Forrestania lands Edna May in $300M WA gold hub coup

Forrestania Resources has delivered the ultimate engineering and corporate climax to its rapid, small-cap evolution, revealing a binding agreement to acquire 100 per cent of Ramelius Resources’ highly advanced Edna May gold hub for $300 million.

The blockbuster transaction comprises a minimum of $200 million in cash and up to $100 million in Forrestania shares, which, upon completion, will result in Ramelius emerging as a substantial shareholder.

The company has already launched a heavily supported institutional capital raising to secure at least $200 million to fund the cash component. The deal represents the crowning achievement of a relentless 12-month consolidation strategy orchestrated by veteran mining executive and chairman, David Geraghty.

In a move to clear the decks ahead of today’s blockbuster announcement, the company also finalised the sale of its Breakaway Dam copper and lithium project to Catalina Resources, a deal announced in January this year. Forrestania will be issued with 13.831 million shares in Catalina, worth roughly $600,000 and a mixture of options at various strike prices and expiries.

Over the past year, Forrestania has been on an acquisition blitz, snapping up stranded gold assets as it transforms from a grassroots explorer into an emerging producer.

The company’s 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.

It now boasts a soon-to-be-refurbished 3.2 million tonnes-per-annum processing plant at Lake Johnston and a resource inventory approaching 1.6 million ounces. Not wanting to waste a moment, heavily laden trucks are already rolling across the Western Australian landscape, delivering the first gold ore from the company’s British Hill satellite deposit to its primary stockpiles.

Until today, however, the company lacked the one ingredient capable of tying the growing portfolio together – a second major processing hub in the heart of its expanding Westonia footprint. 

The Edna May acquisition changes that overnight, delivering a conventional 2.9-million-tonne-per-annum carbon-in-leach processing plant, which has been on care and maintenance since April 2025, alongside a substantial 945,000-ounce JORC gold resource. Forrestania is targeting a rapid restart of the operation in the first half of 2027.

The assets also come with a resource comprising 30.7 million tonnes grading one gram per tonne (g/t) gold using a 0.5g/t cut-off, including 25,000 ounces in the measured category, 700,000 ounces in indicated and a further 220,000 ounces in inferred resources.

Beyond the mill, the acquisition also delivers a ready-made operating hub complete with a 185-room accommodation village, airstrip, tailings storage facility, central administration complex and grid power, dramatically reducing both the capital cost and development timeline required to bring the operation back into production.

To cap off the transaction, Forrestania has been handed a massive 1000-square-kilometre tenement footprint, encompassing the 100 per cent-owned Tampia and Symes satellite projects alongside four regional exploration licences.

Forrestania Resources chairman David Geraghty said: “Approximately 12 months ago, Forrestania embarked on an aggressive M&A strategy to consolidate stranded high quality gold assets and underexplored tenure surrounding Edna May. This strategy has been incredibly successful and set Forrestania up for today’s acquisition.”

Operationally, commissioning at Lake Johnston is now on track for late 2026. Once Edna May joins the fold as its second operating engine room, the company will command a powerful dual hub-and-spoke processing network, capable of directing regional ore to the most profitable mill and lifting total processing capacity beyond six million tonnes per annum by early 2027.

Forrestania expects to exit its current trading halt on Wednesday, 1 July 2026, following the completion of its equity placement. The company says it will then advance technical restart studies, seek shareholder approval for the equity raising and prepare to feed the hungry Edna May mill with proximate regional ore sources.

With ore already moving and two massive regional processing hubs now firmly in its grip, The company looks to have completed its transformation into a serious, mid-tier WA gold powerhouse.

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