Pinned straw:
Source: Slide 3 from GNG's March 3rd HY26 Investor Presentation - green stuff added by me.
From Vault Minerals (VAU) Today (Thursday 26th March 2026): KoTH-stage-1-plant-upgrade-commissioning-commenced.pdf
Excerpt: "Stage 1 of the plant upgrade project, to increase plant throughput capacity to ~6.0mtpa, has progressed on time and budget and is now in the final stages of commissioning."
Another on-time-and-on-budget build by GNG, with Stage 2 of the KoTH plant upgrade to follow.
Disclosure: GNG is currently one of my two largest real money holdings (along with LYL) and the same applies here on SM as well. I do not currently hold any VAU shares.
Despite a recent drop in the gold price, gold producers like Vault (VAU) are printing cash at current spot prices and they all want their plants expanded or new plants (mills) built ASAP, and GNG's expertise in that area remains in high demand.
They (GNG) recently announced that they had been names preferred contractors for projects by Brightstar (BTR: their Laverton Mill build) and Genesis (GMD: their Tower Hill Mill build) so we can expect confirmation of those contract awards shortly.
As they say in that slide above, they are also expected to be awarded the EPC contract for the Bellevue Paste Plant (by BGL).
Also, @BkrDzn and I both expect GNG to be awarded the Black Swan mill conversion contract shortly (from Nickel to Gold) by Horizon Minerals (HRZ) now that they (HRZ) have their financing all sorted and have a positive PFS for Black Swan (done by GNG) which is all they (HRZ) said they said they needed for a FID. This announcement from HRZ on March 16th (10 days ago) backs up that assumption that they're super keen to start that mill conversion ASAP: HRZ-Key-Project-Team-Appointment.pdf
Additionally GR Engineering Services (GRES, ASX: GNG) are working on other studies that should lead to other work, such as the Forrestania Nickel-to-gold mill conversion for Medallion Metals (MM8).
There's PLENTY of work for GNG over the next few years, even if gold drops another A$1,000/ounce, and I personally think it's more likely to rally from here than fall much further.
They've been sold off recently to below $4 - looks to me like a good buying area and I'm trying to accumulate more here on SM, but I'm being hampered by the 20% limit here on individual positions at the time of purchase or top-up. I've got over $150K worth of them already in my (real money) income portfolio, but I'm considering topping that position up further also.
GNG is my 2026 stock pick as well as a large personal holding of mine, so I'm certainly talking up my own book here, but it's hard to work out how they could run out of work over the next couple of years, and they are a profitable company with zero debt and high insider ownership that is run conservatively and pay higher-than-average fully franked dividends, so I reckon it's worth pointing out when things are shaping up well for them.
09-April-2026: GNG-EPC-Contract---Northparkes-Operations-Project.pdf
Another contract win, and this one is with EVN, so more work for GNG from an existing client. There will be more of these announcements over the next few months - with GNG winning more work - from other companies - as I've already discussed.
Disc: Holding.
12th June 2026, 10:41pm: I came across this (page 1 below) today in an announcement by MM8 (Medallion Metals) dated 9th June (3 days ago) titled: Major Milestones Achieved at Cosmic Boy
So as I mentioned in my straw at the top of this thread three months ago, I expected that GNG would get the Cosmic Boy EPC contract, and they clearly remain on track for that - see green highlighted sections above - although I called it the Forrestania Nickel-to-gold mill conversion for Medallion Metals (MM8) in that post, and they are calling it the refurbishment and modification of the Cosmic Boy Concentrator (CBC), which is the central nickel processing facility that WSA (Western Areas) built within their Forrestania Nickel Operation in WA that IGO bought (when IGO acquired WSA) and IGO later sold to MM8 after they had put it on C&M, so it wasn't operating at the time. So Forrestania is the area, rather than the specific piece of kit. Same, Same.
And a quick scan of the past 3 months of announcements by GNG show that this project has not yet been deemed worthy of any announcements by GNG, because they have not yet been awarded the EPC contract or been granted preferred contractor status, despite the fact that they are clearly going to be awarded the contract after completing the FS and doing the FEED work for it.
And I daresay there are a number of other projects that are also at a similar stage, i.e. pre-announcement, such as MRT's Black Swan nickel-to-gold upgrade project - very similar in scope to the MM8 job - where GNG were awarded the studies for that project in April last year (see here for that announcement) (MRT - Maritana Minerals - were called Horizon Minerals then). MRT also released an announcement three days ago (on June 9th) - BSPH-Project-Update-Increases-Capacity-to-25MT-per-annum.pdf which included the following:
Engineering and Design
The Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) phase has been completed, with the FEED report prepared by GR Engineering Services (GRES) now submitted for review.
and:
Next Steps
Maritana is focused on the following key activities as the project advances toward construction and initial mining operations:
- EPC Contract and FID - finalising the EPC and reimbursable contract arrangements with GRES [ASX: GNG], including completion of the capital cost review and ongoing optimisation work.
- Approvals - progressing the lodged regulatory approvals (works approvals, MDCPs and clearing permits) through to grant.
- Mill Refurbishment - completing removal of the SAG mill and confirming the refurbishment or replacement pathway.
- Accommodation - advancing accommodation construction works, site earthworks and ongoing site preparation.
- Water Supply - finalising the project water strategy with Western Groundwater and Flow Water Services.
- Mill Construction and Commissioning - progressing toward full construction commencement, targeted for ore commissioning H1 FY28.
- Mine Operations - advancing mining operational readiness, including contract awards for Open Pit, Underground and Haulage services targeted for late 2026.
Source: BSPH-Project-Update-Increases-Capacity-to-25MT-per-annum.pdf
So, as I have been suggesting, the positive newsflow for GNG is set to continue. And there's been plenty of positive news lately from them already, hence their share price almost doubling in the past 12 months. Well it did double but it's come off a smidge from that recent +$6/share high point.
Disclosure: I hold GNG (21.9%) and MRT (2.5%), but not MM8 at this point. GNG is my largest real money position and also my largest position here on SM.