The reality is that Tier 1 gold assets are becoming increasingly scarce, and hence, as a result, these high-quality gold assets, particularly in premier jurisdictions, are increasing in value year on year. So with Genesis owning three one-million-ounce reserve high-grade assets, all in a Tier 1 jurisdiction focused in Western Australia, you can appreciate our. We do not view ourselves as a leveraged bet on the gold price. Rather, we view ourselves as a long-term business operating those high-quality gold assets, generating significant free cash flow, and compounding value per share throughout the cycle, ultimately returning and rewarding shareholders. Therefore, this year's gold forum comes at a very important and interesting, valuable time.
But before I move on to the proposed merger with Vault, just want to spend a couple of minutes on Genesis as a standalone business, because ultimately, it's a great progress and great delivery of our people over the past three years that's put us in this position today. So FY2026 was another record year for Genesis. We produced just over 285,000 ounces of gold, a 33% increase on the year prior, at an all-in sustaining cost of AUD 2,670 per ounce, ultimately delivering guidance for the third consecutive year, and against that macro inflationary backdrop. Our EBITDA more than doubled to AUD 952 million. We generated AUD 899 million of underlying cash flow, ultimately enabling us to fund the growth but announce our maiden fully franked dividend of AUD 0.05 per share for FY2026.
Our organic growth engine continued to roll ahead with our high-grade million-ounce Tower Hill open pit at 2 g per tonne coming along in leaps and bounds. Mining is underway. We ordered our large open pit mining fleet ahead of schedule to facilitate first ore from Genesis Mining Services in FY2028. Our investment in the drill bit did exactly as we would have hoped. Ultimately, we were able to articulate and report 20 run results of 100 gram-meters or more across the portfolio in the June quarter alone. Ultimately underpinning confidence and excitement in our growth trajectory. So with Vault putting the finishing touches on a great FY2026 also, we're in a good position, a great position to take the next logical but compelling step and create a new Australian gold major. There is clear strategic logic to this combination.
Genesis and Vault are not two isolated gold companies being put together for scale alone. It's a logical consolidation of complementary assets in the same Tier 1 district and very similar operating cultures, unlocking AUD 2 billion of genuine synergy potential. The merged group will have three production centers across Western Australia, with a dominant position in the Leonora-Laverton district. Pro forma, we're talking about 600,000-700,000 ounces per annum of production entirely in WA. We'll have 33.6 million ounces of resources and 9.4 million ounces of ore reserves, with more than 75% of that inventory basically located in one dot on the map. We'll also have a very strong balance sheet, pro forma AUD 611 million of cash. This matters because it's not simply about combining ounces.
It's about having the balance sheet to develop the right ounces through the right mills and at the right time, ultimately enabling those rewarding shareholder returns. Global investors, they want the gold exposure, but they also want investable companies with strong balance sheets, long life assets, clear growth strategies, and credible management teams. The merged group will offer all of that with one additional advantage, and that's district consolidation. This combination gives us production scale today, but more importantly, it gives us operational flexibility for the next decade and beyond. The transaction itself is straightforward, with the merger to be implemented by a Vault scheme of arrangement. Upon implementation, Genesis shareholders will own 59.8% of the merged group and Vault shareholders 40.2%. We see this as a rare opportunity where the strategic, operational, and financial logic all point in the one direction.
Our market relevance is going to change materially. At a current pro forma market cap of over AUD 1.5 billion, the combined group will become a top three Australian gold miner by market cap and a top 20 global gold miner. Genesis is going to enter an investable universe that remains inaccessible to many mid-tier gold companies, broadening the pool of potential shareholders materially. Completion's targeted for late November this year. There are four core reasons for this transaction. First, it creates that new Australian gold major focused on one of the best gold districts in the country, if not the world. The merged group would immediately have that 600,000 to 700,000 ounces of production I spoke about and the dominant position in what is an 85 million ounce Leonora-Laverton region. Second, the synergy potential is significant and importantly unique.
We estimate approximate synergies of AUD 2 billion, with AUD 1.5 billion of pre-tax synergies unique to the Genesis and Vault combination. These are not generic corporate synergies. They exist because Vault's King of the Hills operation with a newly expanded low cost mill is 35 km away in immediate proximity to Genesis' 2 g per tonne, 1 million ounce open pit Tower Hill that will commence production next year. It's because Laverton's milling capacity can be better prioritized and because Genesis' Bardoc assets close to Kalgoorlie can potentially access Vault's Mount Monger processing facility. Third, this combination creates operational flexibility that neither company has on its own. The high-grade Tower Hill ore can displace lower grade King of the Hills open pit material. Our Labor and milling capacity can be liberated for higher grade sources once again. That Bardoc free milling ore can be unlocked at Pipeline.
Fourth, that greater scale, liquidity, and quality of cash flows really matter. Those global investors seek that scale and liquidity, plus balance sheet strength and mine life. This combination gives us all four. The transaction will only be successful if the people and governance are right. The proposed merged group board importantly reflects both businesses with a four-three representation between Genesis and Vault. Russell Clark will be chair with industry stalwart Tony Kiernan and the prodigious Raleigh Finlayson as deputy chair and managing director respectively. The company will be led by a board and management team with strong alignment and ownership culture. Both companies have built cultures based on safe operations, productivity and cost discipline. Ultimately, we are taking the best of both businesses and creating something stronger. Culture will be central to this merger.
Genesis ASPIRE values stand for accountable, sustainable, people first, integrity, results and empower, and these underpin our culture. For the merged group, we will not simply laminate the Genesis values and expect everyone to adopt them. We will approach this the same way we built Genesis in 2023, from the frontline workforce of both businesses. We will first focus on safe production continuity, respect and clear communication. The opportunity for our people is significant in a very competitive labor landscape. A larger group creates more career pathways, more development opportunities, and a broader platform for employees to think and act like owners. This illustrates that real, meaningful step change in scale. On the impressive pro forma metrics you can see here, the merged group moves into a different peer set. We move from being a growing mid-tier producer to a true Australian gold major competing on the world stage.
That scale only matters if it is of quality and enables us to become more relevant, more resilient, and more capable of delivering per share value. We will be able to optimize all sources. We can prioritize mills. We can allocate capital across a deeper project pipeline. Ultimately, we can use our balance sheet to accelerate the best projects and defer the lower margin ones. Importantly, the ambition and commitment is to retain the agility, cost discipline, and people-first culture that made Genesis successful and is visible throughout the Vault business. This map illustrates the dominant position we would hold in that Leonora-Laverton district, where the combined group would have just over 8 million ounces of reserves and 12.4 million tons per annum of milling capacity. This is over 17 years on reserves alone, without considering conversion of any of that 24.6 million ounces of resource.
It is the proximity that creates the opportunity. KOTH again, King of the Hills is just 35 km from Tower Hill, close enough to change that development logic of Tower Hill and the feed strategies for King of the Hills. At Genesis, we have spoken for many years about matching the right ores to the right mills. That principle becomes even more powerful here. It allows ore to move west. It frees up capacity in the east over on the Laverton side. It supports the acceleration of high-grade assets like Lady Julie, Beasley Creek, and our plethora of other Laverton opportunities. It also provides that stronger balance sheet to fund development when the economics warrant it. If gold price moves up, again, we can bring those growth projects forward further and everyone benefits.
If gold price volatility sees a downward movement, our improved flexibility, optionality, and balance sheet with less capital commitments throughout this district ensures we are a very resilient business. At 465,000 ounces of FY2026 production across the combined Leonora-Laverton assets, the operation standalone would immediately sit amongst Australia's largest gold operations. King of the Hills is central to this. It has the large low-cost processing facility expanding to 8 million tons per annum. When you combine that plant with Tower Hill and our other regional feed sources, that flexibility I am talking to becomes material. This is how we start to think about Leonora-Laverton, not as a collection of assets, but as a genuine system. Systems create real meaningful value when you optimize them appropriately. This slide goes to the heart of the transaction.
Of the AUD 2 billion total synergy potential, with AUD 1.5 billion being unique to the combination, the largest category is clear capital savings. By processing our Tower Hill ore through King of the Hills , the merged group can avoid the construction of a standalone Tower Hill mill and avoid expansion of Laverton capacity that would otherwise be required, immediately providing AUD 715 million of capital savings. There are also significant operating benefits. Those lower processing costs through King of the Hills , regional G&A efficiencies, open pit mining, our cost reductions through application of our in-house Genesis Mining Services business, and unlocking that Bardoc free milling ore through Mount Monger. This is why the transaction is unique. The value is not theoretical. It comes from physical proximity, existing infrastructure and genuine optimization choices.
Here I will just talk briefly to the grade streaming logic that is pivotal to the value of the merged business. The KOTH open pit contains both higher grade and lower grade material, which has been successfully segregated through the last couple of quarters through diligent mining and geological practices. The opportunity is to preferentially treat the high-grade open pit ore, which averages around 0.9 g per ton, whilst displacing the lower grade material of around 0.3 g per ton with high-grade Tower Hill ore that again sits at 2 g per ton. This is a major change in feed quality. Standalone, King of the Hills would process a large amount of that low-grade material through their large mill. If we again substitute some of that low-grade feed with Tower Hill ore, the same tons through the same mill ultimately produce more gold.
The low-grade material does not disappear. It can be stockpiled, preserving future optionality in a strong gold price environment, and also provides a future-proofing mechanism for this asset. The point is simple. Genesis has the grade, Vault has the scale processing infrastructure, and together the combined group can create a better outcome than either company can deliver alone. To quantify this, the opportunity is for Tower Hill to displace around 2 million tons per annum of low-grade King of the Hills open pit ore. This adds circa 100,000 ounces per annum in production for the same amount of material processed. With that KOTH mill expanded to 8 million tons per annum, it has the potential to become a standalone 300,000 ounce per annum production center by around FY2029.
If I include the Gwalia Mill production, total Leonora production, one dot on the map, could potentially reach around 500,000 ounces per annum over that same time frame. Compelling. With a combined resource of 85 million tons at 2.5 g per ton for 6.7 million ounces. The Mount Monger operations have been consistent and efficient stalwart for the Vault business, averaging around 86,000 ounces per annum over the past three years. This operating mill gives the Genesis Bardoc asset a processing pathway for free milling ore. Zoroastrian is particularly important. It has underground development previously commenced, all approvals in place, and almost 100,000 ounces at 3.8 g per ton of reserve material that can potentially supplement feed into that Mount Monger plant.
This is another example of value that has not featured meaningfully in Genesis' standalone plan, but now becomes a more relevant opportunity on the back of the merge. With the AUD 611 million of pro forma cash, the merged business is going to have that financial capacity to fund further growth opportunities whilst importantly maintaining that balance sheet strength. There are those approximately 25 million ounces of resources not yet in reserves across the combined group, including three of the top six undeveloped West Australian open pit projects with more than 1 million ounces and grades above 1 g per ton that can now potentially see a mill a lot faster. This is where the sequencing becomes really powerful. We choose where capital goes first, we accelerate the highest return projects, and we can use existing mills before building new ones.
For shareholders, it creates a much more disciplined platform for that growth. With the merger giving us a lever of ore able to move west to King of the Hills and free up that Laverton capacity for higher quality sources, we can ramp up development of the exciting Laverton assets across the prolific Chatterbox geological trend that you can see here, and specifically the + 1 million ounce, 1.7 g per ton Lady Julie open pit that was the focus of our Magnetic Resources acquisition completed earlier this year. Lady Julie open pit optimization has been unshackled by the removal of tenement boundaries under Genesis ownership, and we have rapidly commenced drilling a long strike in the gap you can see delineated in the image here. This is exactly the sort of portfolio flexibility that can create real value.
Gwalia is our producing high-grade underground right next to Tower Hill and remains one of the great names in Australian gold. Our recent drilling in the uppers, which we have delineated 300 m to 1,000 m below surface, reminds us exactly why it is such a prolific asset when you consider some of the remarkable drill results that you can see outlined on the screen here. These are intercepts like 27 m at 18 g per ton, 8.3 m at 43 g per ton. Historically, more than 4 million ounces have been mined from the uppers, but we are talking about up to 60 years ago. Drilling is ongoing with three rigs flat out for the current financial year. Ultimately, the strategic point remains straightforward. In the combined group, every ton of higher grade ore that can displace lower grade material brings free cash flow forward and improves that system.
Gwalia gives us the long life quality, King of the Hills gives us that scale, and Tower Hill gives us that transformational open pit feed. Together, Leonora becomes a much stronger production center. As I touched on earlier, Genesis has developed into a globally significant gold company with further upside to come. We will be in amongst the top 20 in the world, coupled with strong average daily trading liquidity of around $65 million today and that comprehensive broker coverage. But this transaction is not about becoming bigger, it is about becoming better. Better assets, better flexibility, better returns, and ultimately better outcomes for shareholders. The combinations of these two businesses creates a company with a scale, complementary asset quality, and strategic position that is genuinely unique within the Australian gold sector. In closing, I do want to leave with a very simple message.
We are creating that top three Aussie gold producer underpinned by 600,000-700,000 ounces of annual production and an enviable resource and reserve base. This is with a portfolio concentrated in one of the most prolific gold districts in the country. Importantly, we believe that there is that additional considerable upside that has not yet been quantified and sits there for our great team to unlock. In a world where new Tier 1 gold discoveries are increasingly rare, we believe ownership of established, long life gold districts with genuine exploration potential and upside will prove to be one of the most valuable strategic positions in the industry. We look forward to delivering on that opportunity that lies ahead and creating those enduring returns for shareholders from what we believe is one of the most compelling combinations seen in the Australian gold sector for many years. Thanks very much for your time.
Thanks, Matt. Time to absolute perfection. So no time for questions, but thanks very much for presenting today.
Thanks, Aiden. Thanks, all.