PERTH – Gold miner Ramelius Resources has taken a 90% stake in takeover target Musgrave Resources, and has started the compulsory acquisition of the remaining shares in the company.The gold miner had been offering one of its own shares for every 4.21 Musgrave shares held, as well as a 4c a share cash payment. The offer valued Musgrave at A$201-million and valued the company’s shares at 34c each.
Musgrave’s Cue project is some 35-km from Ramelius’ Mt Magnet project, providing the opportunity for an integrated development scenario with enhanced commercial viability. The project would be incorporated into the Mt Magnet resource base, which stood at 3.2-million ounces as at the end of June 2022.
The Cue project hosts an estimated mineral resource of 12.3-million tonnes 2.3 g/t gold for 927 000 oz of gold, including the high-grade Break of Day trend deposits, which contains 327 000 oz of gold. A stage one prefeasibility study , focusing on the southern component of the Cue mineral resource and contemplating the development of a 500 000 t/y stand-alone processing plant, was completed in April 2023.
The PFS estimated a gold production of 337 000 oz over the five-year mine-life, with the first three years averaging 80 000 oz/y. The study estimated that the project would require a capital investment of some A$121-million to develop the 500 000 t/y operation, with the pay-back period estimated at nine months.