Keras Resources buys Klondyke gold project in Western Australia

In its latest bid to become a substantive Western Australian gold miner, Keras Resources bought the Klondyke project and signed a mining agreement with HML Tenements.

The AIM-listed company bought the Klondyke gold project, and the right to mine contiguous tenements, which provides the company with control of the Warrawoona Greenstone Belt, a noted gold region with 7.5km of resource potential in Western Australia.

Keras bought Arcadia Minerals, the owner of Klondyke, for A$1.42m (£800,000) in cash and the issue of 100m ordinary shares. Arcadia will retain a 2.5% royalty of the gross value on the production of gold, which is capped at A$3.5m.

The company also entered into an agreement with HML Tenements to mine seven tenements covering 650 hectares for five years for A$250,000 (£145,000).

They are located internally on the Klondyke deposit and on the historic Fieldings Gully, Coronation and Copenhagen deposits, and the company will also have the opportunity to buy the tenements for A$1.25m, comprising A$500,000 in cash and a convertible note of A$750,000.

In order to fund the acquisitions, the company entered into a bridge facility of US$2m with a consortium of investors. The financing has a debt rather than an equity-based structure and is therefore not dependent on the company's share price performance.

The company also plans to list, either Keras or its Australian gold assets, on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) at the beginning of 2017, subject to shareholder approval, to gain access to additional funds and liquidity for the its shares as well as to lower the cost of its acquisition finance facility.

Analysis by the company had shown significant return on gold resources on ASX compared to AIM, which could result in a re-rating of its share price.

The company's board will also be restructured to become more Australian-focused.

With that aim in mind, non-executive director Roy Pitchford has resigned, finance director James Carter resigned from the board but will continue in his role, and assuming fundraising is by a dual listing, chairman Brian Moritz intends to resign on appointment of an Australia-based chair.

Managing director Dave Reeves, said: "The acquisition of Klondyke and the agreement with HML will elevate Keras to a stand-alone, owner-operated gold miner in addition to its current tribute miner model.

“We are committed to maximising value for shareholders and since entering the West Australian gold industry via tribute mining agreements in the fourth quarter last year, we have been evaluating opportunities which will enable us to diversify our operational risk and increase the returns from our investment. We believe today's transactions … represent the first consolidation of Warrawoona Goldfield mark a transformational step in achieving this goal.”

A low cost, four phase programme to asess the feasibility of a stand-alone open-pit gold mining operation along the main strike at Klondyke is to commence shortly.

The company’s existing mining operations at Wycheproof are ahead of schedule and under budget due to revised mining and grade control protocols, the company also said.

Shares in Keras Resources were up 14.4% to 0.715p at 0839 BST.