The talk at Diggers & Dealers in August was that deals had become too expensive, but what wasn’t known at the time was that week was the peak for Aussie gold stocks in 2016.

Finlayson told Saracen’s annual general meeting yesterday that the company could be getting ounces into reserves for $A54 an ounce, while acquisition prices had blown out to $500/oz.

“A lot has changed in three months,” he said.

Because of the limited opportunities to do project-level deals, Finlayson said after the meeting that he sees more corporate deals happening in the next 12 months in the Australian gold space.

“I think what you’re seeing, if you look at the mid-tier group, there’s a reluctance to go overseas, for obvious reasons, because it’s difficult in timezones and sovereign risk and whatever else, so if you’re not going to go overseas and you don’t have project-level deals coming out of the majors…most are drilling heavily, us, Northern Star are having a red hot crack at exploration and others are trying that route, which is obvious,” he said.

“But it begs the question, what happens next?”

A merger with another gold producer is something Saracen would consider.

 “If we did the appropriate amount of work and the deal was accretive to our shareholders, then we’d look at it,” Finlayson said.

“We wouldn’t say no to that.”

Saracen recently locked in a $150 million financing facility to allow it to pounce on any opportunities that arose.

For Saracen, it’s about “up-tiering” its asset base, with a focus on Australia.

The company is seeking production or development assets.

“If we find an asset that’s on care and maintenance, bang, that’s us to a tea,” Finlayson said.

“We’re not going to be caught in a bidding war, but if we can get things by stealth, that’s pretty much our mandate.”

Shares in Saracen were down by nearly 4% to 91.7c. The stock hit a high of $1.86 during Diggers in August.