Ramelius Resources has purchased a strategic stake in Spartan Resources, a gold company currently developing the Dalgaranga gold project in Western Australia.
Ramelius has purchased 98.5 million shares in Spartan, representing 8.9 per cent of Spartan’s ordinary shares on issue.
Spartan has had an eventful 2024 so far. Earlier this month, the company achieved a new deepest intercept at its newly discovered Pepper prospect within Dalgaranga, extending 647.67m down-hole.
Spartan first discovered Pepper in April, which managing director and chief executive officer Simon Lawson described as a “game-changer”.
Dalgaranga’s Never Never deposit has also made great progress, with Spartan recently uncovering some of the best assays to date.
Ramelius managing director Mark Zeptner explained the company’s strategic investment.
“Ramelius has an enviable portfolio with multi-stage operations and a development project that is underpinned by the long-life low-cost Mount Magnet operation,” Ramelius managing director Mark Zeptner said.
“We also have extensive greenfield exploration opportunities and our investment into Spartan Resources provides us with a strategic addition to the portfolio.”
Following the purchase of Spartan shares, Ramelius has $446 million in cash and gold. However, the company doesn’t have the intention to make an M&A bid for Spartan like it attempted with Westgold Resources in May.
Dalgaranga is located 65km north-west of Mount Magnet in WA, highlighting the potential geographical synergies.
Lawson told Australian Mining in May that Dalgaranga’s proximity to Mount Magnet and Ramelius’ operations in the area is significant due to Mount Magnet being known as a “gold camp”.
“The significance of being 65km from Mount Magnet is that Mount Magnet has been mined continuously for over 100 years,” Lawson said.
“We share some of our services (with Ramelius), so their camp contractors do our camp contracting. When they get supply trucks, we tack on the end of that, so there’s a benefit to being close to a larger cap gold producer.”
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