Justin Werner (left) at the 2018 IPO of Nickel Industries (ASX:NIC) (Source: MiningNews)

And it’s not just nickel. Werner is also known for other high-profile achievements in the region including leading the turnaround of the world’s second largest gold mine, Grasberg.

Such success stories are particularly possible in high-growth jurisdictions like Indonesia. The country is well known for its vast natural resources which has resulted in some of the biggest mines in the world, such as the 100Moz+ Grasberg project. But it’s also a graveyard of dreams for many foreign explorers.

However, for those who know what they’re doing, the potential upside is steep.

“If you know how, Indonesia is a great place to do business. A feasibility study costing millions in Australia comes at a fraction of the price here. And once you are in production you are looking at less than half the cost of getting one ounce out of the ground resulting in a much higher margin project. I don’t think we could do in Australia what we are doing here.” – Justin Werner, Chairman of Far East Gold

Now Werner has picked Far East Gold as his play for the gold copper market. The question is, why?

Join Justin Werner for a FEG investor briefing on Monday 5th August at 12:00PM (AEST), click here to book your spot.

So why Far East Gold – and why now?

The market was clearly impressed to see the Indonesian veteran stepping up as Chairman of Far East Gold (ASX:FEG) in news that triggered a 50%+ rise in the stock price.

The questions are why, and why now?

“Far East Gold is my way of striving to replicate the success we have had with nickel in Indonesia, but this time for gold and copper”, he tells us.

It’s worth knowing that Mr Werner is a co-founder of Far East Gold and has been on the board since its early days. Over the years, the company has assembled a portfolio of potential tier-1 gold copper assets.

But it’s clearly not just Werner. The FEG team – all with a strong Indonesia-focused background – also features accomplished mining veterans such as CEO Shane Menere.

Snapshot of Far East Gold’s Indonesian Projects (Source: FEG)

FEG shot into the limelight shortly after their IPO in early 2022 when they managed to achieve something which Barrick and Newcrest previously failed to do – getting the permits to drill the flagship Woyla project.

This is just one of many case studies showcasing that the team can get things done in Indonesia – acquiring the projects, getting permits, finding mineralisation and then securing a strategic partner on a path to exit.

There are examples for all these four factors across the portfolio. The most recent one is the signing of a binding term sheet for the Idenburg project which was announced simultaneously to Mr Werner’s appointment and which CEO Menere described as a “potential company maker”.

“Justin has always been there as a co-founder, but I think it’s the Idenburg acquisition that made him step up and put his name on the line, which is obviously a gear-shift for FEG. This is probably the strongest indicator of the upside of our portfolio of potential tier-1 assets.” – Shane Menere, CEO of Far East Gold

To hear more about the accomplished mining veterans behind FEG, join us for a live investor briefing with Chairman Justin Werner on Monday 5th August at 12:00 PM (AEST), click here to book your spot.

Acquisition of the Idenburg project – the “company maker”?

Far East Gold recently beat some of the biggest mining companies in the world to signing the binding term sheet to acquire the Idenburg project.

They believe one of the main reasons for this major win was that the vendor in the deal was the same party as for FEG’s flagship Woyla, where the team around Menere and Werner have demonstrated progress over the years thanks to their close understanding of not just the geology, but also the requirements around permissioning and managing with local communities.

Idenburg is located in the same province hosting world class multi-million-ounce gold and copper deposits including Grasberg (100 Moz Au), Wabu (10 Moz Au), Ok Tedi (20 Moz Au) ,Wafi (30 Moz Au), Lihir (60 Moz) Freida River (20 Moz Au), and Porgera (20 Moz Au).

In the run-up to the deal, FEG had independent consultancy SMGC conduct a report which yielded a potential of up to 7.2Moz of gold at a high grade of up to 6.1g/t. Further key points to the investment thesis were the connectivity to the main local highway, and the large amount of existing drill data which could  make it straightforward to update the current 2004 JORC resource to a 2012 standard this year.

A total of US$25 million has been spent in exploration on the project, which has generated over 6km of high grade diamond drilling across 5 of the 12 prospects – and bonanza rock chip samples above 1,000g/t Au.

Idenburg project area in 2005 showing numerous high grade prospects (Source: FEG)

Sua is the most advanced of all the prospects, with standout assays including 7.5m @ 13.6 g/t Au Incl. 1.6m @ 52.5 g/t Au, 9m @ 4.00 g/t Au Incl. 2m @ 14.0 g/t Au, 5m @ 21.8 g/t Au Incl. 3m @ 35.0 g/t Au and 18m @ 2.05 g/t Au Incl. 2m @ 7.40 g/t Au.

Outcrop at Sua prospect showing channel sample of 3m @ 73.1 g/t Au (source: FEG)

Sua has also demonstrated excellent metallurgical test work, returning 50-60% gravity recoverable gold with >95% recovery by Carbon in Leach.

Join us for a live investor briefing to hear directly from Chairman Justin Werner on how FEG won the Idenburg project against competition from some of the world’s largest mining corporations. Click here to book your spot for Monday 5th August at 12:00 PM (AEST).

Trenggalek – potentially one of the largest copper projects in the world

The second of three jewels in Far East’s crown is Trenggalek, an advanced 12,813ha potential copper-focussed project which is highly prospective for epithermal and porphyry-style mineralisation.

Thanks to its potential size with orebody targets of over 2.2bn tons of copper, the project has been identified by the Indonesian Government as a top 3 priority greenfield project.

The project already has an Operation and Production Mining Permit as well as rich prior exploration data with 17,786m of drilling and 3,675km of airborne magnetic and radiometric survey done by previous owners.

Trenggalek was also in the centre of attention last year, when FEG secured a $4m strategic investment from Eurasian Resources Group (ERG). The multi-billion dollar privately held resources group with operations in over 16 countries is one of the three largest cobalt producers in the world and produces over 200,000tons of copper per year. Securing ERG was another win for the Far East team, demonstrating it can do what needs to be done to advance their portfolio towards exit or development.

Trenggalek demonstrating evidence of an extensive porphyry system (Source: FEG)

Trenggalek was explored by Anglo American around a decade ago, where they spent over US$3.5 million drilling a number of high priority prospects across the project’s tenement area. A few standout assays include 9m @ 4.5g/t Au & 8g/t Ag and 13.7m @ 3.2g/t Au & 60g/t Ag. However, it was the porphyry prospectivity of Trenggalek that Anglo was really interested in exploring.Over 2.2Bt of orebody targets have been defined at Trenggalek, based on historical drilling, geophysics, data interpretation and geological consistency.

The Far East Gold Team have worked out a drill plan together with Eurasian Resources Group for a phase 1 drill plan that is set to kick off in the coming months to test these newly established, gigantic orebody targets.

We are hosting an investor briefing on Monday 5th August at 12:00PM (AEST) to discuss how Trenggalek phase 1 drilling program could crown the project as a tier-1 asset. Click here to book your spot.

Woyla – the flagship now hitting the high grades

Following the 2022 IPO, FEG’s share price went on a steep rise as the company became the first ever to drill what the IPO prospectus described as the “most exciting undrilled gold copper projects in South East Asia”.

Far East Gold has spent much of the past two years preparing to drilling out the Woyla project, which boasts 18km of strike and several prospects showing signs of high grade mineralisation.

Recent efforts have become focused on Rek Rinti and Aloe Rek, and FEG is now conducting extremely efficient drilling that is adding high value ounces to their upcoming resource.

Notable assays from Aloe Rek, released just days ago, show stellar results of 20m @ 7.57 g/t Au, 8.5 g/t Ag (7.67 g/t AuEq) from 67.5m, 3.4m @ 6.68 g/t Au, 7.81 g/t Ag (6.77 g/t AuEq) from 68.5m, and 18.5m @ 1.38 g/t Au, 3.84 g/t Ag (1.43 g/t AuEq) from 17.9m.

Cross section of hole ARD008,009,0101 looking North at Woyla (Source: FEG)

With most of the work done, the team expects to release a maiden JORC resource later this year.

To hear more about Woyla’s high-grade potential, we are hosting an investor briefing with FEG Chairman Justin Werner on Monday 5th August at 12:00PM (AEST), click here to book your spot.

Where next – upcoming milestones and key catalysts

The Far East Gold team clearly has an interesting rest of the year ahead across the portfolio.

For Idenburg, the finalisation of the acquisition followed by minimal drilling to put it in a position to release a 2012 JORC resource are major milestones that the team expects to drop by the end of this year. FEG estimates a 6 month timeline and reasonable expenditure to delineate a 765koz resource, which should be above 4g/t Au and could be achieved with just a few confirmation holes and assay work.

From there, there are a wealth of high priority targets that have excitingly similar geology to the other drilled prospects, but with bonanza grade rock chips and channel samples, some of which have exceeded 1,000g/t Au. FEG is planning an imminent drilling program to test these targets.

For Trenggalek, the Phase 1 drill program is expected to kick off in the coming months. Barrick was always extremely interested in the North West of the project because there is strong data to suggest that there is extensive mineralisation at a much higher grade. However, Barrick were never able to get the permits in order to launch the drilling campaign, while FEG is now months away from getting the final go.

CEO Menere comments: “The goal at Trenggalek is to get assays that will attract a strategic partner that can then advance this project further. Justin and the team have the connections in the space and discussions have already started”.

Finally, following the recent high grade assays at the Woyla flagship, drilling is set to continue, specifically targeting the high grade ounces that will add significant economic value to their upcoming resource publication.

Combined, this pipeline of newsflow demonstrates the portfolio of potential tier-1 assets that is at play here and worth paying attention to over coming months.

We are hosting an investor briefing with FEG Chairman Justin Werner on Monday 5th August at 12:00PM, click here to book your spot to hear in more detail about their upcoming milestones and why FEG is worth paying attention to.

Blue sky – becoming the leading Indo-focused gold copper play on the ASX

Understanding the portfolio probably helps explain why Mr Werner is now putting his time, his name and his money into Far East Gold (having contributed over 10% of the capital raised in the last placement).

Speaking on the opportunity in front of FEG within indonesia, Mr Werner stated:

“We have now demonstrated that we can secure the deals, get the permits, get the drill results and find strategic investors in what is a fantastic portfolio. What we want to do here is to use our skillset, experience and connections to capitalise on the opportunity offered by Indonesia.”

To hear more about why  FEG Chairman Justin Werner is putting significant time and capital into FEG, join him for a live investor briefing on Monday 5th August at 12:00PM (AEST), click here to book your spot.

Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.