Major shareholder quietly continues to lift stake in Venus

It’s not every day you see a billionaire quietly tiptoeing up a junior explorer’s register, but Chris Wallin’s latest manoeuvre to increase his stake in Venus Metals bears all the hallmarks of a man who knows exactly where the gold is headed.

Wallin is no small-time punter. Ranked number 50 on The Australian’s 250 Rich list with an estimated $3.13 billion to his name, he built QCoal from scratch into a five-mine powerhouse that reportedly spits out around $400 million a year in dividends alone.

ASX filings reveal the seasoned coalman has hoovered up another 3.59 million Venus shares, taking his holding to more than 51 million shares or 26.21 per cent - well above the 19.9 per cent takeover threshold.

Thanks, however, to the Corporations Act’s obscure “creep” provision that lets long-term holders to nudge up their ownership by 3 per cent every six months, the veteran miner - who first took his holding to 23.5 per cent in May - has followed up with another share grab six months later. The pattern is hard to miss - and even harder to ignore.

The timing of Wallin’s latest buying spree is all the more fascinating given Venus’ hefty exposure to Rox Mining’s 2.2-million-ounce Youanmi gold project in the Murchison, where Venus not only holds a chunky parcel of Rox shares but also a valuable royalty over future production.

Fuelling the speculation over Wallin’s intentions, Rox has just locked in a thumping $200 million placement to fire up development at its flagship deposit. The latest development has not only sent the odds of the long-awaited mine being built through the roof, it also brings Venus one step closer to switching on its highly lucrative royalty stream.

With Rox’s capital raise now bedded down the cash will fully fund project capex, underground development, drilling programs and working capital at Youanmi. It also clears the decks for debt negotiations and puts the schedule on track for a final investment decision and first gold by mid-2027.

For Venus, which sold its Youanmi stake to Rox two years ago in exchange for 110 million Rox shares, the timing couldn’t be better. Half of those shares were distributed directly to Venus shareholders, giving Wallin a 2.4 per cent position in Rox - a position he has quietly built into an 8.5 per cent stake.

The remaining 55 million Rox shares quietly sit on Venus’ books and are currently valued at $21.2 million, despite Venus’ market capitalisation trading at just $31 million.

To add to the company’s shareholding in Rox, Venus also has a significant sleeper asset in the shape of a one per cent net smelt royalty over future production at Youanmi. The royalty was independently revalued at a whopping $25.4 million as recently as October using a A$5500 per ounce gold price.

However, with gold now hovering around A$6000, that royalty alone could hand Venus a lucrative cash stream for years to come.

Venus’s market cap could almost be justified purely on its gold-rich royalty and its hefty pile of Rox shares, but the real kicker is that its own exploration ground is also fast turning into a value engine in its own right.

At the Sandstone project, 70 kilometres from Youanmi, the company is fast-tracking development at its Bellchambers deposit, which is already home to a 30,800-ounce resource. If Youanmi moves to the development stage, this suddenly brings the project’s gold inventory into play as a potentially quick cash earner.

The company is currently rushing through an application for a new mining lease at Bellchambers and a potential mine-gate arrangement with Rox is now on the table, with metallurgical studies already underway.

At Pincher, just 15 kilometres from Youanmi, Venus is chasing a sizeable VMS system after a survey last year lit up a 5000-Siemens conductor at 400 metres depth. Initial drill tails delivered strong zinc and indium hits, with metallurgical test work underway and infill drilling planned as Venus scopes out a potential base-metal resource.

The company’s partnership with IGO has also added serious credibility. After spending $3 million to move to 51 per cent at the Bridgetown lithium project – next door to the Greenbushes lithium giant in Western Australia’s south-west region - IGO recently signalled it will lift its stake to 70 per cent with another $3 million of expenditure. Early fieldwork has already uncovered spodumene crystals and gravity surveys are pinpointing fresh drill targets across the partners’ Cow Slip and Flying Duck prospects.

Meanwhile, Venus has been quietly assembling a grab-bag of specialty assets. Near Youanmi, it controls a calcrete deposit that could feed vital acid-neutralising material into Rox’s future gold plant, and it has even lodged a provisional patent over a titanium-vanadium-iron concept that hints at breakthrough hydrometallurgical upside.

But the real catalyst remains Youanmi. With Rox now flush with capital and seemingly weeks away from locking in development debt funding, the project’s long-promised revival looks closer than ever. And Wallin – one of the resource sector’s shrewdest operators – is clearly making sure he’s on the front row when the gold starts flowing.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@wanews.com.au