Diggers and Dealers: The fresh faces picking up the keys to the ASX gold mid-tier

News.com.au

3 hours ago

A new class of leaders is emerging in the ASX gold scene
Taking the mantle from Bill Beament, Raleigh Finlayson and Jake Klein are names like Luke Creagh, James Champion de Crespigny and Alex Rovira
Gold miners Ora Banda, Catalyst Metals and Brightstar Resources have sights set on key ASX indices
Australia's mid-tier gold sector is always evolving with a host of newcomers now moving into the space previously occupied by Saracen Mineral Holdings and soon, Gold Road Resources.
At Diggers and Dealers a decade ago, it was all about Bill Beament's Northern Star Resources, Jake Klein's Evolution Mining and a Raleigh Finlayson's Saracen.
These days, Northern Star is a bonafide global major, having swallowed up Saracen, while Evolution is on its way to achieving that status.
As for the men behind those companies, for the first time in recent memory, none presented at Diggers this year.
Beament is now in copper, Klein has stepped back to non-executive chair at Evolution and Finlayson is rapidly growing Genesis Minerals into Australia's next gold major, but sent lieutenant Matt Nixon in his stead.
Replacing them is a bunch of up-and-comers and first-time CEOs with the potential to lead their growing producers into the ASX 200.
Luke Creagh, Ora Banda (ASX:OBM)
The Davyhurst gold operation in the Eastern Goldfields has been the undoing of several previous owners, but under the leadership of mining engineer Luke Creagh, Ora Banda has turned it around.
'We've spent three years trying to fix it and now it's like 'game on',' Creagh told Stockhead.
'So this is the starting point – we've actually got a company to work with now, which is nice.'
Davyhurst produced 91,687 ounces of gold in the 2025 financial year, up 32% year-on-year, with FY26 production guidance of 140,000-155,000oz.
'The exciting thing about Ora Banda from the very first moment was the organic growth potential, so 140km of strike you've got two regional geological formations with the Zuleika shear and Ida fault, and no one's ever looked for undergrounds,' Creagh said.
'That, to me, is the exciting thing.
'The other thing that I think people forget in the industry is how much money it takes to drill out a deposit from scratch and get it into production.
'Our ability to have… to find two undergrounds (being capital constrained), start them and get them up to steady state has been pretty awesome, but it probably points to the prospectivity of the belt.'
Creagh, who was previously chief operating officer at Northern Star, said critical mass in the mining sector was important.
'I think being in the mining industry now, your corporate costs are higher than what they used to be, because you need all your disciplines covered,' he said.
'We feel like we've spent three years getting to the starting point. Now we've actually got cashflow and critical mass from a production perspective, but also a capability perspective, to be able to actually grow the company really sensibly.'
James Champion de Crespigny, Catalyst Metals (ASX:CYL)
Under James Champion de Crespigny, Catalyst has gone from a small-scale producer in Tasmania to an emerging WA mid-tier.
The company has been busy consolidating the Marymia gold belt in WA and is now a 100,000oz per annum producer from the Plutonic operation, a long-running mine that was losing money when Catalyst picked it up two years ago.
Its most recent deal was the $32.5 million acquisition of the Old Highway deposit in May, as well as the divestment of its legacy asset, the Henty gold mine in Tasmania.
The company also raised $150 million and secured a $100 million funding facility, which remains undrawn, giving the company $330 million of liquidity.
The stock is up by more than 144% over the past 12 months.
Catalyst has outlined a goal to increase production to 200,000ozpa over the next three years while lowering all-in sustaining costs to below $2000 an ounce.
Speaking to Stockhead during Diggers, de Crespigny said it was hard to know what the future held, so the focus at Catalyst was on things within the company's control.
'I think internally, we try and keep terribly focused on the belt, and we think we can get that to 200,000 ounces, and we do think that as we get further down that line, we're probably quite well-placed in terms of our value relative to others,' he said.
'I think we've got ambitions to do bigger things. Whether or not we're good enough to get there, time will tell. Whether or not the conditions present, time will tell.
'But we think we've got a very strong technical team. We think we've got a very good operating team, so if the opportunity presents, hopefully we can be good enough to seize those opportunities.'
Though smaller than Ora Banda or Catalyst, Brightstar is experiencing rapid growth under geologist and former Canaccord Genuity investment banker Alex Rovira.
In the past two years, Brightstar has merged with Kingwest Resources and Alto Metals, acquired unlisted Linden Alliance, bought Gateway Mining's Montague project and only last month, announced a merger with Aurumin.
The company's Second Fortune and Fish underground mines in WA's Goldfields are ramping up to 35,000-40,000ozpa, but the company has much bigger ambitions.
'When we execute on Menzies and Laverton, then ultimately Sandstone, we're targeting a plus-200,000 ounce production profile,' Rovira told Stockhead at Diggers.
'That's akin to what Ramelius and Westgold were doing 24 months ago, prior to some of their recent acquisitions.
'Ultimately, I'm a firm believer that you need scale. Institutional investors aren't going to buy something that's a 30,000 or 40,000 ounce producer.'
Brightstar's plan is to develop the Menzies and Laverton projects, which will fund the larger Sandstone project.
Rovira said the company wanted multiple operating hubs like its larger peers Genesis and Westgold.
'Having multiple sites enables multiple areas of focus, so from an M&A perspective, from an exploration perspective, it gives you a broader scope to build out a business that's going to be around for hopefully a long time,' he said.
Rovira admitted he'd been slightly naïve when he was an investment banker.
'You think you know everything about mining, and you go work for mining company and realise you actually know nothing, but it's been a great experience,' he said.
Brightstar has gone from a handful of employees to 130 in less than three years and building up capability has been a strong focus for Rovira.
It's even been drawing talent from the larger mid-tier gold miners.
'We've obviously had a very aggressive two and a half years and the opportunity that presents for people is exciting, it's attractive,' he said.
'I know we've been very active on the M&A front and that's what people see, but ultimately, building a business is challenging, and you need the right people, and I think we've been very focused on making sure we've got the right bums in the right seats.'