

Rob Kirtlan Guest

Boots on ground. We've got a little bit of reclamation work to do up there this coming field season, so at the same time we'll probably go in there and go and do some mapping and some more work as soon as we can actually, so hopefully, sort of beginning of May with a bit of luck. The season there runs from May through October November. After that it's shut down, of course. But if there's anything serious there, then you know, potentially, you know outside of doing some geophysics, potentially you know we might try to roll a rig in there if we can, you know. That said, this is new ground for me. 

Operating in Australia is generally quite straightforward logistically. This is a little different, so I'll be taking advice up there. I think one of the benefits of what we've got there is that we have a partner in it. The original prospector has 10% of this project and he's the guy behind the Snowline Discovery, he and his sons. So, I'm looking forward to seeing them picking their brains and also looking at how we can push this project forward and hopefully they'll give us a hand to do that. 

Andrew Musgrave Host

Now touching on Cloncurry. So, the Greater Mongoose Mineralised Zone recently yielded some of the best copper intercepts to date. So, can you share insights into the drilling results and how they will influence your next steps in developing the Cloncurry project? 

Rob Kirtlan Guest

Yeah, we've been with two distinct focuses at Cloncurry and that's shallow deposits like Mongoose, and the deeper sulphide zones which we've been working on a sort of Ernest Henry 2.0 model there. And we've done a very deep diamond drill hole, and we got pretty sexy results but no cigar quite, but certainly enough to keep us going and recently we did some 500 metre RC drilling and we got the same results. So, it's just a case of determination, managing our risk in that respect. When it comes to Mongoose, yeah, we had a really nice 100 metre intersection just north of the existing deposit and that ran at, you know, average over sort of 0.5, 0.6%, but with some nice intersections in amongst it. 

The important thing there is that it's clearly a continuation of our neighbours, which is True North, their Taipan deposit. So, we are talking to them, as I say, all the time. It's no secret that there's a rationalisation which will occur here. It's just a case of when and we are talking TNC went through some difficult times late last year where they went into VA, came out again. You know we have pretty good relations with those guys there. We work closely with them. We're sharing info. We're sharing also, you know, because we share a border. You know we're cross-border, so it's all very sensible what I think we're working towards, which will be good for them and also good for Renegade shareholders. 

Andrew Musgrave Host

Okay, and is there potential to expand the Maiden Mongoose inferred mineral resource. 

Rob Kirtlan Guest

I think, definitely we know from our prior work on it, even without this recent hole which is pointing towards yet an extension of the existing pit outline, that if we put the Taipan and the Mongoose pits together, then both of us are winners on that and the resource should go up reasonably substantially. So, uh, so from our point of view, um, and I'm pretty sure from our neighbors as well, given our discussions to date um, there's a sensible, there's a sensible thing to do there so that we both, you know, get as much as possible out of that particular copper deposit. 

Andrew Musgrave Host

Okay, and you just touched on Ernest Henry 2.0. So, is that still in play and, if so, how do you progress that in the near term? 

Rob Kirtlan Guest

Yeah, we've gone back in for some more funding to do another deeper hole, I think it's. You know, IOCGs are notoriously difficult. You don't usually get them with the first hole. You know, I think some of the you know spectacular discoveries around the world Ernest Henry was the first hole, by the way, but that's a rare event, you know. Normally it can take 5, 10, 15 holes. 

Now I'm not saying we're going to keep drilling, you know 1,000-metre holes and all the rest of it. 

But I think the, the RC drilling that we did there was really good because we can get that. We we comfortably got to 500 meters, and you know that's a bonus for a junior because you know that that hole that we drilled is, you know, third of the cost of an of hole at that depth. So yeah, it was a pretty cheap shot to put in to test a theory around where is a sweet spot for this particular system. But it's definitely got all the hallmarks of a big, working IOCG system very similar to Ernest Henry. So yeah, we'll definitely be back there and doing more work because that would be a fantastic discovery for Renegade, given its location and given the fact that you know that whole Northwest Queensland area needs more copper to be going to Isa to keep that operation going. So, anybody that wins up there wins for everyone sort of thing. 

Andrew Musgrave Host

Now, looking at things at a more macro level, with the growing global demand for critical minerals like copper, zinc, germanium and gallium, how does Renegade position itself to be a key player in this space? 

Rob Kirtlan Guest

Yeah, I guess copper. It's interesting because I think people are now getting around that germanium gallium story. Generally, they're a by-product, but it's the whole China theme. So, no mystery there that they've cut off exports for a number of critical minerals. I don't think that's going to change. 

Having been around the space for so long, I'm always wary of commodity prices, know they go up, they go down just when you think you're home and hosed and something happens and you're disappointed, right. So, I I think in this case there's there's a growing need for change on how pretty much and I'm being slightly political pretty much how everything is dealt with China. You know, if they're going to turn the tap on and the tap off and all this sort of thing on all of these critical minerals, which is what they've done? They've turned it off. If they turn it on, can we be sure that they won't turn it off again and this sort of thing? So, I think the West, you know we have to be on our game around that and that'll include these critical, it'll include copper, it'll include policy around smelters. 

You know China's overbuilt in the copper smelting space and you kind of look at that and go well, is that just a corner of the market. Well, do we really want to go down that rabbit hole again? You know we're in a world of pain here because of what we've been doing for the last 30 odd years with our friends up there, because if they get the tom tits on with us then we see what they do. So, I think from the point of view of the commodity space, I see what China's doing has been quite bullish for what we are up to, and it filters down to we juniors who are really the ones out there looking for the next small one, medium one, big one, yeah. 

Andrew Musgrave Host

Okay, and just lastly looking ahead, what are some of the key milestone’s shareholders can look forward to over the next 12 months? 

Rob Kirtlan Guest

Yeah, I think a rationalisation of Mongoose is right up there. Getting back on the ground, recommencing work there in two- or three-months’ time and also what we're doing in the Yukon, which is a few months out. But in the short term, if I can get those samples and re-assay, there might be some hopefully some nice news out of re-assaying in a different way just to see exactly what's in that zinc deposit. So those are the short-term sort of drivers, but I think the next six to 12 months for us will be busy and pretty exciting. 

Andrew Musgrave Host

Thanks for your time today, Rob, and we look forward to the next update from Renegade Exploration in the coming months. 

Rob Kirtlan Guest

Great Thanks for having me Andrew pleasure.

Andrew Musgrave Host

That concludes this episode of ASX Briefs. Don't forget to subscribe and we look forward to catching you on our next episode.