Forrestania’s $60m Johnson Range gold plan: mine design and scheduling notes for engineers
Reviewed by Tom Sullivan

First reported on Australian Mining
30 Second Briefing
Forrestania Resources has declared a 28,500-ounce ore reserve at the Johnson Range gold project in Western Australia, with a 308,000-tonne reserve grading 2.88 grams per tonne to supply its newly acquired Edna May gold hub. A pre-feasibility study forecasts $60.1 million in pre-tax, undiscounted free cash flow over a 12-month project life, implying a short, high-intensity open pit schedule. The defined reserve gives Edna May a committed near-term ore feed, supporting mill planning, contract mining negotiations and short-cycle mine design work.
Technical Brief
- Short, 12‑month mine life implies a single mining campaign with continuous open‑pit operations and minimal ramp‑up.
- High‑intensity schedule favours contract mining with modular mobile fleet rather than owner‑operator capital deployment.
- Centralised processing at Edna May removes the need for standalone plant capex at Johnson Range.
- Logistics planning must address haulage distance, road standards and cycle times between Johnson Range and Edna May.
- Geotechnical design will likely prioritise simple, conservative pit geometries to match the compressed schedule.
- Cash‑flow concentration into one year increases sensitivity to weather disruptions, equipment downtime and grade control accuracy.
- Similar satellite‑to‑hub strategies in Western Australia are being used to sweat existing mill capacity without major expansions.
Our Take
The 12‑month Johnson Range schedule and 2.88 g/t reserve grade suggest this is being treated as a high‑grade, short‑cycle feed source to stabilise throughput at the Edna May gold hub, rather than a standalone long‑life mine.
The ~$145 million two‑year open‑pit contract previously awarded to MEGA Resources at Johnson Range, alongside the separate ore purchase and processing rights deal, indicates Forrestania Resources is locking in both mining and third‑party feed security to keep its Western Australian gold hubs fully utilised.
Within our 1276 Mining stories, Forrestania Resources appears unusually active in Western Australian gold, with near‑term project work at Johnson Range and Tycho plus the $210 million Edna May acquisition signalling a rapid build‑out of a multi‑asset regional gold platform.
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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