Forrestania’s $145m Johnson Range contract: pit design and schedule notes for engineers
Reviewed by Joe Ashwell

First reported on Australian Mining
30 Second Briefing
Forrestania Resources has awarded MEGA Resources a ~$145 million contract for a two-year open-pit mining campaign at the Johnson Range gold project in Western Australia. The scope covers end-to-end pit development, including production drilling and blasting, ore and waste haulage, and construction of haul roads and associated mining infrastructure. Contractors and suppliers can expect near-term demand for drill-and-blast services, mobile fleet, and road construction materials, with geotechnical design and pit slope performance critical over the compressed two-year schedule.
Technical Brief
- Contract value of approximately $145 million allocated solely to MEGA Resources for Johnson Range operations.
- Scope explicitly bundles development and production phases under a single two‑year mining services package.
- MEGA Resources assumes responsibility for both ore and waste logistics, streamlining haulage interface risk.
- Road and mining infrastructure development is contracted alongside drilling and blasting, enabling concurrent construction and extraction planning.
Our Take
Forrestania Resources has been active on both corporate and project fronts, with the Johnson Range award following its agreed all‑scrip acquisition of Zenith Minerals (valued at about $93.5 million), signalling a strategy of building a broader Western Australian portfolio rather than a single‑asset focus.
MEGA Resources is emerging as a preferred contractor for Forrestania in Western Australia, with our database also recording its appointment at the Tycho open pit gold project, which can streamline mobilisation and learning curves across multiple short‑to‑medium duration open‑pit campaigns.
Most Western Australia contract‑award pieces in our mining coverage involve gold or battery metals, so the Johnson Range open‑pit campaign adds to a cluster of Forrestania‑linked gold projects such as British Hill and Tycho that are moving rapidly from drilling success to mine development decisions.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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