PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Juniors Great Boulder Resources and Ausgold have entered into a joint venture agreement over the Yamarna nickel project, in Western Australia.
Under the terms of the agreement, Great Boulder could earn a 75% interest in the Ausgold project by issuing that company with 1.5-million Great Boulder shares, and spending A$500 000 on exploration over a four-year period.
Great Boulder MD Stefan Murphy told shareholders on Thursday that the Yamarna project and the recently announced Mt Carlon project had the potential to play an important role in the company’s strategy to establish a substantial copper-nickel-cobalt operation.
“We have established extensive mineralisation across Mt Venn and the Easter Mafic and while our exploration programme is ongoing and still in its early stages, it is clear that this is a large mineralised province,” Murphy said.
“The results at the Yamarna nickel project show that this area is also mineralised and has the potential to host higher-grade nickel, which could blend with that at Mt Venn and the Eastern Mafic.”
Yamarna is just 40 km from Mt Venn and covers 300 km2 of tenements. Drilling has intersected nickel-copper sulphide mineralisation at the Winchester prospect, which is considered one of the primary targets at Yamarna.
Ausgold MD Matthew Greentree said on Thursday that the farm-in agreement ensured that the Yamarna asset would be advanced by a committed explorer through a well-funded exploration programme.
Ausgold would retain a significant stake in the project and would be free-carried through to a decision to mine, he added.
“This structure allows the company to focus exploration funds on its 100% owned Katanning gold project, where the company continues to experience exploration success and is progressing towards mine development.”