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Its ‘Never Never’ for Ramelius buying Westgold but Spartan tie-up still on table
BRIDGET CARTER
58 minutes ago.
Updated 3 minutes ago

The Australian Business Network




Ramelius Resources' Mt Magnet gold mine.


Ramelius Resources boss Mark Zeptner says his company’s acquisition of an 8.9 per cent stake in Spartan Resources in June provided a “seat at the table” and he would continue to assess the gold miner as a potential target.

However, he said that the company has moved on from Westgold Resources after holding takeover talks with its fellow gold miner late last year.
On the sidelines of the Diggers and Dealers conference in Kalgoorlie, Mr Zeptner said that Ramelius moved on Spartan when “an opportunity presented itself” and the company would continue to assess the target.
“We did some work … and thought that is an opportunity we would like to capitalise on.”
He said that he knew Spartan’s managing director Simon Lawson, and the pair had a coffee, “and that’s as far as it has gone,”.
“Ultimately, as the project grows, it becomes more and more attractive to others, but it is in our backyard.”

Ramelius owns and operates two production and processing hubs at Mt Magnet and Edna May, in Western Australia.
It is also currently developing its Rebecca-Roe project and Cue Gold Project, 35km south of Mt Magnet, after buying Apollo Consolidated in 2022 and Musgrave Minerals the following year.
It purchased Spartan shares at 92c in June, and they are currently trading at about $1.08.

Spartan, with a $1.3bn market value, owns the Dalgaranga Gold Project, 65km northwest of Mt Magnet in Murchison, Western Australia, where Ramelius owns a gold processing hub.
Part of that is its Never Never high-grade gold deposit on which the company is pinning its hopes for growth.

It was previously called Gascoyne Resources and collapsed after it gold production levels being processed through its mill were not profitable, and it was later recapitalised after its market value fell beneath $100m.
“Everyone would like a Never Never in their portfolio – for us, it is a nice to have, but not a must-have.”

Speculation has existed about a move by Ramelius on Spartan since at least 2021 as the gold industry looks to consolidate, as previously reported by DataRoom.
Mr Zeptner said Ramelius saw “some real synergies” with Westgold, but the opportunity had “been and gone”.
He said discussions with the Canada listed gold miner Karora, which has operations in Western Australia, ended back in February after an agreement could not be reached on value.
Karora went on to merge with Westgold.
Mr Zeptner addressed his move to object to the merger between Westgold and Karora by taking the matter to the Takeovers Panel, with Ramelius accusing Westgold of breaching standstill conditions relating to its takeover talks.
However, he said that the panel took too long to rule on the matter that was raised in April and not finalised until July, so he would not have taken that path if the company had its time again.
“The panel response wasn’t timely so it wasn’t effective,” he said.

Late last year, it was known around the market that Ramelius was in search of an opportunity in Australia, preferably in Western Australia, where it could add 100,000 ounces of gold per annum and wanted to add a third production hub to put its $261m cash pile to work.
Mr Zeptner said he did not feel an obligation to get bigger but was more focused on good margins and cashflow.