Andrew Forrest-backed Greatland Gold confirmed it was close to buying Newmont’s Telfer gold and copper mine in Western Australia, but said it wants leaky tailings dams at the site fixed first.

The Australian Financial Review’s Street Talk column revealed on Monday that Greatland was set to issue close to $500 million of new shares to help fund the deal, with major shareholder Dr Forrest set to subscribe for his allocation of stock.