Forrestania scoops 185,000-ounce WA prize as gold inventory surges

Forrestania Resources has delivered a massive boost to its West Australian gold ambitions, finalising a major project acquisition and revealing a pair of significant resource upgrades that push its total inventory beyond 300,000 ounces.

In a flurry of announcements, the company confirmed it has completed the purchase of the 185,700-ounce Karonie gold project in WA’s Eastern Goldfields, whilst also inking a 46 per cent resource uplift at its Ada Ann deposit and clocking a high-confidence maiden measured resource at its nearby Tycho deposit. Both lie along similar structural trends within the Karonie greenstone belt.

The cornerstone of the news is the formal completion of the Karonie acquisition from Alchemy Resources. Sitting 100km east of Kalgoorlie, the project lands Forrestania an immediate JORC-compliant Inferred mineral resource of 6.5 million tonnes at 0.90 grams per tonne (g/t) gold, for a hefty 185,700 ounces.

Strategically adjacent to the Aldiss mining centre and within 50km of the Randalls processing plant, the Karonie deal includes a “royalty holiday” on the first 110,000 ounces produced from key deposits, significantly enhancing the project’s early-stage economics.

Closer to Coolgardie, at the company’s Tycho deposit, a new estimate has delivered 45,500 ounces of gold at 0.98 grams per tonne (g/t). Highlighting the “shovel-ready” nature of the asset, an impressive 93 per cent of the Tycho resource now sits in the high-confidence measured and indicated categories. The company acquired the deposit when it picked up the MacPhersons Reward project from Beacon Minerals two months ago.

The 45,500-ounce resource represents a significant upgrade from Beacon’s last reported figures and was achieved by incorporating data from a 201-hole drilling program that Beacon completed in its final months of ownership. The company says the new resource numbers offer a robust foundation for near-term mine planning on the already granted mining lease.

The completion of the Karonie Gold Project acquisition marks another important step in consolidating Forrestania’s position within the Eastern Goldfields, with the Company now holding a significant and highly prospective tenure footprint in the region.

Completing the trifecta, Forrestania’s own drill bit has been doing the heavy lifting. At the Ada Ann deposit, the company revealed an updated resource of 204,500 tonnes at a high grade of 2.76 g/t for 18,160 ounces of gold - a 46 per cent increase from the previous number.

The upgrade was driven by a recent 12-hole drilling program, which also confirmed the high-grade mineralisation remains open along strike and at depth.

Forrestania’s broader portfolio is anchored by a strategic foothold in three of Western Australia’s premier gold provinces. In the Southern Cross district, the company recently delivered a maiden inferred mineral resource of 58,700 ounces of gold at its Burracoppin project. The asset is perfectly placed just 27 kilometres from the Edna May mill, offering a potential low-cost pathway to production.

Further south at its Lake Johnston hub, the company has entered the haulage phase, trucking high-grade ore from its British Hill deposit to its wholly owned Lake Johnson processing facility.

Refurbishment at its Lake Johnston plant is nearing completion, with a restart slated for this year, creating what will be a central processing powerhouse capable of treating ore from its growing list of regional satellite deposits.

This “hub and spoke” strategy was further bolstered by the early-2026 takeover of Kula Gold, which consolidated a massive exploration footprint across the Eastern Goldfields.

Next steps for the company include an approved 50-hole follow-up drill program at Ada Ann to test extensions, alongside metallurgical and environmental studies. At the newly acquired Karonie project, the focus for the next 12 months will be infill drilling to convert the sizeable, inferred resource into the indicated category.

With its gold inventory swelling rapidly and its projects strategically positioned near both idle and operating processing plants, Forrestania is fast emerging as a serious player in the Western Australia gold sector.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@wanews.com.au