I don't keep an eye on all the gold miners operating in Australia. So I am curious as to which one Ramelius feels the need to update their disclosures so as to talk to them. Remembering that Ramelius wants at least 100k oz pa, at least 10 yr life of mine, competitive cost profile and preferably in Australia.
Helpfully, in their presentation they as good as name the candidates.
The one out of the ordinary in that list seems to be Aurelia Metals (AMI) as not only is it entirely based in NSW but its focus seems to be more on copper than gold. Gold Road Resources seems otherwise engaged. So that leaves four single mine companies: CMM, DCN, GCY and RED, and only one of them produce above 100k oz pa though if Gascoyne could get access to some decent grades it could easily rise to 150k oz pa.
Capricorn's Karlawinda project fits perfectly in with criteria set by Ramelius: + 10 year life of mine, 110k to 125k oz pa, AISC in Q3FY22 of under $1,100/oz. But clearly Capricorn (CMM) fortune is on the rise and Ramelius' has been stagnant.
Anyone acquiring Westgold I reckon will need to give it a hard prune to get some better shape to it, but wants to go backwards to go forwards.
St Barbara has two out of its three projects not in Australia and I suspect it to be a lemon so I am going to discount it as a target for Ramelius.
So that leaves four big gold miners, each with at least 3 working production centres.
Newcrest: I'm not too familar with Newcrest but I could not see anything that Newcrest has in Australia that would suit Ramelius. (Cadia prod.765k oz pa, AISC $109/oz; Telfer prod. 416k oz pa, AISC $1475/oz; + Lihir and a couple of canadian projects)
Northern Star: NST had this table in their annual report. There has been some talk that maybe Carosue Dam might be on the market but for Ramelius, at first blush, Thenderbox might be a better fit. Carosue Dam was core Saracen, is a good sized mill and looks to have a couple of rich discoveries nearby (Nexus and Ozaurum).
Evolution: Initially I thought that Mungari would be the logical choice for Ramelius, not only to do with the production and costs but also because it is the only WA operation Evolution has. But they bought some nearby underground mines from Northern Star and intend to turn Mungari into a core asset. Evolution sold Edna May to Ramelius but I'm not sure they have anything that fits what Ramelius is looking for this time around.
Regis: I cannot imagine they would break up their Duketon cluster and other than Duketon they only have a passive interest in Tropicana.
From all of that I still pick Gascoyne as the best pick as Ramelius would be paying for an operation that produces 75k oz pa with the knowledge that for for little cost they could turn it into a 150k oz pa operation. Of the projects owned by the big miners I would think Thunderbox over Carosue Dam. I reckon NST will retain Carosue Dam and buy out either Nexus or Ozaurum or both to make full use of the big mill they have there.
I have not taken into account the Australian located gold operations owned by foreign companies. Ramelius picked up a screaming bargain when they acquired Mt Magnet from the South African company, Harmony, which wanted to chase elephants in PNG.
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