Forrestania cracks 900,000-ounce mark as WA gold empire grows

Forrestania Resources has officially bolstered its West Australian gold arsenal after completing the acquisition of the Hyden gold project, 120 kilometres south of Southern Cross near the wheatbelt town of Hyden.

The deal has now catapulted the company’s total resource inventory to a massive 23,082,000 tonnes grading 1.22 grams per tonne (g/t) gold for a hefty 907,000 ounces of gold.

Hyden adds a significant 297,500 ounces of gold to the company’s books, placing Forrestania within striking distance of the elusive million-ounce club as it accelerates its transition from explorer to producer.

Forrestania is paying $15.2 million for the project in a staged deal designed to preserve flexibility while it builds scale. The acquisition was structured across three tranches, with $5.2 million paid on completion, followed by two further $5 million instalments due in 2026 and 2027.

Notably, the company retained the option to settle up to half of each payment in shares, giving it room to balance cash flow with growth as it nears first production.

Central to the Hyden project are its high-quality Lady Ada and Lady Magdalene deposits, which together host a JORC-compliant resource of 6.95 million tonnes at an average grade of 1.33 grams per tonne(g/t) gold.

Lady Magdalene carries the lion’s share of the inventory with 5.6 million tonnes grading 1.32 g/t for a hefty 237,400 ounces of gold, while Lady Ada contributes 1.35 million tonnes for 60,161 ounces of gold at a slightly higher grade of 1.39g/t gold.

Lady Magdalene and Lady Ada are typical Archean, shear-hosted orogenic gold deposits, featuring quartz veins within a shallowly east-dipping quartz dolerite unit. Mining at the Lady Ada pit previously took place in early 2003, yielding 95,865 tonnes at a cracking 8.81g/t for 27,154 ounces of gold.

In contrast, Lady Magdalene remains unmined although it sits less than 100 metres to the north, offering immediate scale and exploration upside.

Just 17 kilometres from Aztec Mining’s historic 1.3-million-ounce Bounty gold mine, the Hyden project appears a hand-in-glove fit for Forrestania’s “hub and spoke” development model.

The project also sits near the company’s wholly owned Lake Johnston gold processing plant, where refurbishment is nearing completion. The plant, which is expected to process up to 3.2 million tonnes per annum, is central to the company’s strategy, acting as a central powerhouse capable of treating ore from a growing list of satellite deposits.

Notably, high-grade ore from Forrestania’s British Hill deposit is being trucked to the site as the plant moves toward a restart this year.

Completion of the Hyden project acquisition further consolidates Forrestania’s position within the Forrestania hub, adding a significant Mineral Resource base in close proximity to the Company’s Lake Johnston processing facility.

The company’s Hyden buy follows a flurry of savvy deals across the state. In the Eastern Goldfields, the company recently landed the 185,700-ounce Karonie project from Alchemy Resources, which, as an added bonus, includes a valuable “royalty holiday” on the first 110,000 ounces of gold production.

This was paired with the nearby and “shovel-ready” Tycho deposit, where 93 per cent of the 45,500-ounce resource sits in the high-confidence measured and indicated categories.

Further north, the company’s own drill bit at its Ada Ann prospect revealed a 46 per cent resource uplift to 18,160 ounces at a high grade of 2.76 g/t gold.

Looking ahead, Forrestania appears to have its foot hard on the accelerator. The next 12 months will see an aggressive 50-hole follow-up drilling program at Ada Ann to test extensions of high-grade mineralisation, which remains open along strike and at depth.

At the company’s newly minted Karonie project, the focus will shift to infill drilling to convert inferred resources into indicated resources.

With a massive 907,000-ounce gold bank and its own processing plant about to roar back to life, Forrestania looks set to become a serious player in the West Australian gold space.

The one-million-ounce club is now firmly in its sights, and with the drill rods still spinning, the company might not stay a six-digit-ounce story for too much longer.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@wanews.com.au