Article by Kathleen Southway courtesy of The Australian Mining Review.
Catalyst Metals (ASX: CYL) has entered into an agreement to acquire Canadian mining company Superior Gold, which owns the Plutonic gold operations in WA.
With the previously announced acquisition of Vango Mining and its Marymia gold project by Catalyst, this further transaction will create a new mid-cap Australian gold producer with control of three world-class Australian gold belts at Henty in Tasmania, Bendigo goldfields in Victoria and Marymia in WA.
The Plutonic gold mine has a 3mtpa CIL processing capacity via two plants, annual production of 70,000oz of gold, reserves of 630,000oz at 3.5g/t and a resource of 5.9moz at 3.7g/t.
Marymia is adjacent to Plutonic and has resources of 1moz, including a high-grade component of 517,000oz at 8.2g/t.
The combined Plutonic-Marymia belt will host a significant gold resource base.
Catalyst managing director James Champion de Crespigny says the acquisition offers potential to create a range of strategic synergies.
“The combination of the large resources, big processing capacity and considerable exploration upside gives the combined group genuine scale, long mine life, strong cashflow and outstanding growth prospects, all in the heart of a world-class gold belt in WA,” he said.
“The Plutonic gold belt is significant by any world measure.
“It has historically hosted high quality deposits – the Timor was over 800,000oz at 7.5g/t.
“This consolidation joins the high grade Trident and K2 ore bodies, which have 517,000oz at over 8g/t gold, and significant potential to grow, with underutilised infrastructure.”
Superior president and chief executive Chris Jordaan says the consolidation of the Plutonic-Marymia gold belt will create a strong platform from which to advance the development of the Plutonic underground mine and surrounding open pit projects.
“Catalyst will bring Plutonic a team with international mining experience, a proven track record of exploration success and the financial resources to develop the district,” he said.
The transaction includes significant associated infrastructure at the Plutonic operations with a 3mtpa CIL processing capacity, a 364-person accommodation camp, 37-piece underground mobile equipment fleet estimated to be valued at $50m, airstrip and a 16MW gas-fired power station.
Catalyst is required to raise a minimum of $20m before costs for the transaction supported by its largest shareholder, Hancock Prospecting.
