Critical Resources surges on first-mover Suriname gold grab

Critical Resources has planted its flag in South America after striking a savvy deal for the exclusive right to acquire a 90 per cent interest in the Gonini gold project in Suriname. The move gives the company a rare first-mover advantage for an ASX-listed junior, establishing a foothold in the highly prospective Guiana Shield gold province.

And the market appeared to greet the news with a loud cheer, pushing the company’s share price as much as 29 per cent higher to 0.9 of a cent in early trade, on the biggest turnover in more than three months.

The 164-square-kilometre project comprises two granted exploitation rights in the historic Sara Creek gold district, a region with a 150-year history of artisanal and small-scale mining but, notably, no record of modern, systematic exploration.

Under the terms of the heavily bank-ended deal, Critical will pay a US$50,000 (A$70,300) signing fee, followed by a completion payment of US$200,000 (A$281,250) in cash and 10 million Critical Resources shares. A series of deferred cash payments totalling US$1.75 (A$2.46) million are payable over the subsequent four years to the vendor, N.V. Gonini Mining Company.

Critical has also committed to a minimum exploration expenditure of US$2.5 (A$3.52) million over five years. The vendor will retain a 10 per cent free-carried interest to a decision to mine, in addition to a 2 per cent net smelter return royalty that the company can buy back.

The Gonini project sits within the Marowijne greenstone belt, which is proven elephant country. The project lies just 66 kilometres from Newmont’s massive 5.1-million-ounce Merian mine and 88km from Zijin Mining’s 5.6-million-ounce Rosebel operation. The company is quick to point out that mineralisation at those mines is not necessarily indicative of what it might find at Gonini, but the address is undeniably first-class.

Critical says the project area straddles the contact between the Paramaka greenstone belt and a tonalite-granodiorite intrusive, a geological setting associated with orogenic gold mineralisation elsewhere in the region.

Notably, since the Gonini project comes with granted exploitation rights, the company will have immediate access for exploration, mining, processing and the sale of minerals, avoiding the lengthy processes often required to convert an exploration permit into a mining right.

Critical Resources managing director Tim Wither said: “We believe Gonini gives Critical Resources a rare first-mover position on the ASX: a large, granted gold tenure package in Suriname at a time when global mining capital is increasingly recognising the discovery potential of the Guiana Shield. This is a gold province with major mines, major discoveries and growing strategic investment - but still a fraction of the modern exploration maturity seen elsewhere along the Guiana Shield greenstone belt.”

Critical’s entry into Suriname comes at a time when the region is heating up, with major international mining companies and strategic investors increasingly recognising its gold discovery potential.