PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Gold miner Gold Fields will spend up to A$15-million to earn a 75% interest in the Edinburgh Park gold project, in north Queensland, owned by ASX-listed Great Southern Mining.
Under the earn-in agreement, Gold Fields will sole-fund up to A$15-million in exploration expenditure over a six-year period, to earn the majority stake in the project, which incorporates nine granted exploration licences and two exploration licence applications covering 1 750 km2.
The licences surround the producing Mt Carlton gold/silver/copper mine.
“Great Southern is extremely pleased to have the expertise and funding of Gold Fields to accelerate discoveries at Edinburgh Park,” said Great Southern MD Matthew Keane.
“This earn-in validates our belief that the project has potential to host Tier 1 mineral deposits. We regard Gold Fields as an ideal partner having a track record of discovering and operating large-scale porphyry, epithermal and IRG deposits. The company is also pleased to welcome Gold Fields as a substantial shareholder. The funds received from the subscription will help to accelerate exploration of Great Southern’s Western Australian projects.”
Gold Fields has already identified several targets within Edinburgh Park, and following minimal validation and ground truthing work, drill testing is expected to start after the northern Queensland wet season in 2024.
In conjunction with the earn-in agreement, Gold Fields will also subscribe for approximately 38.5-million ordinary shares in Great Southern, valued at A$1-million and representing 5.4% of outstanding share capital.
The subscription price will be A$0.026 a share, representing a 11.5% premium to the ten-day value weight average price of Great Southern shares.