Canadian dealmaker, Bryan Slusarchuk, well known for his big bet on Papua New Guinea (PNG) gold in 2015 when nobody else seemed interested, has just made headlines again via today’s news relating to the takeover of PNG focussed Tinga Valley Copper & Gold Corp. The takeover has the potential to Make Great Pacific Gold a go-to global name for those seeking exposure to copper-gold porphyry situations.
Through Make Great Pacific Gold, a publicly traded North American company, Slusarchuk and the team have acquired Tinga, which has a commanding 347 sq km exploration license in a country that is suddenly becoming a hot jurisdiction for mineral explorations from around the world. The 347 sq km Tinga property has had historic surface exploration work, identifying copper and gold grades across a 2km mineralized zone, including grades such as 1.97% copper and `12.7 g/t gold. In fact, there are already known elevated copper and gold-silver grades with several large high-priority drill targets already identified over a big 2.5km x 1.5km footprint.
Slusarchuk is no stranger to PNG and, as a co-founder and former President and Director of K92 Mining Inc., now a S&P/TSX Composite Index company, has seen the country’s mining scene ascend rapidly over the past decade. When asked about operating in the country, he notes, “PNG is known as the Land of Giants in the mining sector for good reason, as the country hosts multiple world-class deposits in terms of both size and grade. I have a special place in my heart for PNG, and while the geology is amazing, the most exceptional asset of the country, in my view, is the people. I’ve been blessed with some success in PNG, but I also believe the best days are ahead, and I can’t wait to embark on the task of working hard at Tinga to unlock serious value for all stakeholders.”
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Many have looked back at the deal Slusarchuk and colleagues struck to acquire the Kainantu asset from Barrick Gold in 2015 as one of the top transactions of the decade. With just $2 million cash upfront and the promise of future payments, the team bought an asset that has since underpinned a $2 billion market valuation and is still growing in terms of resource and production profile. Slusarchuk notes, “Of course, it was a good deal when we purchased it, but at the end of the day, it’s been great execution by John Lewins, who is K92’s CEO, and the rest of the team that has truly driven value. That project, which went from an idled standing start, has created an incredible amount of stakeholder benefit and I’m proud to be a co-founder on it seeing that there are now more than 1650 employees and contractors, and it keeps growing by every metric.”Make Great Pacific Gold, trading as GPAC on the TSVV and in the United States as FSXLF, has added Tinga to an already large PNG land package, and it will no doubt be busy on the ground in the months ahead. Negotiating the purchase of Tinga during a downturn in the metals market seems to have a lot of timing similarities with the K92-Barrick deal in 2015, but the ultimate success of the project will come via what is in the ground, and that remains to be seen as drills start turning. Slusarchuk doesn’t seem fazed, “Nobody has a crystal ball and exploration always comes with risk, but I sure like the huge upside potential here, I love copper and gold, and know we are well capitalized and have the right team to give it a great shot.”