Canadian gold miner to list on NZ sharemarket as it eyes fast-track Reefton mine bid

The company plans to develop an underground gold and antimony mine at Auld Creek as well as a nearby ore processing facility. It ultimately aims to develop a string of mines in the vicinity.

Simon Delander, Rua’s vice president risk stakeholder regulatory affairs, told the Herald the NZX listing will allow Kiwi investors to participate in the company’s successes and the country’s resources.

Delander confirmed that Rua plans to make a fast-track referral application to the Government at the end of next month. Approval sits with Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop.

If granted, it would allow Rua to apply for one-stop consenting under the Government’s Fast-track legislation for the Auld Creek project.

Delander said the company aims to make a fast-track application before the November election.

A successful application would convert the company’s exploration permits at Auld Creek to active mining permits; these are currently fixed to grandfathered Crown royalty rates that are lower than those now current.

If re-elected, Resources Minister Shane Jones has promised to review royalty rates, including the grandfathering provisions.

Delander said the company is unconcerned by this: “We’re happy to pay our fair share, our main concern is that any higher royalty should benefit the local community here.”

Delander said he expects current funds to carry the company through to 2027 and cover the cost of three drilling rigs operating fulltime in the Reefton area, the fast-track application and the pre-feasibility and feasibility studies needed to shore up investor confidence and make the project bankable.

The project will need a further $200m to build, though that’s still a “high-level number”. Commercial production is anticipated in 2029.

Rua is one of several companies pushing ahead with gold mining and gold mine expansion plans, driven by the Government’s new policies to encourage mining and the huge run-up in the gold price – it broke US$5000 ($8270) an ounce in recent weeks and is currently trading just below that level.

Australian company Endura Mining expects to begin commercial production at its Snowy River mine near Reefton early next year.

Santana Minerals, ASX-traded, is currently seeking Fast-Track approval for its Bendigo-Ophir Gold Project in Central Otago.

Antimony is used as a fire retardant and in a variety of ways in energy storage (batteries in particular) and in high-tech electronics. That makes it strategic, economically and increasingly geopolitically, in an age of enormous electrification – a so-called “critical mineral”.

The US has been in talks with a range of countries, including New Zealand, to establish some measure of co-operation in the production and refining of critical minerals.

Delander said Rua is aware of the political-level talks. He said the company’s current conversations, particularly around planned antimony production, have not been much affected: “We’ve had dialogue to date with multiple interested parties around antimony and refining and to be honest, we’ve really only been talking to western parties, western refiners, Japan, Malaysia ... there’s a lot of refining in China but they’ve got their own production, their own feedstock.”