PERTH (miningweekly.com) - ASX-listed junior Northern Star Resources has signed a farm-in and joint venture (JV) agreement with iron-ore miner Fortescue Metals to earn a 60% interest in the non iron-ore rights over several of the major’s tenements in Western Australia.
Northern Star would initially acquire a 25% interest by paying A$2-million upfront, and could earn a further 35% interest by spending A$4-million within the next two years.
After the initial 60% earn-in, Fortescue would have the option of either contributing to expenditure or diluting its shareholding to a 2% net smelter return.
Northern Star MD Bill Beament said on Tuesday that the Fortescue tenements were the final pieces of the jigsaw, giving Northern Star an extensive landholding in one of Australia’s most prospective, yet barely explored gold regions.
“Two deposits of about one-million ounces each have been discovered on our acreage along with a series of other mineralised targets, and yet there has been little or no exploration in this area by the standards of other Australian gold provinces,” he said.
Beament noted that, given the combination of the deposits that Northern Star was aware of in the area and the lack of exploration undertaken, the company believed that the region boasted some of the most promising upside in the Australian gold industry.
The gold miner has now set aside some A$20-million for exploration and drilling in 2013, with Beament adding that the funds would be used to continue growing the resource at the Paulsens mine, to establish a 100 000 oz/y standalone operation at Ashburton, and to undertake aggressive exploration activities on the newly acquired ground.