Linden Gold Alliance is fixing to establish a significant landholding in the South Laverton goldfields in WA. The miner has its eye on an ASX listing as part of its wider strategy to become a prolific gold producer.
The company recently announced a $21.1 million merger with privately owned Lord Byron Mining, which owns two open pit mines in the same region. The merger adds 292,000 ounces (oz) of gold to Linden’s portfolio.
It also carries the potential to lift Linden’s production from 22,000oz per annum to over 50,000oz per annum.
In the same swoop, Linden also welcomed experienced mining executive Ashley Fraser to its board as executive director. Fraser previously founded both Orionstone (which merged with Emeco in 2016 for $660 million) and Blue Cap Mining, an open pit mining services company.
“Ashley brings open pit mine contracting experience and capability via Blue Cap Mining including access to equipment, people and skills which complement Linden’s expertise in underground mining,” Linden managing director Andrew Rich said.
“We look forward to moving forward together leveraging our collective strength in project development and gold production.”
A strong portfolio
Linden already owns a number of prospective gold projects in the region, including its flagship Second Fortune gold mine. Second Fortune produces roughly 2000oz of gold each month, with several high-grade open pit targets identified to bolster the mine’s output.
Second Fortune has produced over 36,000oz of gold in the past 24 months.
Exploration in the region has also born fruit for Linden. The Linden Star tenement returned promising assay results, including 5m at 4.0 grams per tonne (g/t) from 15m; 2m at 8g/t from 64m; and 1m at 97.4g/t from 23m.
Just 10km to the north of Second Fortune is Devon Pit, a high-grade, near term producing open pit development, which Linden owns via a 50:50 joint venture (JV) with Matsa Resources.
Devon Pit boasts a 443,000-tonne mineral resource at 4.6g/t gold, for 65,000oz of contained gold. An updated scoping study from earlier in the year found that the restart of Devon will deliver cash-flow (pre-tax) up to $37.1 million over 16 months at a base case of $2,650 per ounce.
Linden is currently at a standstill with JV partner Matsa over disagreements about how to manage the mine. However, Linden is hoping to reach a final investment decision for Devon by the end of the year.
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