Pharmanet Group, which emerged from voluntary administration earlier this month, is the vehicle that will acquire Keras (Gold) Australia for 225 million shares and 525 million performance options.

Keras’ flagship asset is the Warrawoona gold project in the Pilbara, which it has secured through a series of acquisitions in the past six months.

Keras paid $A1.42 million and 100 million shares in September to acquire Arcadia Minerals, owner of the Klondyke project, secured a right to mine from Haoma Mining over another seven tenements and applied for another two tenements in the area.

Keras managing director Dave Reeves told MNN that the consolidation was significant, as no one owner had ever held the entire 7.5km of identified strike.

The Klondyke and Copenhagen projects have combined inferred resources of 410,000 ounces of gold at 2.2 grams per tonne gold.

Much of the ground has been untested by drilling, and there are more than 150 shallow historical gold workings with outcropping visible gold at surface.

“The goal is really a plus-1 million ounce resource with a standalone operation,” Reeves said.

The new company will be named Calidus Resources.

Calidus means hot or fiery in Latin, which Reeves said fit nicely given the project location near Marble Bar – one of the world’s hottest places.

Otsana Capital and Discovery Capital Partners recapitalised the Pharmanet shell, and Discovery’s Adam Miethke, who was until recently Argonaut Securities’ head of metals and mining, was on the hunt for a WA gold project to vend into the shell.

Keras had been planning to dual-list on the ASX, until the Pharmanet opportunity came up.

Calidus is aiming to list in early June and will raise $7.62 million in a placement and a further $875,000 via an option issue.

The raising will fund 18 months of drilling, the bulk of which will be around Klondyke.

Miethke said there had been a lot of enthusiasm about the creation of Calidus, given the lack of ASX gold developers now that Gascoyne Resources, Dacian Gold and Gold Road Resources had moved to development.

The new company plans to be drilling the Warrawoona project in May, with an initial 12,000m program developed to increase the resource at Klondyke.

Historical intersections at the Copenhagen deposit include 9m at 27.33gpt gold and Miethke told MNN there was the potential for high-grade satellite deposits.

Reeves will lead Calidus, recruiting his board-mate at European Metals, Keith Coughlan as non-executive chairman.

Miethke and former Medusa Mining managing director Peter Hepburn-Brown will be non-executive directors.