Star Minerals advances first gold pour with 400,000-tonne Edna May deal

Tumblegum South feed moves towards Edna May

Star Minerals Limited (ASX:SMS) has put a practical route to first gold production in place, signing an Ore Purchase Agreement with Forrestania Resources Ltd (ASX:FRS) covering up to 400,000 tonnes of mill feed from the Tumblegum South Gold Project. Haulage is scheduled to start on Friday, 23 October, with batches of no less than 50,000 tonnes heading to the Edna May processing facility.

The timing matters because Star already has approximately 84,000 tonnes of material stockpiled on the run-of-mine pad. The company had recently completed mining at Tumblegum South, leaving the next operational hurdle as moving the material to a mill; the Tumblegum South mining milestone was reported one day before this agreement.

Under the deal, Forrestania will arrange and pay for the transportation of the ROM stocks. Star said its managing director Ashley Jones was looking forward to processing the material this quarter and to the company’s first gold pour, although that outcome remains dependent on delivery, processing and the commercial terms applied to the material.

Pricing depends on grade, recovery and gold price

The agreement runs for 24 months and includes caps on total tonnes, as well as minimum and maximum campaign sizes. Its pricing formula uses the seller’s grade, a base processing cost, a reference grade of 1.45 grams per tonne of gold and a set gold price, with adjustments for the actual selling price. The formula also incorporates maximum recovery of 94% and a treatment charge.

Star will pay a one-off plant access fee of $50,000. The announcement does not disclose the expected grade, payable gold, processing schedule beyond the initial haulage, or estimated net cash proceeds. Those figures will determine how much commercial value the agreement ultimately delivers, rather than the headline tonnage alone.

Edna May is also about 30 kilometres from Star’s Merredin gold exploration project, which the company said may offer future processing optionality as that project advances. For now, however, the immediate test is more concrete: whether the first 50,000-tonne campaign reaches the facility and produces the promised operational milestone.