No plans for ‘behemoth’, says Beament

Bill Beament has told stakeholders he has no aspirations to turn his undergound mining services business Develop Global into a ‘mining behemoth’ at day two of Diggers & Dealers.

Addressing the Kalgoorlie forum, the man who helped propel Northern Star to WA’s largest gold producer indicated he did not have similar plans to take his latest venture to the same scale.  

“For the benefit of prospective employees and investors alike, I want to be clear on one point,” he said.

“We’re not setting up to create a mining behemoth, nothing of the sort.”

“In fact, I don’t want to get in the ASX100 again," he jested.

The announcement this morning may come as a surprise to the market, given the company’s self-confessed similarities to Chris Ellison’s Mineral Resources, which is a top 20 shareholder in the company.

"We're aiming to be large enough to have genuine scale, and the ability to capitalise on opportunities small enough that senior management...can remain very hands on," he said. 

Mr Beament became managing director of Develop, formerly known as Venturex, in May 2021.

The company’s primary operations are in underground mining services, but the business also has interests in two copper-zinc deposits in the Pilbara.

It recently acquired dormant New South Wales copper-zinc mine Woodlawn after owner Heron went into voluntary administration in July 2021.

Develop shares were trading at around $4 in January and are currently at $2.31 in a $383 million market capitalisation.