Dundas Opens a Potential Processing Route for Rockland Gold

Forrestania Agreement Creates a Potential Processing Route

Dundas Minerals Limited (ASX:DUN) has secured a potential route to market for Rockland gold ore without committing to the cost of building a standalone processing plant. Its binding Ore Purchase Agreement with Forrestania Resources Limited (ASX:FRS) allows eligible ore from the 100%-owned Rockland Gold Project, about 40km north of Kalgoorlie, to be processed at Forrestania’s Lake Johnston or Edna May facilities.

The initial term runs for 24 months and covers up to 750,000 tonnes, with processing campaigns sized between 40,000 and 100,000 tonnes. That ceiling is a contractual maximum, not a production forecast. Dundas has not made a decision to mine Rockland, and no Mineral Resource or Ore Reserve has been estimated.

“Interpretive cross section of the southern Rockland drill line (6638759mN, looking north), showing hole 26RKRC011, previously announced Dundas results and historical Paddington…”

The agreement arrives after Rockland drilling extension pushed interpreted mineralised shoots to roughly 170 metres below surface. The latest cited results include 12 metres at 1.25 grams per tonne of gold from 168 metres, including 4 metres at 2.18 grams per tonne, plus 4 metres at 4.87 grams per tonne from 200 metres in hole 26RKRC011.

Ore Economics Still Depend on Drilling and Metallurgy

Forrestania will nominate which plant receives the ore. The purchase price will be calculated using ore grade, a base grade of 1.45 grams per tonne, metallurgical recovery and the prevailing gold price, then reduced by processing costs and other charges. Dundas would receive 50% provisionally, with the balance settled after each campaign once recovered gold has been reconciled.

Dundas will arrange and pay for haulage, while a one-off $50,000 plant access fee applies when production starts. The agreement also provides a transport-cost exit mechanism and releases Dundas from exclusivity for ore that Forrestania does not schedule within 60 days or process within 90 days of delivery.

Those terms give the explorer a framework for testing whether Rockland ore can be processed economically, but the announcement does not quantify expected margins, haulage costs or recovery rates. Deliveries are also contingent on Forrestania’s processing facilities being available, with the company refurbishing both Lake Johnston and Edna May for restart.

Drilling Must Establish a Resource Before Ore Can Move

“Tenement plan showing the interpreted mineralised corridor from Rockland through Aquarius and Capricorn to Gemini, with selected previously reported intercepts (ASX: 3…”

The immediate task remains geological rather than operational. Dundas says the drill rig is due back at Rockland within the next fortnight for resource definition and extension drilling, while metallurgical testwork, haulage costing and delivery logistics are planned to assess whether eligible ore can meet the agreement’s requirements.

Rockland’s mineralisation has been identified across about one kilometre, but the company cautions that true widths are not known and continuity between some intercepts has not been established. The next meaningful milestone is therefore a maiden Mineral Resource estimate, provided further drilling produces data at sufficient spacing and continuity.

There is also a disclosed relationship to manage: Forrestania executive chairman David Geraghty participated in Dundas’s recent placement and holds a 6.3% interest in the explorer. Dundas says the OPA was negotiated on arm’s-length terms and approved by its board. The commercial pathway is now in place; whether it becomes a revenue pathway depends on the resource, the metallurgy, the economics and the plants.