KALGOORLIE (miningweekly.com) – Gold miner Regis Resources will look to acquisitions and organic growth opportunities to increase the mine lives of its three operations in Western Australia.

MD Mark Clark told journalists on the sidelines of the Diggers & Dealers conference that Regis was aggressively looking for acquisition opportunities in the Duketon region to add value to its current operations in the region.

“We have looked at many, many opportunities over the last couple of years but, unfortunately, we have either not been able to win those opportunities because of price, because someone else was prepared to pay more than us, or because the project did not meet our criteria.”

Clark said the key to finding an acquisition that would fit with the company’s growth and acquisition strategy was to remain patient.

“We just have to stay patient and keep working on that and have confidence that over time we will find something. And it will most likely be something where we can see value that others can’t, either because of proximity to our milling operations or our ability to operate at low operating and capital costs,” he added.

One such growth opportunity was acquired in July, with Regis spending A$1.5-million to acquire the Gloster gold deposit, which had the potential to extend the operational life of the existing Moolart Well project.

Regis was planning confirmatory drilling at the project to further define resource. A resource and reserve update at Gloster was expected by the end of December, which would allow Regis to conduct a feasibility study for an openpit trucking operation, which would see ore trucked to the Moolart Well mill.

Regis in July also signed a letter of agreement with fellow-listed Duketon Mining, allowing the gold miner to hunt for gold on four of Duketon’s exploration licence areas in close proximity to the Moolart Well project.

Regis could earn a 75% interest in gold interests at the project area by spending A$1-million in exploration over a two-year period.

In addition to acquisitions, Regis was also focused on organic growth, with the company investigating the possibility of underground mining at its existing Rosemont openpit operation.