Greatland Gold has lauded the transformative potential of its $700 million deal for Newmont’s Telfer mine and the nearby Havieron gold project, as it closes in on its completion this week.
In a release to the London exchange late on Monday, Greatland revealed its deal for Telfer and the 70 per cent of Havieron that it doesn’t already own would be completed on December 4.
The deal will give Andrew Forrest-backed Greatland a stronghold in the Paterson province in the east Pilbara, including a mine with established infrastructure where tailings remediation work was recently completed and stockpiled ore has built up.
Greatland expects to become a gold producer almost immediately as a result of the deal.
Further to that, Greatland intends to develop and process ore from Havieron through the Telfer asset, in a move which would extend the project’s life into the future.
Its managing director Shaun Day said the completion date was a major milestone for the transformational acquisition.
“It is a credit to the exceptional efforts of the Greatland, Newmont and Telfer teams that we have been able to move efficiently and quickly towards completion well inside our target of the December 2024 quarter,” he said.
"Completion will mark the beginning of a new chapter for Greatland as an immediate and significant Australian gold and copper producer.
“The combination of immediate production from the Telfer operations and our planned completion of the development of the world-class Havieron project provides an exceptional platform for continued growth.”
Havieron sits around 45km from Telfer, and Greatland has outlined a mineral resource of 7 million ounces and 275,000 tonnes of copper at the orebody which it hopes to mine from 2026.
When the deal was announced in September, Mr Day told Business News the two assets would complement one another, estimating a 30 million tonne stockpile of ore at surface at Telfer waiting to be processed.
The news of the imminent deal comes on the same day as Northern Star Resources announced its takeover bid for De Grey Mining, which owns the Hemi project – also in the Pilbara.
The Australian dollar spot gold price peaked at $4,257 per ounce at the end of October, according to analysis from Surbiton Associates.
Greatland is listed in the UK, but is planning a local listing within six months of finalising its deal for the Pilbara project.
