International offers for Ravenswood ‘ahead’ of Aussies

Ravenswood mine south of Townsville generates about 200,000 ounces of gold a year. Picture: AFP

Australian companies are believed to be off the pace from their global peers when it comes to bidding for the Ravenswood gold mine in Queensland.

The competition run by Azure Capital and UBS is in the second round, and the understanding is that the Australian-listed Regis Resources is still in the mix.

Evolution Mining and Gold Road Resources have not progressed in the contest.

The understanding is that global groups have put forward higher offers than local groups.

Those from overseas include United Tractors out of Indonesia, and at least two other parties – one which is believed to be from China.

Earlier expectations were that the mine could sell for about $2bn.

Others earlier weighing a purchase were Indonesia’s Salim and Chinese suitors Zhaojin – which purchased Tietto Minerals last year for $733m – and Chifeng, which has bought a Ghana asset from Resolute Mining.

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

Owen Hegarty’s EMR Capital owns it jointly with Singapore-based Golden Energy Resources (GEAR), backed by money from Indonesia.

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 which was needed for the mine’s life extension to at least 15 years from 2022.

The sale process is unfolding after Ramelius Resources and Spartan Resources announced a highly anticipated gold mining merger, whereby Ramelius would pay Spartan 25c cash per share and 0.6957 new Ramelius shares for each Spartan share.

The offer equated to $1.78 per share and takes Spartan’s market value to $2.4bn, a premium of 11.3 per cent to Spartan’s last traded share price of $1.60.

Spartan was advised by Sternship Advisers and Ramelius by Euroz Hartleys, but most observers in the market said they did not see any big surprises in the announcement.

The deal was highly anticipated after Ramelius raided Spartan’s share register in June last year, buying 8.9 per cent and increasing its holding to 18.3 per cent – and there were large synergies between the two groups.

It’s also worth noting that Ramelius cleansed the market with details about its Mt Magnet update and extension on March 11, which at the time sent shares lower.

Ramelius is developing both the Rebecca-Roe project and Cue Gold Project, 35km north of Mt Magnet, after buying Apollo Consolidated in 2022 and Musgrave Minerals the following year.

It owns and operates two production and processing hubs at Mt Magnet and Edna May in Western Australia.

Spartan owns the Dalgaranga Gold Project, 65km northwest of Mt Magnet in Murchison, where it also 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.

Spartan was previously called Gascoyne Resources and collapsed after gold ore levels being processed through its mill were not profitable, and it was later recapitalised after its market value fell beneath $100m.