South Africa's Harmony Gold eyes up $2bn Ravenswood mine

Harmony Gold Mining is understood to have expressed interest in an acquisition of the $2bn Ravenswood Gold Mine that’s being sold by EMR Capital and GEAR.

DataRoom (at The Australian) understands that the $11bn South African-listed gold miner is keen to buy the Queensland asset that Azure Capital and UBS have been appointed to sell.

Market sources say that a deal would make sense for Harmony, given that its share price has been on a tear on the back of the record gold price and it has the cash to pay for the gold mine.

It aspires to expand in the Australian market, where it already has the Eva Copper project in northwest Queensland. Its other assets are in South Africa and PNG.

South African miners are known to be keen to reduce their exposure to their home market.

Ravenswood is half-owned by Golden Energy Resources (GEAR), a Singapore company backed by Indonesian money, and EMR Capital. The understanding is that both owners are keen to divest their interests.

Harmony is likely to come up against Australian-listed gold miners like Regis Resources, Gold Road Resources and Capricorn Metals, while Emerald Resources may be interested.

Northern Star and Evolution Mining may also take a look.

Other international miners are also expected to be interested, and the understanding is that the owners may be open to selling the asset this year if the price is right.

The owners have seen strong interest on the back of the rising gold price. Gold hit a record of $US2685.49 in September.

The Ravenswood mine, 130km south of Townsville, is believed to be performing strongly and delivering at least 200,000 ounces per annum.

EMR Capital, chaired by Owen Hegarty, is also working with investment banks Macquarie and Bank of America to sell its valuable Kestrel coal mining asset.

Kestrel is jointly owned by Adaro Energy, which has pre-emptive rights with its 48 per cent holding, but is expected to be a seller if the price is right.

EMR Capital led a consortium that purchased Ravenswood in 2020 from Resolute Mining for up to $300m. It has substantially grown its production since through heavy investment, which was needed for the mine’s life extension to at least 15 years from 2022.

Last year, the Queensland government officially opened the new gold mine after a $350m expansion that made it the largest in the state, supporting 430 jobs and a further 220 permanent contractors.

The three-year expansion included a new tailings storage facility and crusher.

This article first appeared in The Australian.