Barry FitzGerald: Tin from Bygoo days has bargain hunters looking at Caspin

A tin explorer is a rare find on the ASX, and Caspin Resources’ attempts to refire the historic Bygoo tin field have slipped under the radar.

"Garimpeiro" Barry FitzGerald is keeping a close eye on tin explorer Caspin Resources. Pic: Supplied/Stockhead

“Garimpeiro” columnist Barry FitzGerald has covered the resources industry for 35 years. Now he’s sharing the benefits of his experience with Stockhead readers.

Exploration successes by junior explorers this year have not been limited to the gold space. Just ask Perth-based junior and former high-flyer Caspin Resources (ASX:CPN).

Once a $150 million company on the strength of its nickel-copper-PGE hunt at projects in Western Australia, Caspin is now a 5.2c stock for a market cap of less than $10 million.

The lowly market cap is despite Caspin now making a name for itself in the tin space after notching up impressive exploitation results at its Bygoo tin project near Ardlethan in NSW’s Riverina district.

The exploration projects that drove Caspin to that $150m market cap in 2021 – Yarawindah and Mount Squires – are still in the portfolio and will be ticked along until investor interest in nickel returns.

But tin is now very much the focus, with Caspin pivoting to the metal last year with the pick of the Bygoo project from private interests.

Unlike the gold space, there are only a handful of tin producers/developers/explorers on the ASX. They have market caps ranging from $490 million for producer Metals X (ASX:MLX) down to $21m for explorer/developer Elementos (ASX:ELT).

One to watch

Garimpeiro reckons exploration results in the first drilling campaign at Bygoo make Caspin one to watch in the tin space.

Bygoo is about 2km north of the historic Ardlethan tin mine, which was discovered back in 1912 and which continues to produce today from a tailings operation owned by a private company.

The project also has a historical footprint but has pretty much been forgotten about for 40 years.

Best results to date include 11m grading 2.3% tin from 100m and 16m at 1.35% tin from 65m. It is exciting stuff when it is remembered that tin is a high-value metal currently trading at more than three times the price of copper.

In addition to the high-grade hits in greisens (altered granitic rocks), the drilling also returned a 100m hit grading 0.33% tin Caspin said points to the potential for a large body of mineralisation.

While it is not exactly de rigueur to say so, the in-ground value of 2.3% tin can be equated to about 7% copper. So, if it was OK to report the Bygoo hits in copper equivalents, Caspin’s market cap would better reflect Bygoo’s status as one of the best “discoveries” in recent times.

Caspin certainly thinks so, saying Bygoo is potentially nationally significant. And a bunch of investors have backed home that idea by committing to a $2.1m equity placement at 5c a share with a 1 free attached December 2026 option exercisable at 10c for every 2 new shares issued.

Results in transit

Results from the most recent drilling at Bygoo are expected shortly. Caspin is also planning to release metallurgical testwork results, expected to confirm the tin is the preferred cassiterite type and can yield a saleable concentrate, as well as what geophysical survey work has highlighted.

As it is, Caspin reckons that geochemical evidence suggests a possible strike length of 1000m, with the potential for mineralisation at this stage only constrained by the lack of drilling at the project.

As for the tin price, it has bounced off three-month lows caused by the US tariff-induced sell off in a broad sweep of metals. It got as low as $US29,780/t after Alphamin announced the restart of the high grade Bisie mine in war-torn Eastern DRC but was last quoted at $US32,745/t, more than double prices in 2022.

Its use as a solder has tin ranked as a critical metal for electric vehicles, robotics, advanced computers and renewable energy. Supply is dominated by countries that are not exactly tourist destinations, making Bygoo’s NSW location a big plus.

The views, information, or opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the columnist and do not represent the views of Stockhead. Stockhead does not provide, endorse or otherwise assume responsibility for any financial product advice contained in this article.