Acquisitive Ramelius Resources on Thursday announced that it would buy the Marda gold project, about 190 km from its Edna May operation in Western Australia for A$13-million.
The company, which earlier this week launched a hostile takeover for Explaurum, said that the Marda resource could be a strategic satellite ore source for Edna May. The project contains 333 000 oz of mineral resources at 1.96 g/t gold and 151 000 oz of ore reserves at 2.30 g/t gold.
The transaction will be facilitated by RMS completing a deed of company arrangement in respect of Black Oak Minerals, which is in liquidation. Subject to approval of the company’s liquidators the transaction is expected to be completed before the end of 2018.
The acquisition of Marda is in line with Ramelius’ strategy of assessing and acquiring mining opportunities in economic haulage distances to existing operational hubs. The company points out that, in the past, this has included the purchase of the Vivien and Kathleen Valley deposits, from Gold Fields and Glencore, respectively. Ore from these projects has been successfully processed through Ramelius’ Mt Magnet facility.