Laguna Resources NL (former name: Southern Pacific Petroleum NL) was an Australian mineral exploration and mining company. It explored and developed

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

and

silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

projects in the Maricunga Gold Belt of Northern

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

. It was a developer of the Stuart Oil Shale Project.

History

Southern Pacific Petroleum NL was incorporated on 6 February 1968 as an oil company. It was listed on the

Australian Securities Exchange Australian Securities Exchange Ltd (ASX) is an Australian public company that operates Australia's primary Exchange (organized market), securities exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange (sometimes referred to outside of Australia as, or c ...

on 16 May 1968.

Oil shale activities

Since 1973, the main activity of the company was an oil shale exploration and

shale oil extraction Shale oil extraction is an industrial process for unconventional oil production. This process converts kerogen in oil shale into shale oil by pyrolysis, hydrogenation, or thermal dissolution. The resultant shale oil is used as fuel oil or ...

. In the mid 1980s, Southern Pacific Petroleum NL and Central Pacific Minerals NL (CPM) formed a joint venture with

Esso Australia ExxonMobil Australia (formerly Esso Australia) is an Australian affiliate of ExxonMobil, the U.S.-based oil giant. It operates a number of oil and gas platforms in Bass Strait, south east of Melbourne, Australia, as well as a gas processing fac ...

to develop the Rundle oil shale deposit in

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

. The active development of the Rundle deposit ceased in late 1980s when Esso deferred of the project. In 1997 SPP/CPM signed a joint venture agreement with the Canadian company

Suncor Energy Suncor Energy Inc. () is a Canada, Canadian integrated energy company based in Calgary, Alberta. It specializes in production of synthetic crude from oil sands. In the 2020 Forbes Global 2000, Suncor Energy was ranked as the 48th-largest public ...

to develop the Stuart oil shale deposit. Suncor was designated as the project operator. In April 2001, Suncor left the project and SPP/CPM became the sole shareholder of the project. In February 2002, SPP and CPM merged and SPP became the holding company for the group's interests, including the Stuart Oil Shale Project.

Financial difficulties

On 25 October 2003, the trade with SPP's share was suspended due financial difficulties of the company. As SPP had granted fixed and floating charges in favor of Sandco Koala LLC in May 2003, the chargee appointed receivers of SPP on 2 December 2003. On 13 February 2004, the Stuart Oil Shale Project and other assets were sold by receivers to the newly formed company

Queensland Energy Resources Queensland Energy Resources Limited (QERL) is an Australian oil shale mining and shale oil extraction company with the headquarters in Brisbane. It is the developer of the Stuart Oil Shale Project, Stuart (Yarwun) and McFarlane oil shale project ...

. The most important remained asset was the stake in the Rundle joint venture, which was sold on 11 May 2007 to Australian Oil-Shale Holdings.

Recapitalization

In September 2007, the proposal of recapitalization of the company by Ascent Capital was accepted and on 28 May 2008, shareholders approved the recapitalization. At the same time all interests held by third parties in the Glassford Tenement, Central Queensland, were transferred to SPP and the company focused on exploration and development of mineral resources. In 2008, the company's shares were reinstated to quotation. To reflect the change of its core activities, the company changed its name to Laguna Resources in 2009.

Takeover

The company's shares were delisted in February 2012 following a successful takeover by Kingsgate Consolidated Limited.

Activities

Glassford Tenement

The Glassford Tenement, approximately , is located south of

Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British politican, starting as Conservative MP for Newark and later becoming the leader of the Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party. In a career lasting over 60 years, he ...

and southwest of Nargoorin, Central Queensland. The mineralization zone consists of a series of

copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...

bearing

skarn Skarns or tactites are coarse-grained metamorphic rocks that form by replacement of carbonate-bearing rocks during regional or contact metamorphism and metasomatism. Skarns may form by metamorphic recrystallization of impure carbonate protoliths, ...

lode In geology, a lode is a deposit of metalliferous ore that fills or is embedded in a fracture (or crack) in a rock formation or a vein of ore that is deposited or embedded between layers of rock. The current meaning (ore vein) dates from th ...

s. Laguna Resources intended to commence a work program to test the major geochemical anomaly areas for potentially economic mineralization.

References

External links

Official website
{{Mining companies of Australia, state=collapsed Companies based in Perth, Western Australia Companies formerly listed on the Australian Securities Exchange Mining companies of Australia