Minerals 260 has acquired the Bullabulling gold project in Western Australia, one of the country’s largest undeveloped gold projects, in a deal worth $166.5 million.
Located near Coolgardie in the eastern Goldfields region, Bullabulling boasts a mineral resource of 60 million tonnes at 1.2 grams per tonne of gold for 2.3 million ounces, making it one of Australia’s largest open-pittable gold deposits.
“This is an outstanding and transformational acquisition for Minerals 260 and our shareholders,” Minerals 260 managing director Luke McFadyen said.
“The opportunity for us now is to develop a large-scale open-pit gold mine located in the heart of Western Australia’s eastern Goldfields, putting us on a clear trajectory to becoming a leading mid-tier ASX gold producer.”
Minerals 260 acquired the project from Norton Gold Fields, a Zijin Mining Group subsidiary, which comes with advanced technical studies and over 530,000m of drilling completed across approximately 12,000 drill holes.
Metallurgical testing has supported gold recoveries of 87 per cent, and the project benefits from existing infrastructure and a Native Title land use agreement.
Minerals 260 plans to commence an 80,000m infill and resource extension drilling program once the acquisition has been finalised.
“Brownfield gold assets of this scale, quality, and with a clear pathway to production are rare – and we believe that Bullabulling has the potential to deliver significant future value for Minerals 260’s stakeholders,” McFadyen said.
“Given the substantial amount of historical work completed and what we learned during our due diligence, we intend to immediately commence a major 80,000-metre resource extension and exploration drilling campaign following the completion of the acquisition, and I look forward to updating the market regularly about our progress at the project.”
Historical production at Bullabulling recovered 179,000 ounces of gold in the 1990s, when prices sat at around $500 per ounce, demonstrating the project’s economic potential.
The acquisition is subject to regulatory and shareholder approvals, as well as an equity raise to fund the purchase and project advancement.
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