Genesis Minerals has announced the completed acquisition of St Barbara’s Leonora assets, including the Gwalia underground mine, 1.4Mtpa Leonora mill, Tower Hill project, Zoroastrian project, and the Aphrodite and Harbour Lights refractory projects.
As part of the acquisition deal Genesis has paid St Barbara $370 million and 205 million Genesis shares.
Genesis Managing Director, Raleigh Finlayson, said the transaction has set Genesis up to be a leading Australian gold house, and that it is 100 per cent focused on Leonora.
“Most importantly, we can now get on with the job of unlocking the unique synergies and delivering the long life, ‘margin over ounces’ Leonora business plan we have clearly articulated to shareholders,” Mr Finlayson said.
“The next six months will be focused on a strategic review of Gwalia, rebuilding the foundations to ensure a new lease of life for this prolific gold asset.
“On behalf of Genesis, I would like to thank St Barbara for its co-operation throughout the transaction and extend a warm welcome to our new colleagues at the Gwalia operation who are now part of the Genesis team.”
In parallel with the transaction, Genesis has been advancing the Leonora Gold Project (LGP) comprising the Ulysses, Admiral, Orient Well and Puzzle deposits, to ensure the Genesis assets meet the long-term targets set as part of the acquisition of St Barbara’s Leonora assets.
Genesis will complete a strategic review of Gwalia in the December half of 2023 and provide a five-year outlook to the market in the March quarter 2024.
Genesis said it is immediately focused on unlocking the unique synergies available by pairing the new, shallow Admiral and Ulysses mine development projects with the Gwalia mine.
The Admiral open pit has been fast-tracked and right-sized to fill the 1.4Mtpa Leonora mill over the next two years.
Genesis said the Leonora mill has been under-utilised since 2015.
In the coming years, the addition of initially Admiral and then Ulysses ore will:
- Lower the processing costs (better utilisation of high fixed cost mill)
- Enable a lower cost ‘quality over quantity’ mining strategy at Gwalia
The Admiral open pit is located 40km trucking distance from the Leonora mill and will be the maiden assignment for Genesis Mining Services. Admiral is scheduled to supply 1.5Mt of ore to the Gwalia mill over the next two years.
