Northern Star backs Venturex plans

12th September 2018 By: Esmarie Iannucci - Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor: Australasia

PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Junior Venturex Resources has struck a deal with shareholder Northern Star Resources which will see the gold miner advance a A$2-million unsecured loan for the definitive feasibility study (DFS) on the Sulphur Springs copper/zinc project, in Western Australia.

The unsecured loan will have a 12 month term, and will accrue interest at 8% a year, payable in cash on the repayment of the loan.

Venturex MD AJ Saverimutto said the loan demonstrated Northern Star’s strong support for the Sulphur Springs project.

“This is a strong show of support by our major shareholder and a significant vote of confidence in the quality of the Sulphur Springs project and the robustness of our development and execution strategy.

“Northern Star supports the Venturex board’s decision to bring Sulphur Springs into production as rapidly as possible. While we have made excellent recent progress towards that objective, the board has decided that it is not in shareholders’ best interest to raise equity capital in the current environment.”

Venturex earlier this month told shareholders that the Sulphur Springs DFS has increased the expected production from 1-million tonnes a year to 1.25-million tonnes a year in order to maximise the financial returns from the project.

The process plant has been configured to produce some 60 000 t/y of zinc and 45 000 t/y of copper concentrates, which was up from the 32 000 t/y of zinc and 12 000 t/y of copper flagged in the 2017 value engineering study.

The study is set for completion at the end of the third quarter this year.