Kagara was founded in July 1981 as an unlisted public company to explore for and mine gemstones and tantalite in the Forrestania - Southern Cross Greenstone Belt in Western Australia. Over the following two years the exploration focus turned to gold, with Kagara locating numerous gold occurrences within its tenement holdings.
In 1984, Aztec Mining Company Ltd farmed into the tenements owned by Kagara, ultimately earning a 62% interest. Kagara’s 38% interest in the tenements was transferred to Forrestania Gold NL, which subsequently floated on the ASX in June 1987 at an issue price of $0.25 per share. During its history as a listed company, Forrestania paid a total of $0.70 per share in dividends.
In 1986, the Forrestania/Aztec joint venture discovered the Bounty ore body which subsequently produced over one million ounces of gold. Forrestania went on to develop another one million plus ounce gold resource at Mt McClure, discovered the Maggie Hays and Emily Ann nickel sulphide deposits at Lake Johnston in Western Australia, and was the largest shareholder in Jubilee Mines during its formative years as a nickel producer. Kagara maintained a substantial shareholding in Forrestania, whose founding directors included Kim Robinson.
In 1997, Forrestania was acquired via a Part A takeover bid by LionOre Mining International Ltd. Kagara then decided to focus on opportunities in the zinc and copper industries on the basis of both metals excellent long-term demand and price fundamentals.