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Ramelius Resources
One of Australia’s Highest-Grade Gold Mines reaching production with Ramelius Resources
When IRJ first spoke with Ian Gordon, CEO at Ramelius Resources, an ASX-listed new gold producer based in Adelaide and Perth, Australia, it was back in late November, 2009. It made for a good article too, as Gordon revealed that the company’s 100 per cent-owned flagship Wattle Dam gold project, near Kambalda, was set to go into production in 2010. Gordon indicated that they expected Wattle Dam to be, “one of the highest-grade gold mines in Australia.” Now just six months later the project is exactly that—and bringing it into production has enabled the company to move from strength to strength. Expect big things from Ramelius this coming year, as we catch up with Gordon to find out what is next for this exciting producer.
A Wattle Dam success story
Gordon begins by explaining that there are a couple of particularly interesting details to the commencement of production at Wattle Dam as of December, 2009.
“The first thing is that the grade of the mine has been substantially higher than we anticipated, and also we paid back all of the capital and operating costs that we put into the mine in the first quarter of 2010,” he says. “Since then the mine has kept operating at a higher rate than we anticipated in our feasibility study.”
In January, 2010, Ramelius announced a record production rate for Wattle Dam of 19,970 ounces of gold at 40.88 grams per tonne. The company’s gold sales for the month ending December 2009 totalled $19.9 million—its highest at the time—and shares in Ramelius soared. Not long later, it was announced that between commencing production in December and March 31, 2010, Wattle Dam produced 36,497 ounces of gold at an average grade of 28.35 grams per tonne, including low grade ore. This saw Ramelius’ sales hit $33 million for the period, further affirming quite how successful the project is.
Gordon explains that this higher than anticipated grade and great production figures are in part due to the project’s potential for organic expansion. “When we got underground and started drilling and mining the deposit, we realised that it was much wider than we had modelled before commencing underground production,” he explains.
“Hence we have ended up with a lot more tonnes at a higher grade than we modelled originally, hence the larger resource.”
Wattle Dam remains as the company’s core focus today, but has also enabled it to diversify its assets portfolio.
“Our focus is still significantly placed on Wattle Dam, but we’re spreading our wings into gaining exposure to new projects,” Gordon says.
Ramelius has a promising portfolio of exploration projects, facilitated by the success of Wattle Dam which has provided funds for reinvestment.
The Ramelius exploration spread
In late January 2010, Ramelius announced that it had penned a letter of acceptance with Miranda Gold Corporation to spend up to US$4 million on exploration over five years to earn a 60 per cent interest in the Big Blue gold exploration project in Nevada, USA. Not long later, on May 11, 2010, Ramelius announced that it had replaced that letter with an exploration and option to Joint Venture Agreement for the project.
“We are looking for Carlin-style sedimentary gold deposits and exploration has just commenced this month,” Gordon says.
“It’s a very early stage project so until we actually do some drilling we don’t know what we have at this point. We’re doing mapping and sampling over the next three months and then we’ll plan to do some drilling come September/October this year.”
Over in North Queensland, Australia, Ramelius has taken part in another gold exploration project; Mount Windsor. Under this agreement, Ramelius can earn 60 per cent in the project by investing A$7 million in the project over four years, including A$1.25 million in the first year.
“Mount Windsor is a joint venture project with Liontown Resources. We’re exploring for breccia pipe and epithermal-style deposits,” Gordon says.
“We commenced exploration there in May this year and plan to do significant IP geophysical surveys and drilling in the second half of 2010.”
Lastly, but by no means least, is the Glen Isla gold project in New South Wales, Australia; another exciting joint venture project picked up by Ramelius in 2010. Under this agreement, Ramelius could originally earn a 51 per cent interest in the project by spending A$1 million, and then rise to earn 75 per cent should the project lead to a Bankable Feasibility Study which Ramelius would manage and fund.
“It’s with a company called Carpentaria Exploration and we’re searching for epithermal-style gold deposits on that project,” Gordon explains.
“We’ve recently completed an IP geophysical survey and we have a target which we intend to drill in July [2010].”
Of course, these new partnerships have all been made possible by the great success at Wattle Dam.
Wattle Dam: fuelling the future of Ramelius
Gordon says that by the time this story is published, the company will have achieved 100,000 ounces of gold production from Wattle Dam—a very significant milestone for this, the highest grade gold mine in Australia. The company is also undertaking a large underground drilling program at the project in order to extend the mine life.
“Wattle Dam is producing significant cash flow at the moment; in fact our cash position has increased. In December it was about $12 million and now it’s about $85 million,” he says.
“We’ve also announced that we’re making a capital return of five cents per share to our shareholders.”
The message from Ramelius today is clear. The company has an extremely high grade, production-strong project in Wattle Dam. This project has allowed the company to spread its wings and acquire new projects in order to grow. In just six months, this company has gone above and beyond the production grades, financial targets and strategic goals mapped out last year.
rameliusresources.com.au
When IRJ first spoke with Ian Gordon, CEO at Ramelius Resources, an ASX-listed new gold producer based in Adelaide and Perth, Australia, it was back in late November, 2009. It made for a good article too, as Gordon revealed that the company’s 100 per cent-owned flagship Wattle Dam gold project, near Kambalda, was set to go into production in 2010. Gordon indicated that they expected Wattle Dam to be, “one of the highest-grade gold mines in Australia.” Now just six months later the project is exactly that—and bringing it into production has enabled the company to move from strength to strength. Expect big things from Ramelius this coming year, as we catch up with Gordon to find out what is next for this exciting producer.
A Wattle Dam success story
Gordon begins by explaining that there are a couple of particularly interesting details to the commencement of production at Wattle Dam as of December, 2009.
“The first thing is that the grade of the mine has been substantially higher than we anticipated, and also we paid back all of the capital and operating costs that we put into the mine in the first quarter of 2010,” he says. “Since then the mine has kept operating at a higher rate than we anticipated in our feasibility study.”
In January, 2010, Ramelius announced a record production rate for Wattle Dam of 19,970 ounces of gold at 40.88 grams per tonne. The company’s gold sales for the month ending December 2009 totalled $19.9 million—its highest at the time—and shares in Ramelius soared. Not long later, it was announced that between commencing production in December and March 31, 2010, Wattle Dam produced 36,497 ounces of gold at an average grade of 28.35 grams per tonne, including low grade ore. This saw Ramelius’ sales hit $33 million for the period, further affirming quite how successful the project is.
Gordon explains that this higher than anticipated grade and great production figures are in part due to the project’s potential for organic expansion. “When we got underground and started drilling and mining the deposit, we realised that it was much wider than we had modelled before commencing underground production,” he explains.
“Hence we have ended up with a lot more tonnes at a higher grade than we modelled originally, hence the larger resource.”
Wattle Dam remains as the company’s core focus today, but has also enabled it to diversify its assets portfolio.
“Our focus is still significantly placed on Wattle Dam, but we’re spreading our wings into gaining exposure to new projects,” Gordon says.
Ramelius has a promising portfolio of exploration projects, facilitated by the success of Wattle Dam which has provided funds for reinvestment.
The Ramelius exploration spread
In late January 2010, Ramelius announced that it had penned a letter of acceptance with Miranda Gold Corporation to spend up to US$4 million on exploration over five years to earn a 60 per cent interest in the Big Blue gold exploration project in Nevada, USA. Not long later, on May 11, 2010, Ramelius announced that it had replaced that letter with an exploration and option to Joint Venture Agreement for the project.
“We are looking for Carlin-style sedimentary gold deposits and exploration has just commenced this month,” Gordon says.
“It’s a very early stage project so until we actually do some drilling we don’t know what we have at this point. We’re doing mapping and sampling over the next three months and then we’ll plan to do some drilling come September/October this year.”
Over in North Queensland, Australia, Ramelius has taken part in another gold exploration project; Mount Windsor. Under this agreement, Ramelius can earn 60 per cent in the project by investing A$7 million in the project over four years, including A$1.25 million in the first year.
“Mount Windsor is a joint venture project with Liontown Resources. We’re exploring for breccia pipe and epithermal-style deposits,” Gordon says.
“We commenced exploration there in May this year and plan to do significant IP geophysical surveys and drilling in the second half of 2010.”
Lastly, but by no means least, is the Glen Isla gold project in New South Wales, Australia; another exciting joint venture project picked up by Ramelius in 2010. Under this agreement, Ramelius could originally earn a 51 per cent interest in the project by spending A$1 million, and then rise to earn 75 per cent should the project lead to a Bankable Feasibility Study which Ramelius would manage and fund.
“It’s with a company called Carpentaria Exploration and we’re searching for epithermal-style gold deposits on that project,” Gordon explains.
“We’ve recently completed an IP geophysical survey and we have a target which we intend to drill in July [2010].”
Of course, these new partnerships have all been made possible by the great success at Wattle Dam.
Wattle Dam: fuelling the future of Ramelius
Gordon says that by the time this story is published, the company will have achieved 100,000 ounces of gold production from Wattle Dam—a very significant milestone for this, the highest grade gold mine in Australia. The company is also undertaking a large underground drilling program at the project in order to extend the mine life.
“Wattle Dam is producing significant cash flow at the moment; in fact our cash position has increased. In December it was about $12 million and now it’s about $85 million,” he says.
“We’ve also announced that we’re making a capital return of five cents per share to our shareholders.”
The message from Ramelius today is clear. The company has an extremely high grade, production-strong project in Wattle Dam. This project has allowed the company to spread its wings and acquire new projects in order to grow. In just six months, this company has gone above and beyond the production grades, financial targets and strategic goals mapped out last year.
rameliusresources.com.au
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