By
Investor Insight
EMU NL is an Australia-focused base and precious metals exploration company offering a compelling opportunity in the highly lucrative copper space. A strategic focus on delineating a potential large-scale copper porphyry system at its Fiery Creek copper deposit in Northern Queensland, combined with a leadership team of significant global experience and expertise, and an upward trending copper market, all make EMU NL worthy of considerable consideration for any investors looking at the copper sector.
Overview
EMU NL (ASX:EMU) is an ASX-listed precious and base metals exploration company with three projects in Queensland, Australia: Georgetown, Badja and Sunfire. EMU’s primary focus is accelerating exploration at the highly promising Fiery Creek prospect, located within the Georgetown project in Northern Queensland.
Australia is one of the most attractive regions for mining, according to the Fraser Institute. It ranks Queensland as the 13th most attractive destination for mining investment.
In 2023, Queensland’s mines yielded 12.6 tons of gold, positioning it as Australia’s fourth most prolific state for this precious metal. The company’s presence in relatively attractive mining jurisdictions positions it to capitalize on opportunities in Australia’s resource sector and deliver sustainable returns to its shareholders. The recent fundraises of A$1.45 million have provided sufficient funding to advance its exploration projects.
Gold and copper continue to demonstrate bullish trends. Various factors are driving the surge in copper prices, including demand patterns such as upgrades in utility grids, the increasing use of copper in electric vehicles, and housing construction. Additionally, the growing energy demand from data centres powering AI applications and servers contributes to the increased need for copper. Both gold and copper prices have hit their all-time high in 2024, which also enhance the prospects for junior miners to progress their projects and potentially secure financing easily.
Key Projects
Georgetown Project
The Georgetown project tenements span 850 sq. km. in North Queensland and comprises three exploration permits: Georgetown, Perpendicular Peak and the Fiery Creek copper prospect. Of these, Fiery Creek is the most promising and the current exploration interest for EMU.
The Georgetown project is located in a resource-rich yet under-explored region in Queensland’s far north, situated within the Georgetown mining district, with a significant history of mining activities and mineral discoveries.
EMU has identified the Fiery Creek copper prospect as a potentially massive-scale copper porphyry system within the 29 sq. km. Yataga Igneous complex. In the middle of 2023, EMU’s reconnaissance efforts at Fiery Creek yielded numerous instances of heightened copper and polymetallic values. EMU conducted additional sampling to further assess the potential of the Fiery Creek prospect.
The work confirmed the significant, large-scale potential of the Fiery Creek copper prospect. It identified additional high-priority targets within the Yataga Granitoid complex, revealing polymetallic rock chip values reaching up to 0.27 parts per million (ppm) gold, 460 ppm silver, 1.9 percent bismuth, 23.5 percent copper, 43 ppm indium, 2.7 percent lead, and 341 ppm antimony. Similarly, values of 0.13 ppm gold, 44 ppm silver, 0.28 percent bismuth, 13.5 percent copper, 89 ppm indium, 1.62 percent lead, and 667 ppm antimony were recorded at Yataga South.
Initial fieldwork has provided strong indications of a potential large-scale copper porphyry system at Fiery Creek. EMU is planning further geological mapping, systematic geochemistry and a geophysics survey to delineate the indicated porphyry system.
Badja Project
The Badja project is located 32 kilometres southeast of the township of Yalgoo and covers an area of 870 hectares. The project’s tenements include a centrally granted mining lease covering 7.3 hectares, an adjoining mining lease application covering 279.3 hectares, and a granted exploration license covering 590.3 hectares. EMU’s previous drilling work has identified areas that are prospective for high-grade gold, tungsten and lithium.
EMU is evaluating options to maximize the value of the project, either through sale or retention.
Sunfire Project
Sunfire is a nickel, copper and PGE exploration project in Western Australia. The project is currently awaiting permission from the Western Australian government to allow drilling activities in the area within the State forest. EMU has fulfilled all necessary environmental requirements for accessing these areas within the project and initiated onsite exploration activities. However, there has been no significant advancement to date, and government departments have not indicated the likelihood of granting drilling consent.
Management Team
Peter Thomas – Non-executive Chairman
Peter Thomas has over thirty years of experience running a legal practice specializing in giving advice to listed explorers and miners. He has served on the boards of various listed companies, including as the founding chairman of copper producer Sandfire Resources and mineral sands producer Image Resources. His current ASX-listed company board positions include non-executive director of Image Resources and non-executive chair of Middle Island Resources.
Terry Streeter – Non-executive Director
Terry Streeter brings over 30 years of experience in the exploration sector. He served as a director of West Australian nickel explorer and miner Jubilee Mines NL from 1993 to May 2004. In 1999, he became a founding shareholder of Western Areas NL (ASX:WSA), which later discovered and developed two high-grade nickel sulphide mines in the Forrestania region of Western Australia, producing 22,000 to 25,000 tons of nickel annually. He has served in leadership roles at Fox Resources, Midas Resources, Minera IRL and Alto Metals.
Gavin Rutherford – Non-executive Director
Gavin Rutherford has accumulated over 20 years of experience in the mining services, fabrication and contracting sectors. He served as managing director of a contracting and construction company in the water industry. His current endeavors involve project development in the renewable energy sector, business development in the Indigenous mining segment, and interests related to aviation.
Tim Staermose – Non-executive Director
Tim Staermose boasts 23 years of expertise in equity capital markets and equity research. His professional journey includes roles at international sell-side equity brokerage firms based in South Korea and Hong Kong, notably Banque Indosuez (now part of Credit Agricole) in the late 1990s and Lehman Brothers in the early 2000s. Transitioning from sell-side equity research, Staermose has since operated as an independent researcher and stock-picker for several private research firms, focusing on natural resources, gold and mining investments.