West Perth-based Gold Road Resources has had to retract parts of a statement made yesterday due to assumptions made off the back of a scoping study.
West Perth-based Gold Road Resources has had to retract parts of a statement made yesterday due to assumptions made off the back of a scoping study.
Yesterday, Gold Road Resources told the market its underground scoping study, which was released last week, proved its Gruyere Mine, 159km north-east of Laverton, could transform into a multi-decade mine.
However, just 24 hours later the company has told the market to not rely on information contained in the April 8 announcement.
“Gold Road retracts bullet point four in the highlights, table one and all references to the assumptions in table 1 across the underground announcement,” the statement said.
Point four of yesterday’s announcement said, “Initial infrastructure capital cost estimated at $470 million with total infrastructure capital estimated at $588 million on a 100 per cent basis, which included underground bulk material handling, ventilation, services, maintenance facilities, and a 30 per cent contingency.”
“Gold road is comfortable that the estimate is commensurate with a scoping level study,” the April 8 statement continued.
In its statement today, the company had a slight change of tone.
“Gold Road confirms that the SRK Scoping Study, commissioned by Gold Fields on behalf of the Gruyere Joint Venture has been received and reviewing and that the next steps to improve confidence in the potential of Gruyere underground operation include completing the extensive drill program that is currently underway and other associated activities to support a pre-feasibility study in 2026,” the April 9 statement said.
It comes as Gold Road defends takeover action from its 50:50 Gruyere joint venture partner Gold Fields, which a fortnight ago was described as aggressive and hostile by Gold Road chief executive Duncan Gibbs, after Gold Fields made the rejected $3.3 billion offer public.
He said the move by the Johannesburg-listed firm to make the offer public was “poor professional courtesy”, designed to apply pressure after the board rejected the offer, which it said undervalued the company ahead of the underground study.
“Broadly, the intention of going public is to create engagement with Gold Road shareholders, with the intent of using Gold Road shareholders to put pressure on the board to accept their proposal,” he said at the time.
Upon going public with the offer, Gold Fields chief executive Mike Fraser said he was disappointed Gold Road's board had rejected the proposal, arguing consolidating the asset would "eliminate dis-synergies".
Gold Road Resources last week posted a full-year net profit of $142.7 million for 2024, up from $115.7 the year prior.
In a statement to Business News, a Gold Fields spokesperson said the company had no further comment on Gold Road's announcement regarding potential future underground mining at Gruyere.
"Gold Fields will continue to remain disciplined with regards to its approach to M&A, especially in light of current market volatility," the statement said.
