Asian suitors fall away in $2bn Ravenswood gold mine auction

Gold has hit records beyond $5000 an ounce due to geopolitical uncertainty. Picture: AFP

Some Indonesian suitors that had been closing in on the Ravens­wood goldmine in Queensland are believed to have staged a retreat as the contest comes to a head in the coming days, with just two or three suitors left.

The Standard Chartered-­advised United Tractors, based in Indonesia, is still believed to be a suitor, going head-to-head with Regis Resources and another group.

A short-listed bidder out of Indonesia was the country’s billionaire Salim family with its company, Mach Metals, which may be advised by Moelis.

Also suspected to be in the mix was Petrindo Jaya Kreasi out of Indonesia.

Final offers are due on May 20.

Crimping demand has been the mine’s gold hedge book, which is said to be at least $300m out of the money on the back of the soaring price of gold.

The commodity has hit records beyond $5000 an ounce due to geopolitical uncertainty.

Some operational challenges that the mine has been facing may also weigh on the outcome.

Adding to the possibility of a strong price is that there are few gold assets for sale at a time that the commodity is in hot demand, with the only other major asset on offer being Bellevue Gold.

Gold Road Resources, which was in a trading halt on Friday, is also in play, but the understanding is that its joint venture partner on its Gruyere goldmine, Gold Fields, has come back to the negotiating table with a higher offer to buy the $3.2bn Australian-listed business.

Price expectations on Ravens­wood have been over $2bn.

Regis Resources is advised by Greenhill.

Chinese suitor Chifeng – the Shanghai-listed group that in 2020 purchased the Bibiani Gold Mine in Ghana from Australian-listed Resolute Mining for $US105m – was also a short-listed bidder.

UBS and Azure Capital are running the competition, and the understanding is global groups have put forward higher offers than local groups.

The lucrative Ravenswood mine, 130km south of Townsville in Queensland’s Charters Towers region, generates about 200,000 ounces of gold annually.

EMR Capital led a consortium that purchased Ravenswood in 2020 from Resolute Mining for up to $300m. It has substantially grown its production since, through heavy investment needed for the mine’s life extension to at least 15 years from 2022.

Its other owner is Singapore-based Golden Energy Resources.