The owner of the Northern Territory's Mount Todd gold mine is working on a proposal for a smaller development, in an attempt to secure funding.Gold prices have hit new record highs almost every month in the past year, with global conflicts and economic insecurity seeing investors flock to the precious metal.Association of Mining and Exploration Companies chief executive Warren Pearce has described it as an "unusual situation" that has not occurred in about 50 years.
"We're really going through a bit of an unusual circumstance, which has made it very tough for companies to raise money to plug into gold exploration.""I would have expected a bit more interest but investors minds might be on other commodities," Dr Close said."Even if the market goes rip-roaring and the gold companies are able to get investment funds from the market, exploration takes time and patience before you do end up with a deposit.
Part of the problem is that Mount Todd has so much gold that restarting production at full capacity would cost a huge amount of money — about $1.3 billion. So, Vista Gold is putting forward a proposal to build a smaller-scale mine, which could produce about 200,000 ounces of gold per year."We think the lower capital that's required to develop that means that we'll be able to fund the project," Mr Murdoch said.