Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie Woolf spoke with MT Todd Vista Gold General Manager Brent Murdoch

Transcript

Katie Woolf spoke with MT Todd Vista Gold General Manager Brent Murdoch · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Mix one O four point nine dot com DOTU for
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: all the latest news and information. Now three sixty with
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Katie Wolf. Everyone is listening Mix one oh four point
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: nine one hundred.
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: Percent n joining us in the studio right now. Well,
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: Vista Goold general manager Brent Murdoch is in the studio
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: with me. Good morning to you, Brent.
• 0:19
  Speaker 3: Good morning Katie. Glad to be here.
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, great to have you in the studio. And I'll
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: tell you what this was a great announcement yesterday. We
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: know that it is going to mean a boost for
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: local jobs. But the mine at Mount Todd has been
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: given the green light to recommence mining operations. Obviously, very
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: very happy from you guys.
• 0:40
  Speaker 4: We're extremely excited, I think like everybody, we're This was
• 0:46
  Speaker 4: the last approval that we needed so the mine can
• 0:49
  Speaker 4: go ahead. So now there's absolutely no impediments whatsoever for
• 0:54
  Speaker 4: the mind to go back in production.
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: And so how long has it been sort of not
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: in production at this at this moment.
• 1:00
  Speaker 4: Were closed briefly in ninety nine and then it closed
• 1:06
  Speaker 4: basically until now from two thousand, so the Northern Territory
• 1:10
  Speaker 4: government had it from two thousand to two thousand and six,
• 1:14
  Speaker 4: and we become the owners of the mine in two
• 1:18
  Speaker 4: thousand and six, so it's some it's a long time
• 1:21
  Speaker 4: since the mine's been closed. So we're really looking forward
• 1:24
  Speaker 4: and the community. You know that both the Catherine and
• 1:29
  Speaker 4: Pine Creek and the larger community are really keen.
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: What does it mean for gold mining in Northern Australia
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: but also for us here in the Northern Territory.
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: I think it puts a spotlight back on the territory.
• 1:41
  Speaker 4: You know this, this project is the largest undeveloped project
• 1:48
  Speaker 4: in Australia. We've got ten million ounces. A large mines
• 1:52
  Speaker 4: a million ounces, so we've got ten million ounces. This
• 1:54
  Speaker 4: is massive project and it puts the spotlight globally back
• 1:59
  Speaker 4: on the Northern Territory tree as a place to invest
• 2:02
  Speaker 4: your money, a safe place to.
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: Invest your money.
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: Now, I don't know a lot about gold mining. I'm
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: a Mount Isa girl, so I grew up obviously knowing
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: how the mine operates in Mount Isa. But how does
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: the you know, the gold mine operate. How is it
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: all going to work?
• 2:16
  Speaker 4: It'll be it'd be similar to the early days of
• 2:19
  Speaker 4: Mount Ey's have been open cut, so it's not an
• 2:22
  Speaker 4: underground like our neighbor's Kirkling up up the road. Mount
• 2:26
  Speaker 4: Todd's a low grade deposit, so it only supports open cut,
• 2:31
  Speaker 4: open cast type mining. So the peak will have like
• 2:35
  Speaker 4: thirty eight dump trucks and four production machines, so we'll
• 2:39
  Speaker 4: employe at its peak, will employ about four hundred people
• 2:43
  Speaker 4: during construction, about four hundred and fifty people. So it'll
• 2:48
  Speaker 4: be and it's a very long term project. So this
• 2:51
  Speaker 4: is a project not like some of the mines that
• 2:53
  Speaker 4: we've had up here in the territory. This project currently
• 2:56
  Speaker 4: has a mine life for thirty and a half years,
• 2:59
  Speaker 4: so it will be around. I think it'll be around
• 3:02
  Speaker 4: for thirty or forty years. I think not only our children,
• 3:05
  Speaker 4: but our grandchildren will be out there.
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: Wow.
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: So obviously long term, which is a good thing. And
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: you know, we talk a lot about diversifying the economy,
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: and mining plays a big part in that, doesn't it.
• 3:16
  Speaker 4: Absolutely we tend to be a little bit less cyclic
• 3:19
  Speaker 4: or sometimes countercyclic to agriculture and what have you. So
• 3:24
  Speaker 4: it certainly evens out the Northern Territory's economy.
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: And obviously it has taken a little while to go
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: through that approvals process, but you're here now. It must
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: have been a big weight off your shoulders realizing that
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: you're able to finally get things back up and operating.
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: Oh absolutely, I think it was a weight on the project.
• 3:44
  Speaker 4: I think when we're looking for funding and what have you,
• 3:47
  Speaker 4: there was always a question mark around the timing and
• 3:50
  Speaker 4: when approvals were likely to come. But that's behind us,
• 3:54
  Speaker 4: and we're looking forward, like the rest of the territory.
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: To a great fear.
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: And so how soon are you expecting that really you
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: know you're going to have people. I know you said
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: there that there will be the construction phase and then
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: obviously four hundred people at the peak, But how soon
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: are you expecting that construction phase to begin?
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: Good question.
• 4:20
  Speaker 4: So we're looking for a strategic partner to help funder projects.
• 4:22
  Speaker 4: So the project requires a billion dollars Australian to build.
• 4:28
  Speaker 4: Half of that to be debt finance through banks and institutions,
• 4:31
  Speaker 4: but the other half is equity.
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: So we're looking to find a strategic partner.
• 4:34
  Speaker 4: To help us fund that side of the economic equation.
• 4:40
  Speaker 4: We've been doing that now for about eighteen months in
• 4:44
  Speaker 4: earnest and with this approval, we didn't notice yesterday or
• 4:49
  Speaker 4: last night. Our time in Denver, just a constant flurry
• 4:54
  Speaker 4: of phone calls from people that had looked at the
• 4:57
  Speaker 4: project before renewing their interest. So we think it's a
• 5:02
  Speaker 4: great time to develop project goals at a high price.
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: Exchange rate is reasonable.
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: But so obviously that approval, like getting that approval has
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: a big impact when it comes to the investment, does it.
• 5:13
  Speaker 4: Absolutely, It's just how we're perceived here in the Northern Territory.
• 5:18
  Speaker 4: These approvals in other countries in the United States quite
• 5:22
  Speaker 4: often take seven years or longer. So the fact that
• 5:25
  Speaker 4: we have that and it's likely that a lot of
• 5:28
  Speaker 4: our funding will come out of North America is a massive.
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: Step forward for the project.
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, like, how long do you sort of
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: think that that process could take to find that investment
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: partner or is that something that can happen really quickly.
• 5:44
  Speaker 4: Or someone could walk in the door tomorrow or it
• 5:50
  Speaker 4: could take some time. We don't know, And I don't
• 5:53
  Speaker 4: think it's not fair to the community for us to
• 5:57
  Speaker 4: build some expectations that we're not going to meet. Really
• 6:01
  Speaker 4: careful not to do that, but we're we're hopeful someone's
• 6:05
  Speaker 4: going to walk on the door tomorrow.
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: Well, I was going to say Brent. We were already
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: getting messages saying can you please ask Brent where we're
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: able to send our CV for potentially pulinments. So people
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: are keen.
• 6:14
  Speaker 4: Ass absolutely and you know there's a everyone's been asking,
• 6:20
  Speaker 4: you know, when are we going to get the benefits
• 6:22
  Speaker 4: from from Mount Todd. You know, it's it's the goal
• 6:25
  Speaker 4: that's in the grounds owned by Australian people and the
• 6:29
  Speaker 4: benefits are ours and it's our responsibility to to bring
• 6:34
  Speaker 4: that to fruition. But we'll be at we'll be at
• 6:36
  Speaker 4: the Catherine Show next month and this Saturday we have
• 6:40
  Speaker 4: an open day. You can jump on our web page.
• 6:45
  Speaker 4: Just do a Google for Mount Todd and you can
• 6:46
  Speaker 4: jump on our web page. On this Saturday, we'll pick
• 6:49
  Speaker 4: you up from the car park, the Council car park
• 6:53
  Speaker 4: and Catherine and take you out to the mine and
• 6:56
  Speaker 4: have a good look around. It's only in Karen, Maine
• 6:58
  Speaker 4: as we don't have dump trucks anything runninground, but still
• 7:00
  Speaker 4: really interesting and we'll finish off with a barbecue and
• 7:05
  Speaker 4: a soft drink and.
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: Take you back to town.
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: Good stuff. Open invitation, yeah, good opportunity for people to
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: find out more about that project. Well, Brent Murdoch. We
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: really appreciate you coming in this morning and having a
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: discussion with us about the mind and keep us up
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: to date, let us know how you go with those
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: with the investment or the strategic partner and yeah, we'll
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: be keen to hear when things are able to get
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: up and running.
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: Thanks Katie, my pleasure, good stuff.
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: And that number if you are keen to get in
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: contact with us this morning eight nine four one one
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: four nine and that was Mount Todd Vistagold general manager
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: Brent Murdoch. There