Trident Royalties PLC (AIM:TRR) has said it looks forward to partnering with Ramelius Resources, which has now taken effective control of Apollo Consolidated Ltd (ASX:AOP), the owner of the Lake Rebecca gold project in Western Australia.
Trident holds a 1.5% net smelter royalty over Lake Rebecca, which currently boasts a resource of 1.1mln ounces of gold.
"Trident is pleased to note that Ramelius has achieved effective control of Apollo and will assume operatorship of Lake Rebecca,” said Adam Davidson, chief executive of Trident.
“Ramelius is a natural operator for Lake Rebecca, given its existing gold mining operations in Western Australia, and by having the necessary in-house technical capacity required to successfully transition Lake Rebecca into a gold producer. The company also has the financial capacity to optimise the size of the potential operation, without the capital constraints of a junior exploration company.”
Davidson noted that the combined Ramelius-Apollo entity will have a net-cash position of A$194.8mln, over six million ounces of mineral resources and over one million ounces in reserves.
Lake Rebecca, said Davidson, will form “a key component of Ramelius' future growth aspirations”.
Were Lake Rebecca to be brought into production at the rate of 100,000 ounces a year at the current gold price, Trident would benefit from annual royalty payments of US$2.8mln.