Photo by: Bloomberg
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed Venturex Resources has executed a conditional term sheet to divest of its Pilbara copper/zinc mine in a transaction worth A$14-million.
The transaction would see Venturex divest of its three wholly-owned subsidiaries that hold the Pilbara mine to Orion Mine Finance Group.
The transaction would be subject to the completion of a due diligence and the execution of a definitive sales agreement by June 15. The agreement would also be subject to shareholder and regulatory approval.
Venturex’s major shareholders, Regent Pacific, which holds a 33.4% stake in the company, and Northern Star, which holds a 12.9% stake in the company, have already advised that they would vote in favour of the transaction.
Venturex said that on the completion of the transaction, the company would return a significant portion of the sales proceeds to shareholders by way of a capital return, with the miner using the remaining cash balance to pursue other activities in the resource sector.
A 2012 feasibility study found that the Pilbara project could support a one-million-tonne-a-year processing facility at Sulphur Springs, with production forecast at around 16 400 t/y of copper and 34 000 t/y of zinc, along with 200 000 oz/y of silver. The mine life was expected to be eight-and-a-half years.
The Western Australian Department of Mines and Petroleum in 2014 approved the development plans for the Pilbara project.