PERTH, June 22, 2026, 01:03 (AWST)
- Vault shares dropped 5.14% on Friday, finishing at A$4.80. Volume hit 45.01 million shares. The stock still sits 19.7% above its June 12 close.
- Gold output totaled 306,542 ounces through May. The company’s FY26 guidance is 332,000–360,000 ounces.
- Regis’ fixed exchange offer valued Vault stock at about A$4.82 a share based on Friday’s prices. That put Vault at a discount of around 0.4%.
Vault Minerals shares go into Monday trading in Australia after a big selloff Friday cut into their strongest weekly run in months. The ASX was shut at the time of writing, with trading set to start again later Monday.
Shares climbed in the first four days last week, including a 14.7% surge Monday, but then fell 26 Australian cents on Friday. This matters, since Vault is trading now with investors weighing both its better production outlook and the set share-exchange terms from its planned merger with Regis Resources.
Vault kept its full-year output goal after reporting 306,542 ounces produced in the 11 months to May. But consolidated all-in sustaining cost, or AISC, came in at A$2,909 an ounce for the first nine months, above the guidance of A$2,650–A$2,850 for the year. That means the company needs a lower cost in the last quarter.
Vault’s main lever remains the King of the Hills mill expansion. The company said the second stage is tracking ahead of plan and is now set to wrap up in October, which would boost annual processing to 7.5 million–8 million tonnes. The new crushing circuit, which started up in March, has been running above its 8-million-tonne target.
Vault investors are set to get 0.6947 Regis shares for each Vault share under the proposed court-supervised scheme of arrangement. After the deal, Vault shareholders would hold around 49% of the merged company. “A larger, more resilient gold company,” is how Vault CEO Luke Tonkin described the transaction. Regis CEO Jim Beyer pointed to “greater scale, improved diversification and a stronger balance sheet.”
Regis finished Friday at A$6.94. That put the deal at A$4.821 for each Vault share, before any adjustments for dividends. Vault ended at A$4.80, so the spread between Vault’s price and the implied offer was just around two cents. Investors are betting the merger goes through as priced, with almost no buffer if Regis slips or there’s a holdup.
Gold stocks slid Friday. Regis gave up 2.0%, Northern Star Resources dropped 2.9% and shares in Evolution Mining tumbled 5.1%. Spot gold tracked for its third week of losses, hit by a stronger U.S. dollar and views that rates will stay higher for longer. “Higher-for-longer Fed expectations are toxic for non-yielding assets while benefiting the dollar,” said Nikos Tzabouras, senior market analyst at Tradu.com. Google
But the trade has clear risks. The deal must still get the green light from Vault shareholders, regulators and the court, plus an independent expert has to give it a tick. If Regis shares drop, the value of the offer falls right away. More gold price pain, higher-than-expected costs or delays at King of the Hills could hit both Vault’s own outlook and squeeze Regis’ offer.
The Vault-Regis price ratio comes into focus for investors this week, along with the U.S. personal consumption expenditures report set for Thursday. That report features an inflation gauge tracked by the Federal Reserve. Vault is also set to send its draft scheme booklet to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission in June, ahead of a planned first court hearing in July.
