Evolution Mining has acquired the Cowal gold mine through the purchase of 100% of the shares in Barrick (Cowal) Pty Ltd for a price of $550 million. Evolution says: “The Cowal gold mine is one of Australia’s most attractive gold assets. It is a highly sought after, large scale, long life operation which substantially improves the quality of Evolution’s asset portfolio.”

Evolution’s Executive Chairman, Jake Klein, commented: “The addition of Cowal to our asset portfolio is an exciting step forward for Evolution and provides us with a cornerstone asset of the highest quality. We welcome our new Cowal employees and look forward to building a long and successful relationship with the communities of the Bland, Lachlan and Forbes Shires.”

Evolution Mining was created in late 2011 as a mid-tier Australian gold producer through a merger of Catalpa Resources and Conquest Mining. Evolution currently operates five gold and silver mines in Queensland and Western Australia. For the year ended June 30, 2014 the company produced approximately 428,000 oz gold equivalent. The Cowal open-pit mine produced 268,000 oz of gold last year.