Forrestania clocks 131% WA gold resource uplift, haulage underway

Forrestania Resources has more than doubled the gold inventory at its British Hill deposit in Western Australia, delivering a massive 131 per cent increase to the project’s mineral resource estimate, which now stands at 126,290 ounces. The Perth-based gold developer tabled a JORC-compliant resource of 2.62 million tonnes grading a solid 1.50 grams per tonne (g/t) gold.

Notably, the company has also dramatically de-risked the project by delivering a whopping 180 per cent increase in the higher-confidence indicated resource category. That portion now makes up the lion’s share of the resource, weighing in at 1.88 million tonnes at 1.43g/t gold for 86,080 ounces.

The upgrade was underpinned by recent drilling that included a suite of high-grade hits such as 1 metre at an impressive 22.98g/t gold, 4 metres at 7.46g/t gold from 124m and a shallow intercept of 7 metres at 5.69g/t gold from surface.

Forrestania is already trucking gold ore sourced from British Hill to its recently acquired and soon-to-be-refurbished Lake Johnston processing facility, 185 kilometres southwest of Kalgoorlie. The company says the recent exploration success has given it the confidence to keep the drill rods turning, with three reverse-circulation rigs on site furiously drilling as part of an approved 100-hole program to expand the resource further, both along strike and down-dip.

The latest resource upgrade slots neatly into Forrestania’s aggressive regional consolidation strategy, which has seen it transform from a grassroots explorer into an emerging producer in less than a year.

Forrestania Resources chairman David Geraghty said: “British Hill continues to expand, with a more than doubling of the previous Mineral Resource Estimate and a material increase in the proportion of higher-confidence Indicated Resources. The combination of resource growth, ongoing drilling success and excellent regional infrastructure positions British Hill as a key asset within our broader Forrestania gold strategy.”

The centrepiece of Forrestania's strategy is a classic hub-and-spoke model, with the company’s game-changing acquisition of the Edna May gold project from Ramelius Resources delivering a 2.9-million-tonne-per-annum processing plant to serve as a central hub. 

Operationally, Edna May complements the company's existing Lake Johnston processing plant, where major refurbishment works are already well advanced. Once both are fully operational the company will control a formidable, combined processing capacity exceeding six million tonnes of ore per annum by early 2027.

Forrestania’s now holds a large strategic footprint comprising a dominant 623-square-kilometre contiguous tenure package adjacent to the historic one-million-ounce Bounty gold mine. This forms a key part of a broader 1000-square-kilometre statewide portfolio, with active projects located near the major mining hubs of Coolgardie and Menzies.

To bankroll its ambitions, Forrestania recently locked away a massive $310 million in fresh equity through a heavily backed, institutional share placement, issuing shares at 40 cents apiece. The raise allowed it to complete the acquisition of the Edna May plant from Ramelius and will also fund its refurbishment.

Over the past year, Forrestania has been on an acquisition blitz, snapping up stranded gold assets across WA’s premier goldfields. Its buying spree included a $58.9 million takeover of Kula Gold to secure the high-grade Mt Palmer project, a $24 million acquisition of Newcam Minerals’ Southern Cross assets and a $93.5 million merger with Zenith Minerals, building a total resource base approaching 2 million ounces.

For an explorer, having a clear pathway to monetise a discovery is the goal. And with high-grade ore from multiple projects such as British Hill now feeding a growing network of processing plants, Forrestania appears to have exactly that.

The company has pieced together a compelling regional production story in breathtakingly short order leaving its junior explorer days firmly in the rear-view mirror. With drill rods turning, ore already on the move and a war chest to fund its two-hub strategy, Forrestania would seem to have all the pieces in place to become WA’s next significant gold producer.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au