Production on Horizon for juniors
Josh ChiatKalgoorlie Miner
Wednesday, 12 December 2018 10:08AM
Intermin MD Jon Price, Macphersons Resources chairman Ashok Parekh and Intermin chairman Peter Bilbe.Picture: Danella Bevis / The West Australian
The $60 million merger of Kalgoorlie juniors Intermin Resources and MacPhersons Resources has emerged as the newest example of the frenzied consolidation growing at the small end of WA’s gold sector.
The deal announced yesterday will see Intermin offer one share for every 1.8227 shares in Kalgoorlie-based MacPhersons and merge via a scheme of arrangement to form Horizon Minerals.
The combined group will control a total gold resource of 1.15 million ounces around the Kalgoorlie-Boulder gold district across 1100sqkm of tenements, including MacPhersons’ 507,000oz Boorara deposit, 10km east of the Super Pit.
It will also have interests in the Nimbus silver-zinc mine near Boorara and the Richmond vanadium project in Queensland.
Intermin Resources managing director Jon Price will take the managing director’s role with Peter Bilbe staying as non-executive chairman.
MacPhersons managing director Jeff Williams and chairman Ashok Parekh, the owner of Kalgoorlie’s iconic Palace Hotel, will be non-executive directors.
The engagement comes hot on the heels of the friendly merger proposal between Doray Minerals and Silver Lake Resources and the corporate marriage of Spitfire Materials and Excelsior Gold, which are rebranding as Bardoc Gold.
Mr Price said it was becoming increasingly apparent junior explorers needed to consolidate to justify building standalone gold projects.
“When you put two companies like ours together, geographically it makes a lot of sense, but what we see is it gives us a much larger resource base and the ability to get into production sooner without the need for continuous toll milling,” he said.
Horizon will begin feasibility studies once the scheme of arrangement is approved and reach an investment decision on a standalone project with its own plant, to be stationed near the baseload Boorara deposit, by the end of next year.
Mr Price said Horizon would aim to establish a mine plan of at least five years with the potential to produce 80,000-100,000oz per annum.
Mr Parekh, a chartered accountant sometimes referred to as the King of Kalgoorlie for his high-profile business interests in the city, said the pace of mergers among small gold plays would have a positive impact on the Goldfields economy.
“What we’re going to land up with is you’ll have more producing gold mines and that’s what we want,” he said.
IRC Price at posting:
14.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
