Blake chalks up Victory leadership role

ASX-listed explorer, Victory Mines, has moved to bolster its board and management as an RC drilling program gets underway at its joint-ventured high-grade Coogee gold project about 50km south-east of Kalgoorlie. Non‐Executive Director Matthew Blake has stepped up to the role of Executive Director of the Perth-based company taking on extra responsibilities, while Zaffer Soemya has been appointed as a Non‐Executive Director of Victory.

Blake, who has more than two decades experience in the financial services industry, joined one of the country’s oldest broking houses DJ Carmichael in 1999 as an investment adviser. He was an Executive Director at DJs from 2011 until the 123-year-old business was bought by Shaw and Partners last year.

Among Blake’s expanded duties will be his involvement in the company’s strategic direction, negotiations on corporate and joint venture arrangements, new project opportunities, and investor relations.

Engineer Soemya, who has more than 25 years experience in project management of major infrastructure and mining projects, joined the board of unlisted company Serena Minerals in 2017 as a Non‐Executive Director.

Serena has since picked up several drill-ready gold, base metals and uranium tenements in WA, including the Coogee project that was recently acquired by Victory from Serena, who is now a major shareholder in Victory with an 11 per cent holding.

Victory also has the benefit of 30-year-plus veteran geologist, and Serena Managing Director, Harjinder Kehal on board as a Technical Consultant.

Kehal has worked in the precious metals, base metals, industrial minerals, iron ore and coal sectors in Australia, India, Vietnam, Oman and Chile. He was a key figure in the discovery of the one-million-ounce Golden Cities gold deposit near Kalgoorlie in 1998 in his capacity as Exploration Manager with AMX Resources.

More recently Kehal was involved in the discovery of the Erayinia VMS lead-zinc deposit east of Kalgoorlie and his recent executive roles have also included Chief Operating Officer of AXG Mining and Executive Director and Chairman of Altera Resources.

In addition, Non-Executive Director David Sanders has been elevated to the position of Chairman of Victory and Caeneus Minerals’ Chief Executive Rob Mosig’s Technical Consultant contract with Victory has been extended for a further six months.

The company’s 4,000m RC drilling program is aimed at testing advanced gold exploration targets as well as potential extensions at depth and along strike of the indicated and inferred resource at Coogee. Currently, the resource stands at 96,000 tonnes grading 3.4 grams per tonne for 10,600 ounces of contained gold.

Ramelius Resources, from whom Victory is earning an 80 per cent interest in the JV, reported the recovery of approximately 20,400oz of gold from about 150,000 tonnes of ore sourced from the modest Coogee open pit. The ore extracted was treated at an average plant head grade of 4.7 g/t gold and metallurgical recovery of 96.4 per cent between August 2013 and February 2014.

Processing of the Coogee ore was done at Ramelius’ Burbanks mill, south of Coolgardie, about 110km from the project area.

To earn its 80 per cent stake, Victory is required to spend $2.1 million over five years on exploration at Coogee.

With a refreshed board and highly credentialed consultants leading the charge, the Coogee gold project will be one to keep an eye on.

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