- Barton Gold was created as a strategic move to take advantage of shifting global conditions and capture an overlooked region rich in resources, infrastructure and upside potential
- The company focuses on South Australia’s Gawler Craton, where it has secured over 1.1 million ounces of gold resources and plans a further update targeted for March 2023
- Leadership and management of Barton is uniquely multi-disciplinary, with a broad suite of strategic, financial and development capabilities unusual for a typical exploration company
- The goal is for Barton to become South Australia’s leading independent gold producer through large-scale exploration and development
In Australia, it is usually a geologist in charge of both kicking the rocks and managing the bigger-picture corporate strategy for an exploration company.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that — geologists are very good at finding the various metals, including gold, that have made Australia’s mining industry an international success story.
The trouble is that gold supply has plateaued in Australia in recent years: the prediction for 2023 is a mere two per cent increase in gold production nationally, and that job is getting much, much harder.
The old model — find gold, dig it up, get rich — isn’t as straightforward or dependable as it has been in the past, with the obvious major deposits long since mined out.
The focus now is on finding smarter ways to make new discoveries under cover and to better manage several disciplines essential to unlocking their potential — reducing costs without affecting output, meeting increasingly stringent environmental regulations, optimising financing options, and maintaining profitability while navigating an ever-changing political and social landscape.
Where geologists are great at finding resources, more diverse skill sets help to deal with strategically-challenging emerging issues and facilitate the greatest chance of success resulting from the fruits of solid geological work. It’s usually the corporate side, not the geology, that fails.
A new approach to the gold industry
Barton Gold (BGD) is a different kind of gold company.
It was formed not on the back of a discovery or a hunch about a potential find, but on proven geology and the sound reasoning of an economist and structured financier with expertise in private capital management, principal investment and corporate advisory: an economist with a desire to bring a broad range of complementary skills and experience together under one roof to unlock value and potential which had already been established.
Barton’s CEO and Managing Director, Alex Scanlon, told The Market Herald that the seeds of the company formed through his work in studying monetary policy-driven inflation and global geopolitical and credit risks — years before they became the urgent issues they are today.
“I looked out across the world and saw serious problems with credit, inflation and geopolitical volatility coming down the pipe,” Mr Scanlon said.
“We wanted to own high-quality inflation hedges in coming times of turmoil, so my team and I started to look at securing and developing major gold assets in Australia.
“As a Tier One geological and low-risk jurisdiction, we could see that with the right properties and infrastructure, putting together a uniquely focused pure play gold company would be a compelling opportunity.”
Gawler Craton — a proven gold district
The team determined that South Australia’s Gawler Craton — a region that has been mined for gold at shallow levels for over a hundred years but has remained underexplored using modern techniques — was precisely the kind of ground they wanted to acquire.
Barton Gold was incorporated in 2019 and, being well-capitalised, set about acquiring a range of assets in the Gawler Craton region.
These now include:
- The Tarcoola Project, including the high-grade brownfield open pit Perseverance Mine (gold/100 per cent owned) which produced roughly 3.8 grams per tonne (g/t) gold ore during 2018;
- The Tunkillia Project (gold/100 per cent owned), which hosts a 965,000-ounce gold mineral resource and three new gold zones, near the Tarcoola Project;
- The Challenger Project, including the brownfield underground Challenger Mine, which produced 1.2 million ounces of gold during 2002–2018;
- The Central Gawler Mill (gold/100 per cent owned), which has processed ore from both the Challenger Mine and the Perseverance Mine; and
- A minority (roughly 20 per cent) interest in local joint ventures hosting 319,000 ounces of gold mineral resources within roughly 40km of the company’s Central Gawler Mill.
The strategy has so far been highly successful, having defined over 1.1 million ounces of gold to date and having secured ownership of the region’s only gold mill and a register of high-quality infrastructure including airstrips, a mine village and exploration camps.
The company was publicly listed in June 2021 and is amply capitalised, with over $10 million in cash with which to pursue its goals.
Proven operational and leadership teams
From the very beginning, Mr Scanlon set about bringing together a team that combined diverse business, mining, financial and, yes, geological skills, to create a truly modern business with a strong strategic, managerial and technological base.
The board and management team represent a diverse range of skill sets that encompass resource discovery, technical studies, permitting, financing, development, mining operations, treasury management, and large-scale, billion-dollar financial structuring.
Notably, three of Barton’s senior personnel bring to the table their experience with Australia’s largest gold producer, Normandy Mining (acquired by Newmont), which produced more than 2 million ounces of gold in the year of its acquisition.
Chairman Kenneth Williams was the CFO of Normandy Mining, Exploration Manager Marc Twining was an exploration geologist with both Normandy and Newmont, and Barton’s Project GM David Wilson was formerly Chief Surveyor and Technical Services Superintendent for Normandy. David was also a member of Normandy’s influential continuous improvement teams for several years.
Mr Scanlon told The Market Herald that everything was now in place for a period of significant growth and development at Barton Gold.
“We’re in a state — South Australia — that holds some 25 per cent of Australia’s gold but counts for just 2.5 per cent of its production. Our established resources are currently 1.1 million ounces, and we have recently identified four new gold zones with over 2 kilometres of new gold mineralisation,” Mr Scanlon said.
“We are well-funded and have the capability to continue aggressively exploring and growing resources in a historically rich area. Most importantly, quality people are the best determinant of a company’s potential for future success, and our team has been very carefully assembled around shared values to combine a broader range of expertise than most companies would gather at this stage.
“In reality, we are not an early stage explorer, but rather an advanced asset manager with significant growth upside.
“We need to examine every issue and development opportunity from several often radically different perspectives and have robust discussions about various options, with a view to more well-informed decision making.
“We’re relatively unique in this business in terms of our team, the composition of our assets, and a strategically dominant position across a major recognised district, and our goal is to become South Australia’s long-term leader in the primary gold industry.
“Large-scale exploration and development, with the benefit of an existing major asset platform, is the clear and achievable pathway to delivering on our vision.”
Asked to envisage the future of the company, Mr Scanlon spoke with a reassuring conviction: “Barton Gold will be South Australia’s largest independent gold producer.”
Nick Bruechle – Contributor, Advisir
