Multi-commodity explorer Venus Metals has received a vote of confidence from Queensland multi-millionaire and veteran coal miner, Christopher Wallin, who injected $1.2 million into the company through a placement of shares priced at 20 cents each.
Mr Wallin was the Queensland Government's chief coal geologist before starting his own company, QCoal, in 1989 and discovered and developed several mines in the Bowen Basin.
One of Australia’s top 50 richest in 2019, the QCoal Managing Director’s personal fortune puts him just shy of the billionaire ranks.
His acquisition of 6 million shares propels him into the ranks of Venus’ substantial shareholders with a 5.03% stake in the company.
Proceeds from the placement will be used for exploration at the Youanmi gold project where the company has been pursuing an aggressive campaign in conjunction with fellow Australian company Rox Resources.
These exploration programs have already delivered some high-grade results at the Currans Find JV project where drilling unearthed intersections of 6 metres grading 9.82 grams per tonne gold from 36m down-hole and 4m @ 5.72g/t gold from 60m.
More recently, the two companies started a 1,100m reverse circulation drilling program targeting down-plunge and along-strike extensions of high-grade gold mineralisation intersected in previous drilling at the Currans Find North prospect.
The earlier drilling had returned some cracking results such as a metre going 72.7g/t gold from 39m down-hole, located within a wider zone of 3m @ 27.5g/t gold and 2m @ 13.3g/t gold from 61m down-hole including 1m @ 25.4g/t gold in a separate drill hole.
Venus and Rox also plan to commence a 5,000m aircore drilling program to test aeromagnetic anomalies which indicate similar stratigraphic geological units to those hosting the historical Penny West gold mine.
Spectrum Metals’ nearby Penny North gold discovery and the historical Magenta and Columbia gold prospects are interpreted to extend northwards into the Venus JV ground.
By Matt Birney
