Westgold completes sale of Lakewood facility in Australia to Black Cat Syndicate

Westgold Resources has divested its Lakewood Mill processing installation adjacent Kalgoorlie, Australia, to Black Cat Syndicate for a full information of A$85m ($53.2m).

The deal, archetypal announced successful February 2025, involves Black Cat acquiring 100% of the shares successful Karora (Lakewood), which volition beryllium renamed Black Cat (Lakewood).

This acquisition includes the facility’s infrastructure, licences, permits and contracts.

The woody comprises A$70m successful cash, paid successful instalments implicit 9 months, and A$15m successful Black Cat shares astatine an contented terms of A$0.76 per share. These shares volition beryllium escrowed for 12 months from the day of issue.

As of 31 March 2025, Westgold has received an archetypal outgo of A$25m, with A$20m owed by 30 June 2025 and the remaining A$25m payable connected 30 November 2025.

Black Cat volition besides presume astir A$8m successful rehabilitation liabilities.

As portion of the agreement, Westgold retains optionality and precedence entree to process up to 200,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) astatine Lakewood via a toll-treating statement for 2 years.

Black Cat said the acquisition of the afloat permitted and operational installation volition let it to accelerate golden accumulation by astir 15 months, expanding processing capableness by much than 50% from 800,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) to 1.2 cardinal tonnes per annum (mtpa).

Since acquiring Lakewood successful 2022, Karora Resources (now Westgold) has made respective upgrades to the facility.

These see installing a larger 1,850kW centrifugal to the superior mill, adding 2 further carbon-in-leach tanks, constructing a caller tailings retention facility, drilling caller h2o bores and refurbishing a secondary mill to further summation capableness erstwhile commissioned.

Westgold managing manager and CEO Wayne Bramwell said: “Westgold is an unhedged golden shaper with six mines and present 4 mills operational crossed 2 of Western Australia’s astir abundant goldfields.

“Our firm strategy is to leverage our portfolio and absorption connected our larger, lower-cost mines and mills to unlock worth for our shareholders. The divestment of Lakewood is accordant with this plan, reduces our outgo basal and simplifies our Southern Goldfields business.

“All Beta Hunt ore volition present beryllium directed to and processed astatine our Higginsville operation. This allows america to prioritise higher people ore done this mill and realise the little operating costs of this larger 1.6mtpa mill. A survey connected the enactment to grow the Higginsville Mill is nearing completion, with results to beryllium reported successful April.”

"Westgold completes merchantability of Lakewood installation successful Australia to Black Cat Syndicate" was primitively created and published by Mining Technology, a GlobalData owned brand.