PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed junior Predictive Discovery has signed a joint venture (JV) agreement with Canada’s Progress Minerals over its exploration permits in Burkina Faso.
Predictive’s current tenement holdings in Burkina Faso cover some 100 km of strike length on the Samira Hill greenstone belt, with the company having previously discovered gold mineralisation on multiple prospects in the area.
Predictive MD Paul Roberts said on Friday that the agreement with Progress marked another major step forward in the implementation of the company’s prospect generator strategy, which sought to advance evaluation of the prospective gold exploration ground position in West Africa, while maintaining substantial equities in the best projects, and minimising cash outlays.
Under the JV agreement, Prospect could earn a 70% interest in the Burkina Faso tenements by spending $5-million over three exploration stages.
The first $1-million expenditure within a year of the agreement would see the Canadian firm earn a 51% shareholding in the project area.
An additional spend of $1.5-million by the end of the second year of the JV will see Progress increase its shareholding to 60%, and by spending a further $2.5-million by the end of the fourth year of the JV, the company could take its shareholding in the project area to 70%.
Roberts said that field work was expected to start within the next month, with drilling expected to be well under way by the end of the December quarter.