Investors rush float offering the makings of new mineral field

Peter Tambanis prospected on the wrong side of PNG’s Owen Stanley Thrust Belt, discovering high grade gold, copper and nickel. He and his sons are now behind an IPO.

PERTH - 

The prospectus for Goldminex Resources Ltd to raise $A22 million ($US19.78 M) is already heavily oversubscribed and may close early to enhance its charges of being listed on the Australian Stock Exchange by the end of this month.

Over-subscription for an ASX float is not uncommon these days, but Goldminex is something of a rarity as it has placed all its investment eggs in PNG, a country that has not been a big magnet for new Australian companies in the past few years. 

The key attraction is that the company's licences cover untested mineral targets that have produced high grade gold and copper and rich boulder float with spectacular nickel grades. The company's licences cover a huge tract in the northern side of PNG's eastern mainland, starting south and east of Popondetta the south and east of Safia.

Goldminex's Non-Executive Chairman Adrian Fleming recalls this region being ignored when he was a young geologist working in PNG for Placer, and told Mineweb that it was not on the radar as geological maps by Australia's then-Bureau of Mineral Resources showed the region was devoid of intrusions which was then a prime factor to explore. 

Peter Tambanis unearthed the Foasi System where he traced copper and gold mineralisation over 15 square kilometres and assays picked up included 60.6% copper in float and gold in float on assays ranging from 6.55 to 78.2 grams/tonne. Later trenching picked up 5m @ 38.5 g/t gold and 12m 2 5.6 g/t Au and 2% Cu.

On the Gossan Hill prospect a significant hard rock discovery was found by following gossanous float in surrounding creeks. Rock chip and trenches returned grades including 10m @ 24.4 g/t Au, 14m @ 9.11 g/t Au and 07% Cu and 8m @ 8.52 g/t Au and 1.37% Cu. 

The prospectus says the high-grade sulphide nickel on the Veri Veri Creek licence saw boulder gloat provide assays up to 32.5% Ni while grab samples from the first sulphide outcrop assayed gave values up to 10.1%. New discoveries of nickel float mineralisation grading up to 3.06% Ni have been made 12 kilometres NW of Veri Veri Creek.

Fleming, who lives in Dunedin, New Zealand and is founder and president of Toronto-listed Underworld Resources Ltd., told Mineweb that the trail of nickel float extended beyond the boundaries of an original tenement so an application was made for the pertinent adjoining ground. 

Peter's son Basil Tambanis, who has worked in the mineral exploration industry for 15 years and has worked on the PNG properties since 2004, has been appointed managing director of Goldminex. His brother Steven, a geologist of 20 years experience, who spent seven years in the corporate business of WMC Resources (since taken over by BHP Billiton), is an executive director.

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