We're given half this audience and live in Perth, and Hayden lives around the corner from me. It feels like I'm speaking to friends and family, but it's good for you to travel here anyway. For those that don't know me, I'm Luke McFadyen, the CEO and Managing Director of Minerals 260. 12 months ago, I stood on this stage and introduced to you a company with a market cap of AUD 300 million, a 2.3 million ounce resource that we'd owned for about five months. We had less than 15 employees. The PFS had just commenced, and we were still rapidly drilling the project. Today I'm back to show you what a year of delivery looks like at Minerals 260. Bullabulling, which means large rocks in traditional owner language, is now at 6.2 million ounces. We have a maiden reserve of 2.5 million ounces.
We've completed the PFS and commenced the DFS. Early construction activities commenced a couple of months ago, and we are now an ASX 200 company. It's the same project, but a very different conversation 12 months later. Certainly, everyone at Minerals 260 is proud of what we've been able to deliver, and certainly thank you to the people in this room that have supported us on that journey. More importantly, we're just getting started and remain just as excited about the future, what the future looks like at our company. Our value proposition sits on four very simple pillars, which I think each one by itself would be reason enough to invest in the company. You combine them, and you get a very unique value proposition that is Minerals 260.
We're an ASX 200 company with a highly supportive register of long-term shareholders who are aligned with our ambition to build Australia's next mid-cap gold mining company. The company has a team and track record of success across multiple companies, countries, and commodities. With a pro forma cash balance of AUD 630 million after our recent AUD 250 million capital raise and a new AUD 170 million investment by Franco-Nevada, we are well on the way to funding Australia's largest development project not owned by a producer. The two industry-leading deals we have done with Franco-Nevada this year have genuinely reinvented how the Australian market thinks about royalties and how pre-revenue companies with large projects can be funded without losing exposure to the ore body or significant dilution to their shareholders. Bullabulling has become a genuine tier 1 asset with a clearly defined pathway to production.
By embedding growth in the design of our future operations, we will ensure that we continue to grow the operations alongside this rapidly growing resource. 12 months ago at this conference, Minerals 260 had a share price about AUD 0.16, and I was trying to convince shareholders at the time why it might go above AUD 0.20. The daily liquidity was about AUD 1 million, and the market cap was about AUD 300 million, like I said. Today, it's just over a AUD 2 billion company with roughly AUD 12 million of daily liquidity. There's no doubt it's been a transformational year, that's for sure. There's several milestones highlighted on that chart show you how we've grown the company, both through the drill bit, through significant de-risking of the project through studies and early execution of some of the early construction, and then through that funding that I've talked about.
Our major shareholders are our strength. It's a great balance of long-term, value-focused, and supportive shareholders is one of the reasons why we were able to recently raise AUD 250 million at a premium to our 10-day VWAP. Our golden values guide us how we work, support our communities, and contribute to the success of our business. The one that stood out for me in the last year has definitely been delivery. We've delivered on everything we said we would, and we've done it safely and to the highest standards. The relationships we've nurtured with our local communities really highlight how new relationships that are actually genuine unlock value for the company and our shareholders. The board that was shown here last year is still the same, with one other addition of Adam Smits, who joined recently.
Adam is well known to the gold industry through his development of gold projects both in Australia and globally. Minerals 260 continues to attract high-caliber people. Russell Brooks and Joshua Haine are here with me this week. Mark Muller, our GM of geology, leads our high-quality geology team that has added more gold to any resource in Australia than anyone else in the last 12 months. in February this year, we announced a deal with Franco-Nevada that at the time was their largest-ever investment in Australia. AUD 220 million Australian split between AUD 170 million royalty and AUD 50 million equity.
Just last month, because we like each other enough and both parties decided the opportunity to do another deal was there and attractive, we did it all over again with another AUD 200 million investment by Franco-Nevada to bring their total investment to AUD 420 million, which now ranks as one of their 10 largest investments globally ever. We couldn't be more pleased with the relationship we now have with Franco-Nevada's team, and their financial and technical support is no doubt one of the reasons for our success in the last year, and we look forward to a very long and successful relationship with them in the future.
There aren't actually many deals in this industry where both parties can sell it to their investors as a win, but these really are two great opportunities or two great deals for both companies, and the response from my shareholders has certainly been nothing but positive. What the deals with Franco-Nevada have allowed us to do at Minerals 260 is substantially fund the capital requirement for the development of Bullabulling and de-risk our pathway to production. We have commenced the construction of a 600-room village and the water infrastructure. We've completed a 26,000 m grade control program, and the placement of orders for long-lead items is imminent. Our debt financing process is advancing well, with term sheets received well in excess of the remaining required capital, which we expect to finalize in conjunction with FID early next year.
Bullabulling is 65 km from Kalgoorlie, the gold mining capital of Australia, and this is the part of Australia where mines get built. We are surrounded by other large and small gold producers, and we look forward to one day joining the list of gold producers in W.A., which is the state that produces 70% of Australia's gold. Our growth of the resource in the last year has not been accidental, but the execution of a very well-designed exploration plan that was centered both on drilling and unlocking the resource potential through tenement acquisitions. In the last year, we have drilled over 180,000 meters through 1,000 holes, and at its peak, we had 12 rigs on site.
We have acquired an additional 1,400 square kilometers to now unconstrain the resource by tenement boundaries because, as we know, geology does not stop at the tenement boundary, and we can unlock potential resource growth now along strike, both north and south. Importantly, we have grown this resource economically. With a discovery cost of AUD 14 in July and AUD 12 in December last year, we have been able to compound value rapidly. Our drilling has intersected some of the highest quality by grade ore thickness intercepts in the history of the project, which is not an easy thing to do for a project that was discovered in the 1980s. With 4.4 million ounces or 70% of the resource sitting in the indicated classification, we have extended mineralization at depth across all areas of the resource.
In addition to resource drilling, like I mentioned, we have already completed 26,000 m of our first grade control program, which will be the first of several leading into the commencement of operations. To put that 6.2 into context, Bullabulling is one of the largest undeveloped gold projects in Australia, sitting alongside other genuine tier 1 assets and the largest resource not owned by a producer. We still believe the resource has significant potential for further growth. It is still open at depth along the whole strike length, both north and south. The strike length today of the resource is just under nine kilometers. With the tenement acquisitions we have achieved in the last 12 months, the potential strike length is now 20 km. Our next phase of exploration and geological work will focus on three key areas of resource growth, regional exploration, and production readiness.
Higher grade trends within the existing resource have been identified and represent a significant potential opportunity to support early years of production. Regionally, large areas of our tenement package remain underexplored despite the favorable geological settings, providing us with a substantial pipeline of targets. We actually recognized the consolidation of the district as a key opportunity during our due diligence, and now we have built a land package that will keep the geology team very busy for a long time. Underpinned by a 19-year mine life and a 2.5 million ounce reserve, Bullabulling will be a highly profitable and long-life mine that will be the foundations of this company that we will continue to grow over the years.
Prioritizing cash flow early via our staged approach to development, the open-pit operation has growth embedded in its design already to expand from 150,000 to 200,000 ounces in a capital efficient and accelerated way. The staged approach prioritizes cash flow earlier, balances value with capital, risk, and execution. The stage 1 capital estimate includes elements of a processing plant, the TSF, the village, the waste dumps, all sized to run the operation at 7.5 million tons, which will produce 200,000 ounces a year. It is the same story with our maiden ore reserve that we announced with the PFS in July as one of the largest undeveloped ones in Australia and the largest not owned by a producer.
Importantly, this reserve used for the PFS was based on an interim MRE of 4.5 million ounces, with 80% of the 3 million ounces of indicated converting to this reserve. The current MRE has 4.4 million ounces of indicated, so we are highly confident that the next reserve to be released with the DFS early next year is going to have a step change in growth. A specific example of how we have embedded growth into the design of our future operation is in the processing plant. The processing plant is designed to initially run at 5 million tons per annum with space allocations and installed capacity to support an expansion to 7.5 million tons early in years of operation.
All our approvals are tracking to plan, and we have been successful at obtaining required approvals to commence early operations, early construction activities earlier this year, which only supports us in obtaining the remaining approvals, which we expect to support our timing for early next year. Importantly for us, all our approvals is via the state-based only with no federal approval requirements necessary. None of this happens with a genuine social license to operate. What we have achieved is a genuine desire to nurture new relationships in our local community. We have a native title land use agreement in place and a longstanding supportive mining community around us that we do not take for granted.
We are investing in health and community programs, and the improvement to health of children in our local community through funding of ear and dental checks, which is a significant issue for Indigenous children in Australia, is one of the things I am most proud of Minerals 260 in the last 12 months. The recent commitment by Franco-Nevada to invest AUD 100,000 a year for three years with us in our community initiatives is fantastic and highlights that our relationship with them is more than just financial. If you went to site today, this is what you would see. A village under construction. It is a little bit wet today. We had a bit of water last night. Rigs drilling for both resource growth and water. Our water development plans are going well. 13 bores are installed, well ahead of schedule to support full construction next year.
Finally, our development plan. I'll draw your attention to how much of it has already got a green tick next to it. From the acquisition to the resource growth, the maiden reserve, the PFS, the early construction, has all been done on or ahead of schedule to the exact same timeline that I presented here last year. What's coming up soon is the DFS final approvals, completion of our debt funding process, and FID all in the first quarter of next year, with first production in the fourth quarter of 2028, the same production target that I showed you last year. We said we'd deliver this timetable last year, and we're still on track to achieve it this year. To summarize it all, Minerals 260 is a company with a strong team and balance sheet.
Our asset is one of the largest in Australia and still has significant opportunity to grow even further. Our pathway to production is clear, and early construction activities are de-risking it even further. And finally, we remain focused on continuing to grow the company through resource growth and scaling up our future operations. Thank you very much, and I look forward to coming back next year.
Thanks, Luke. We do have some time for some questions. If you have any, please raise your hand and wait for a microphone. Luke, just on the approvals process. That's probably where the rerating comes from, getting all those boxes ticked. Is there anything you've seen red flag-wise that might put a risk of a delay or things taking a bit longer than you think?
No, not at all. I think anything will be surprised to the upside how quickly it will be. This was mined in the 1990s, so it's got a lot of history around mining in the area. Our first MCP, which is the Mine Closure Plan, was approved earlier this year. The second one runs off the back of that. So no, we don't see any issue at all.
And just on the ultimate potential of the project. There is a picture of the old pits down there, but even the image you had of the ultimate pit shells in the development plan, they do not look like they are stretching the boundaries of what a pit could be. How big and deep do you think these pits can go economically?
Well, further definitely. If we think about the grade today, it is a good 1 g ore body. The deepest part of the pits is about 310 meters. There are other pits designed in Australia with similar grades or lower going much deeper, closer to 350 or 400. So definitely opportunity to continue growing that.
And the regional exploration, you talked about keeping the geologists busy. There has been, I guess, a few evolutions of the thought process of what the potential actually is and where you should be targeting. What are you thinking now, and what is the focus? Is it to find some higher-grade feed or just more of what you have already got?
Yeah, we do not need more one gram to 300 m below. Certainly chasing shallower higher-grade ounces, both within the Bullabulling mining lease footprint. But then we have picked up a lot of ground 20 km west on the Mount Ida Fault that we think is highly prospective for better grades at a shallower distance. So yeah, we are not looking for deeper, lower-grade stuff, that is for sure.
The CapEx program, obviously we've seen a number of different companies put studies out and then obviously trying to deliver on CapEx is always difficult. Can you just remind us sort of the levels of contingency you've got on all your estimates?
Yeah. So there's about AUD 70 million of contingency in the 855, and that 855 includes about 80- 100 of the expansion capital too. So we're very comfortable. The numbers that are coming in through the DFS that are entirely consistent with the PFS. Some of them even improved. So no, we're seeing no change to the PFS number. We're being funded off the back of the PFS number too through the debt process too. So, we will hold that 855, that's for sure.
Without running before you can walk, the business then enters a construction phase for sort of 12, 18 months. Do business development plans for the business more broadly, what are you thinking?
I think we're going to get Bullabulling right. I think the focus on Bullabulling will rerate this company substantially. We get this right, you earn the license to grow even further. So we won't be distracted by anything further, other than sort of more regional consolidation of tenements that are low cost and quite easy to transact on.
Okay, brilliant. There's no questions to the floor. Just about out of time. Luke, thanks very much for presenting today. Appreciate it.
Thank you.