Greatland Gold has released a statement regarding the future of its Havieron project in WA, a joint venture with Newcrest Mining.
The project is currently the subject of an agreed takeover by Newmont, which is expected to be completed in November 2023.
Greatland currently holds a 30 per cent stake in the project and Newcrest, the manager of the project’s interests, holds a 70 per cent stake.
Greatland announced that Newcrest will release a scheme of arrangement circular, convening a meeting of Newcrest shareholders on 13 October 2023 to vote on the proposed takeover.
As is customary, the Newcrest scheme circular attaches an independent assessment by an Australian valuation advisory firm, which it has announced will be Grant Samuel and Associates.
The assessment will decide whether the takeover is in the best interests of Newcrest shareholders.
The approach taken by Grant Samuel is to assess Newcrest’s interest in Havieron on an aggregated basis with Newcrest’s interest in Telfer. Accordingly, Havieron has not been separately valued.
Additionally, because Newcrest did not complete its own planned update to the Havieron mineral resource estimate in August 2023, the Grant Samuel assessment is based on Newcrest’s August 2022 MRE update, which only incorporated drilling results up to November 2021.
As previously announced, the feasibility study for Havieron is ongoing. Greatland underlined that value enhancing options being assessed to maximise value and de-risk the project.
Should the Newmont acquisition of Newcrest be finalised in November 2023 as expected, Greatland has said it looks forward to the opportunity to work constructively with Newmont to optimise the development of Havieron, finalise the feasibility study and progress to a decision to mine.