Monsters of Rock: Ramelius carves out 9pc stake in Spartan

Gold miner Ramelius Resources purchases 98.5m shares for an 8.9% stake in Spartan Resources
Ramelius says it has “no current intention” to takeover the neighbouring gold explorer
Lynas now able to produce high-value separated dysprosium and terbium from its Malaysian plant

$2.2bn market-capped gold heavyweight Ramelius Resources has taken a strategic bite into fellow WA gold company Spartan Resources, eating up a 8.9% stake in the company.

With takeovers and mergers happening left, right and centre in WA’s gold scene at the moment (the Red 5 and Silver Lake Resources merger was recently finalised), Ramelius Resources (ASX:RMS) was quick to put salt on rumours it was about to do the same with Spartan Resources (ASX:SPR).

“Subject to the actions of Spartan or any third party, Ramelius has no current intention to acquire control or make a takeover offer for Spartan,” the miner said in an announcement today.

However, the mining major has bought 98.5 million shares for almost 9% of Spartan and is likely impressed by the multiple recent exploration results at the Dalgaranga gold project, where it’s proving up the high-grade Never Never deposit and surrounding prospects.

Dalgaranga’s high-grade gold

Never Never currently has a 3.83Mt resource for 721,200oz gold and that’s set to grow, as drilling of target extensions at depth and along strike of the deposit are ongoing.

Recent his this month include a deep high-grade gold intersection of over 30m at 12.12g/t gold at the adjacent Pepper prospect and a hit of a whopping 92.19g/t in the same hole.

Exploration and resource upgrade results are highly anticipated, as Spartan looks forward towards development.

Ramelius itself has an enviable portfolio with multi-stage operations and development projects that that are underpinned by the long-life low-cost Mt Magnet mine.

“We also have extensive greenfield exploration opportunities and our investment into Spartan Resources provides us with a strategic addition to the portfolio,” CEO Mark Zeptner says.

That enviable portfolio also has a cash and gold balance of $446m, so it’s no wonder it’s putting the feelers out into projects nearby.

REE separation boon

Elsewhere, one of the world’s only ex-China rare earths producers Lynas (ASX:LYC) is targeting first production of two valuable heavy rare earths – dysprosium and terbium (DyTb) – from its Malaysian processing facility.

The elements are both crucial for use in high performance rare earth permanent magnets used in EVs and high-tech applications such as micro-capacitors which are essential to all electronic devices.

The material is shipped from Lynas’ Mt Weld ore body and is currently sold at a lower rate as a mixed HRE compound known as SEGH, so news of having the ability to do the separation itself is seen as a value-add for the miner.