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Alice Queen appoints SolGold co-founder Nicholas Mather as strategic advisor

Last updated: 11:47 01 Dec 2021 AEDT, First published: 11:13 01 Dec 2021 AEDT

Alice Queen appoints SolGold co-founder as Strategic Advisor

Alice Queen Ltd (ASX:AQX) has appointed Nicholas Mather to the role of strategic advisor.

Mather has 35 years of experience in exploration and resource company management across the globe and in a variety of geological settings, exploring for precious and base metals and fossil fuels.

His primary focus has been on the identification of, and investment in, grassroots early-stage resource exploration projects and he has been instrumental in the generation of projects that have laid the foundation of returns of A$5.7billion to shareholders through corporate takeovers.

Mather brings invaluable experience to AQX and its long-term growth.

“We have known Nick for over five years now and he has always been very supportive of what we are trying to achieve at Alice Queen. Along the way he has always been generous with his time and mentoring,” Alice Queen’s managing director Andrew Buxton said.

“This further step in formalising his appointment as strategic advisor means we now have a huge opportunity to further draw on his experience and know-how. Nick has an amazing track record of success in turning small companies into big ones, and in doing so, laying the foundations for some A$5.7 billion in returns to the shareholders of those companies.

“His depth of experience in contributing to the long-term growth of resources companies, from the ground up, over the past 30 years, will be invaluable to the board and we look forward to working more closely with him."

Highly skilled appointment to add value

AQX believes that Mather has the ideal skill sets, both corporate and technical, to assist it in adding significant value to its portfolio of exploration assets and thus shareholder value.

AQX has a portfolio of gold and copper-gold projects in the Northern Molong Volcanic Belt in New South Wales and Horn Island in the Torres Strait.

The Horn Island Project hosts an inferred resource of 7.9 million tonnes at 1.9 g/t gold for 492,000 ounces while Boda East contains 13 kilometres of north-south trend.

“Having known Andy and the team from Alice Queen for a few years now, there’s a couple of things that stand out to me,” Mather said.

“On the basis that I have been across the Horn Island story since the late 80s, I still think it’s remarkable that they managed to have a government moratorium lifted to get back in there. That tells me a very clear story about their commitment.

“In relation to the Alice Queen portfolio of projects, I can say that there is great exploration potential and with such an accomplished technical team behind them, including John Holliday, one of the fathers of Newcrest’s original porphyry push and the resultant Cadia Valley discovery, and Patrick Creenaune, previously Newcrest’s epithermal gold expert, it surprises me that the current enterprise value is not higher.

“All in all, it looks like a great opportunity and I am very excited to be working more closely with the team to contribute to adding value for Alice Queen shareholders.”

More on Mather

Mather has 35 years of experience exploring for precious and base metals and fossil fuels and has been instrumental in the generation of projects that have laid the foundation of returns of A$5.7billion to shareholders through corporate takeovers.

He is currently managing director of ASX-listed resource company creator DGR Global Limited and is chairman of Armour Energy (ASX:AJQ) and NewPeak Metals, non-executive director of AusTin Mining, director at Lakes Blue Energy and a non-executive director of SolGold PLC (LSE:SOLG, TSX:SOLG, OTC:SLGGF).

As the co-founder and CEO of LSE and TSX listed SolGold, he oversaw work at the world-class Cascabel copper-gold porphyry project in northern Ecuador, a greenfields discovery that has achieved a resource of nearly 3 billion tonnes of ore which contains 10 million tonnes of copper and 20 million ounces of gold.

Along with his project management team, headed by Jason Ward, Mather drove SolGold’s market capitalisation to in excess of US$1 billion.

Other achievements include:

  • Managing director of Auralia Resources NL, a junior gold explorer, before its US$23 million merger with Ross Mining NL in 1995.
  • Managing director of BeMaX Resources NL from 1997 until 2000 and was instrumental in the discovery of the world-class Ginkgo mineral sand deposit in the Murray Basin in 1998, prior to its $300 million takeover by Cristal.
  • Executive director and co-founder of Arrow Energy NL (also ASX-listed) until his resignation in 2004, he drove the acquisition and business development of Arrow Energy’s large Surat Basin Coal Bed Methane project in southeast Queensland. The project was the subject of a $3.5 billion takeover by Shell and Petrochina in 2010.
  • Non-executive director of Bow Energy (ASX:BOW) which was also taken over by Shell and Petrochina in 2011 for A$500 million.
  • Non-executive director of Ballarat Goldfields NL from 2000 to 2002, having assisted that company in its recapitalisation and re-quotation on the ASX in 2003, prior to its $500 merger with Lihir Gold in 2007.
  • Founder and chairman of TSX-V listed Waratah Coal Inc until its $130 million takeover by Minerology Pty Ltd in December 2008.
  • Co-founder of Northern Energy (taken over by New Hope Collieries in 2011).
  • Non-executive director of Orbis Gold prior to its takeover by Canadian gold miner Semafo in 2014.

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