Gaines, Barnaba, Wilson to join Greatland

Aspiring gold producer Greatland Gold has recruited three of the state’s most prominent company directors while also attracting Andrew Forrest’s Wyloo Metals as its top shareholder. 

In a big win for the company, former Fortescue Metals Group chief executive Elizabeth Gaines, current Fortescue deputy chair Mark Barnaba and former BHP iron ore president Jimmy Wilson will join the Greatland board.

In addition, the company - led by former Northern Star Resources CFO Shaun Day - has raised $220 million of debt and up to $120 million in equity from new investor Wyloo.

That makes it fully funded for its share of the Havieron gold project in the Pilbara, which is jointly owned with Newcrest Mining.

Mr Day said the new hires would deliver a strong board.

“As individuals, Mark, Elizabeth and Jimmy each bring an incredibly valuable skillset to Greatland, and collectively they will deliver us one of the strongest boards in the global mining industry,” he said.

Mr Day described the process of putting together the board as a ‘slow burn’ over the past 12 months, while the funding process ran parallel.

“Our ambitions lie in optimising the outcome for Greatland shareholders from Havieron…both by continuing to invest in the drill bit and unlock the option value in our portfolio,” he said, adding that inorganic growth was also on the cards.

“I think being fully funded and having the organisational capacity we have with this board gives us every opportunity to be successful in that regard.”

Mr Day said the funding would see Greatland through to production, with first ore targeted 18 months from now in early 2024, using joint venture partner Newcrest’s infrastructure at Telfer for processing.

Mr Barnaba will become non-executive chairman of Greatland in the new year.

“Greatland has the potential to evolve into a significant gold-copper producer through its 30 per cent share in the Havieron project,” Mr Barnaba said.

He will be joined by former Fortescue colleague Ms Gaines, who will become non-executive and deputy chair of the explorer, in her first new public company role since finishing as Fortescue’s chief executive in August.

“I am excited to begin working with the team as we progress the development of Havieron and a secondary listing on the ASX,” Ms Gaines said.

“By joining Greatland at this formative stage, we have the opportunity to build a leading gold-copper producer with a proud culture and shared values.”

Though Ms Gaines and Mr Barnaba officially start with the board on January 1 2023, Greatland says the pair will begin work with the company in a consulting capacity as of today.

Mr Wilson will take up his executive directorship with Greatland effective today, but will transition to a non-executive director role after 18 months. 

The three new directors will all be granted equity incentives that will deliver a big reward if the company achieves strong share price gains.

Mr Barnaba and Ms Gaines, subject to shareholder approval, will be granted 100 million and 55 million options respectively.

Mr Wilson and current non-executive director Paul Hallam – who previously worked in a managerial capacity at FMG and Newcrest – will each be granted 40 million options.

These can be converted into Greatland shares at a price of 11.5 pence, a 45 per cent premium to the company’s most recent capital raising last month.

“Knowing the talents of Elizabeth and Jimmy, I am confident they will make important contributions to the future growth of the company,” Mr Barnaba said.

Greatland is listed on London’s Alternative Investment Market and owns 30 per cent of the Havieron project with operator and joint venture partner Newcrest Mining.

Discovered by the company in 2018, Havieron is the company’s lead asset and is located in WA’s Paterson Province, 45 kilometres from Newcrest’s Telfer mine.

As part of its campaign to bring its stake of Havieron into production, Greatland also announced this morning that it had raised $340 million in debt and equity as well as announcing its three big hires.

Continuing the Forrest theme, up to $120 million of that funding will come from Tattarang’s private mining business and mixed commodity outfit, Wyloo Metals, which is led by Luca Giacovazzi.

Wyloo will put $60 million in equity into Greatland as a start, after buying more than 430 million shares in the company at 8.2 pence each.

The initial investment will give Wyloo an 8.6 per cent stake in Greatland and make it the company's largest shareholder.

Wyloo has the option to invest a further $60 million via equity warrants, which can be exercised at 10 pence.

“Havieron is one of the most exciting discoveries in WA's emerging Paterson Range that continues to grow in scale and quality as the understanding of this tier-one system evolves,” Mr Giacovazzi said.

“We are equally as excited to be supporting the company’s ongoing exploration of its expansive tenement package, which we think has great potential for further discovery.”

As well as the equity, a syndicated bank debt facility comprising ANZ, HSBC and ING will lend up to $220 million.

Mr Day said he was very pleased with the competitive interest rate on the loan facility.

“That, for a development rate, I think it’s as good as you’re going to see,” he said.

Greatland has secured debt fairly early in the process based on a pre-feasibility study from October 2021, with most developers typically locking in funding for their project after completing a definitive feasibility study.

An updated definitive feasibility study is expected in the December quarter.

Greatland will also look to list on the ASX in the March quarter of next year.