Maritana Minerals has tightened its grip on the Kalgoorlie goldfields after striking a strategic tenement swap with ASX-listed Accelerate Resources that brings in the extensive Kanowna East package while offloading the company’s non-core Balagundi ground.
The deal fits Maritana’s push to consolidate ground around its Black Swan processing hub and Gordons Dam project, with Kanowna East close to both assets.
The transaction echoes the company’s previous Goldfields footprint expansion in August last year, when it crafted the strategic $2.81 million acquisition of Yandal Resources’ Gordons Dam and nearby projects.
Those projects sit a mere stone’s throw from its Black Swan processing hub and include a 20,000-ounce gold resource, loads of exploration upside and the potential to underpin a planned five-year mining operation.
Management says the latest incoming tenure will be merged into its FY2027 exploration strategy as it reviews historical data and targets ground contiguous with its existing landholding.
Under the transaction, Maritana will pay Accelerate a net consideration of $200,000 in shares, based on the greater of 133,333 shares or shares valued at $200,000 using the five-day VWAP before execution.
The parties have matched $60,000 cash components that effectively cancel each other out, and each will retain a 1 per cent net smelter return royalty over the ground they are divesting.
Maritana also retains a potentially useful option through a five-year right of first refusal over future toll treatment at Black Swan if Balagundi ever advances to development. That leaves the company exposed to a possible nearby ore source and revenue stream without carrying exploration costs on an asset it now sees as non-core.
The swap appears to work for both sides. Accelerate says the Balagundi ground doubles its landholding to 62 square kilometres and adds a 600-metre strike extension to its emerging Delta Trend. Accelerate identified the prospective trend through recent aircore drilling and it is emerging as one of the company’s priority target corridors at Balagundi.
For Maritana, the overall prize is a neater fit with its operating footprint east of Kalgoorlie.
Maritana Minerals managing director and chief executive officer Grant Haywood said: “This transaction reflects Maritana's disciplined approach to portfolio management. By acquiring the Kanowna East Project and divesting the Balagundi tenure, we are consolidating our landholdings around the Black Swan Processing Hub, while rationalising assets that are better suited to a party with the scale and intent to advance them.”
The tenure being acquired by Maritana includes a mix of granted and pending applications, with some interests held 70 per cent by Accelerate and 30 per cent by Metal Hawk. Completion is expected in the June 2026 quarter, subject to customary approvals and consents.
For Maritana, the deal looks like a tidy portfolio move with a strategic edge. The company is focusing on the ground near where it already has infrastructure and operational plans in place and is progressing the conversion of its Black Swan gold processing hub, while leaving the door open to future upside if Balagundi comes good.
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By Doug Bright
