THE INTERVIEW
CLIVE JONES CAZALY RESOURCES
Clive Jones gives journalist Cameron Drummond insight into his company’s flagship Mount Venn gold project, and the impact of the ‘battery revolution’ on junior exploration in Australia.
Q. What is your educational and professional history?
I obtained a Bachelor of Applied Science (Geology) from the Western Australian Institute of Technology — or Curtin University as it is known today — and have been involved in the minerals industry for over 30 years.
I have worked on the exploration and development of a range of commodities, including gold, base metals, uranium, mineral sands, iron ore and industrial minerals, both in Australia and overseas.
The last 15 years or so I have been involved in several listed companies and am currently joint managing director of Cazaly Resources, a director of Bannerman Resources, and chairman of Corazon Mining.
Q. Tell us about your role at Cazaly.
My main focus is running Cazaly where we are focusing on our Mount Venn gold project, which lies in the Yamarna region of WA near Gold Road’s 6 million ounce Gruyere gold development.
The project is very large, encompassing an entire greenstone belt which has never really been adequately explored for gold.
We also have a portfolio of other projects which we are looking to advance, including the Parker Range iron ore project located near Southern Cross.
Parker Range is pretty much a forgotten asset in the company.
It is a “mine-ready” asset with a fully completed feasibility study, all requisite approvals to mine and is relatively quick and easy to develop, however given the fickle market for iron ore in recent years it has been difficult to finance.
My other roles in Bannerman and Corazon also see me dealing with ongoing board and occasionally operational decisions. Having projects based in Africa for Bannerman, and Canada for Corazon, also sees me dealing with interesting and challenging jurisdiction issues from time to time, there’s always a curve to learn!
Q. What does a typical day look like for you?
Well, after being Superdad at home it’s generally into the office and dealing with the issues of the day. Currently it is facilitating access for on-ground work and dealing with a tad too much bureaucracy.
I’m not sure our industry gets enough recognition for the amount of people we keep employed in government! I change a lot between the corporate role and getting into the data on our projects so I’m certainly busy enough.
Q. How is Mount Venn tracking?
We got on the ground and conducted our first drilling program in January this year and followed up again recently.
We initially targeted the central portion of the belt where the geology is reminiscent of the geology hosting Gold Road’s Gruyere discovery.
The work successfully identified a +3km long gold bearing structure and we are about to commence some follow- up deeper RC drilling. The drilling also highlighted what looks to be VMS zinc mineralisation at the Rutters prospect.
A recently completed geophysical program of Dipole- Dipole IP highlighted a + 1km long anomaly coincident with anomalous zinc and gold in RAB drilling, surface geochemistry and an airborne EM anomaly.
The presence of extensive zinc mineralisation, with coincident elevated levels of gold, arsenic, silver, copper and lead, occurring within a felsic volcanic pile indicates the potential for primary VMS (Volcanic Massive Sulphide) mineralisation at depth which we will be RC drilling shortly.
Q. What other developments are on the horizon for Cazaly?
“The emerging battery metals space has been a real fillip for the junior resource space. The industry went through a ‘near-death’ experience for a few years and many didn’t survive, which some say wasn’t such a bad thing.”
Cazaly has several other projects including the Mackenzie Springs graphite-nickel project which sits along strike of Panoramic Resources’ Savannah nickel mine, the Halls Creek copper project in the Kimberley region of WA, two cobalt projects on the east coast and even some applications for uranium in the Czech Republic. There’s always some ‘smokies in the drawer’ at Cazaly!
Q. What does the ‘battery metals’ revolution mean for junior explorers?
The emerging battery metals space has been a real fillip for the junior resource space. The industry went through a ‘near-death’ experience for a few years and many didn’t survive, which some say wasn’t such a bad thing! The demand allowed for an injection of new money into the sector and has revitalised many in the industry.
It has also shown how quick footed the junior sector can be to accommodate new and emerging demands and has had obvious benefits to not only to the companies, but to the economy as a whole as funds raised gets spent in the wider community.