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Speaker 1: Mix one O four point nine dot com DOTU for

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Speaker 1: all the latest news and information. Now three sixty with

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Speaker 1: Katie Wolf. Everyone is listening Mix one oh four point

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Speaker 1: nine one hundred.

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Speaker 2: Percent n joining us in the studio right now. Well,

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Speaker 2: Vista Goold general manager Brent Murdoch is in the studio

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Speaker 2: with me. Good morning to you, Brent.

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Speaker 3: Good morning Katie. Glad to be here.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, great to have you in the studio. And I'll

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Speaker 2: tell you what this was a great announcement yesterday. We

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Speaker 2: know that it is going to mean a boost for

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Speaker 2: local jobs. But the mine at Mount Todd has been

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Speaker 2: given the green light to recommence mining operations. Obviously, very

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Speaker 2: very happy from you guys.

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Speaker 4: We're extremely excited, I think like everybody, we're This was

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Speaker 4: the last approval that we needed so the mine can

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Speaker 4: go ahead. So now there's absolutely no impediments whatsoever for

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Speaker 4: the mind to go back in production.

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Speaker 2: And so how long has it been sort of not

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Speaker 2: in production at this at this moment.

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Speaker 4: Were closed briefly in ninety nine and then it closed

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Speaker 4: basically until now from two thousand, so the Northern Territory

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Speaker 4: government had it from two thousand to two thousand and six,

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Speaker 4: and we become the owners of the mine in two

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Speaker 4: thousand and six, so it's some it's a long time

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Speaker 4: since the mine's been closed. So we're really looking forward

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Speaker 4: and the community. You know that both the Catherine and

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Speaker 4: Pine Creek and the larger community are really keen.

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Speaker 2: What does it mean for gold mining in Northern Australia

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Speaker 2: but also for us here in the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 3: I think it puts a spotlight back on the territory.

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Speaker 4: You know this, this project is the largest undeveloped project

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Speaker 4: in Australia. We've got ten million ounces. A large mines

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Speaker 4: a million ounces, so we've got ten million ounces. This

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Speaker 4: is massive project and it puts the spotlight globally back

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Speaker 4: on the Northern Territory tree as a place to invest

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Speaker 4: your money, a safe place to.

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Speaker 3: Invest your money.

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Speaker 2: Now, I don't know a lot about gold mining. I'm

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Speaker 2: a Mount Isa girl, so I grew up obviously knowing

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Speaker 2: how the mine operates in Mount Isa. But how does

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Speaker 2: the you know, the gold mine operate. How is it

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Speaker 2: all going to work?

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Speaker 4: It'll be it'd be similar to the early days of

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Speaker 4: Mount Ey's have been open cut, so it's not an

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Speaker 4: underground like our neighbor's Kirkling up up the road. Mount

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Speaker 4: Todd's a low grade deposit, so it only supports open cut,

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Speaker 4: open cast type mining. So the peak will have like

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Speaker 4: thirty eight dump trucks and four production machines, so we'll

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Speaker 4: employe at its peak, will employ about four hundred people

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Speaker 4: during construction, about four hundred and fifty people. So it'll

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Speaker 4: be and it's a very long term project. So this

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Speaker 4: is a project not like some of the mines that

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Speaker 4: we've had up here in the territory. This project currently

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Speaker 4: has a mine life for thirty and a half years,

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Speaker 4: so it will be around. I think it'll be around

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Speaker 4: for thirty or forty years. I think not only our children,

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Speaker 4: but our grandchildren will be out there.

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Speaker 1: Wow.

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Speaker 2: So obviously long term, which is a good thing. And

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Speaker 2: you know, we talk a lot about diversifying the economy,

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Speaker 2: and mining plays a big part in that, doesn't it.

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Speaker 4: Absolutely we tend to be a little bit less cyclic

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Speaker 4: or sometimes countercyclic to agriculture and what have you. So

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Speaker 4: it certainly evens out the Northern Territory's economy.

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Speaker 2: And obviously it has taken a little while to go

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Speaker 2: through that approvals process, but you're here now. It must

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Speaker 2: have been a big weight off your shoulders realizing that

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Speaker 2: you're able to finally get things back up and operating.

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Speaker 3: Oh absolutely, I think it was a weight on the project.

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Speaker 4: I think when we're looking for funding and what have you,

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Speaker 4: there was always a question mark around the timing and

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Speaker 4: when approvals were likely to come. But that's behind us,

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Speaker 4: and we're looking forward, like the rest of the territory.

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Speaker 3: To a great fear.

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Speaker 2: And so how soon are you expecting that really you

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Speaker 2: know you're going to have people. I know you said

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Speaker 2: there that there will be the construction phase and then

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Speaker 2: obviously four hundred people at the peak, But how soon

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Speaker 2: are you expecting that construction phase to begin?

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Speaker 3: Good question.

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Speaker 4: So we're looking for a strategic partner to help funder projects.

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Speaker 4: So the project requires a billion dollars Australian to build.

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Speaker 4: Half of that to be debt finance through banks and institutions,

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Speaker 4: but the other half is equity.

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Speaker 3: So we're looking to find a strategic partner.

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Speaker 4: To help us fund that side of the economic equation.

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Speaker 4: We've been doing that now for about eighteen months in

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Speaker 4: earnest and with this approval, we didn't notice yesterday or

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Speaker 4: last night. Our time in Denver, just a constant flurry

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Speaker 4: of phone calls from people that had looked at the

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Speaker 4: project before renewing their interest. So we think it's a

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Speaker 4: great time to develop project goals at a high price.

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Speaker 3: Exchange rate is reasonable.

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Speaker 2: But so obviously that approval, like getting that approval has

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Speaker 2: a big impact when it comes to the investment, does it.

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Speaker 4: Absolutely, It's just how we're perceived here in the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 4: These approvals in other countries in the United States quite

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Speaker 4: often take seven years or longer. So the fact that

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Speaker 4: we have that and it's likely that a lot of

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Speaker 4: our funding will come out of North America is a massive.

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Speaker 3: Step forward for the project.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, like, how long do you sort of

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Speaker 2: think that that process could take to find that investment

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Speaker 2: partner or is that something that can happen really quickly.

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Speaker 4: Or someone could walk in the door tomorrow or it

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Speaker 4: could take some time. We don't know, And I don't

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Speaker 4: think it's not fair to the community for us to

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Speaker 4: build some expectations that we're not going to meet. Really

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Speaker 4: careful not to do that, but we're we're hopeful someone's

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Speaker 4: going to walk on the door tomorrow.

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Speaker 2: Well, I was going to say Brent. We were already

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Speaker 2: getting messages saying can you please ask Brent where we're

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Speaker 2: able to send our CV for potentially pulinments. So people

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Speaker 2: are keen.

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Speaker 4: Ass absolutely and you know there's a everyone's been asking,

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Speaker 4: you know, when are we going to get the benefits

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Speaker 4: from from Mount Todd. You know, it's it's the goal

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Speaker 4: that's in the grounds owned by Australian people and the

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Speaker 4: benefits are ours and it's our responsibility to to bring

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Speaker 4: that to fruition. But we'll be at we'll be at

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Speaker 4: the Catherine Show next month and this Saturday we have

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Speaker 4: an open day. You can jump on our web page.

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Speaker 4: Just do a Google for Mount Todd and you can

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Speaker 4: jump on our web page. On this Saturday, we'll pick

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Speaker 4: you up from the car park, the Council car park

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Speaker 4: and Catherine and take you out to the mine and

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Speaker 4: have a good look around. It's only in Karen, Maine

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Speaker 4: as we don't have dump trucks anything runninground, but still

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Speaker 4: really interesting and we'll finish off with a barbecue and

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Speaker 4: a soft drink and.

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Speaker 3: Take you back to town.

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Speaker 2: Good stuff. Open invitation, yeah, good opportunity for people to

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Speaker 2: find out more about that project. Well, Brent Murdoch. We

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Speaker 2: really appreciate you coming in this morning and having a

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Speaker 2: discussion with us about the mind and keep us up

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Speaker 2: to date, let us know how you go with those

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Speaker 2: with the investment or the strategic partner and yeah, we'll

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Speaker 2: be keen to hear when things are able to get

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Speaker 2: up and running.

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Speaker 3: Thanks Katie, my pleasure, good stuff.

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Speaker 2: And that number if you are keen to get in

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Speaker 2: contact with us this morning eight nine four one one

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Speaker 2: four nine and that was Mount Todd Vistagold general manager

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Speaker 2: Brent Murdoch. There