PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Junior Rox Resources has signed a binding term sheet with fellow listed Venus Metals to acquire a majority stake in the Youanmi gold mine, in Western Australia.
Under the terms of the agreement, Rox would acquire an initial 50% stake in the joint venture (JV) by providing Venus A$2.8-million to exercise its options over the Youanmi tenements.
In addition, Rox will also issue Venus A$200 000 worth of Rox scrip, at a price of 0.8c each.
Furthermore, Rox would spend A$2-million over the two years to 2021 to cover the costs of holding and managing the project. The company could also elect to increase its shareholding in Youanmi to 70% by paying an additional A$3-million in either cash or shares to Venus.
The JV partners would then contribute to the project in proportion to ownership, however, Venus could elect to require Rox to fund its 30% share of the costs by way of a JV loan secured over its own interest in the project.
“The acquisition of the Youanmi gold project is consistent with the company’s stated objective of acquiring near-production assets within its financial capacity,” said Rox chairperson Stephen Dennis.
“Since our new CEO Alex Passmore joined the company, our efforts to identify a suitable development project have increased and we look forward to realising the potential we believe exists at Youanmi.”
Venus MD Matthew Hogan on Wednesday said that joining forces with Rox at Youanmi was a great chance for the company to arrange settlement of the Youanmi acquisition with minimal dilution to shareholders.
“The mine site is highly prospective for further additions to the established Joint Ore Reserves Committee resource estimates for 1.19-million ounces within the mining leases, and significant drill testing programmes will commence as soon as possible on numerous geochemical and electromagnetic anomalies identified along strike to the north and south from the recent Penny West discovery site by Spectrum Metals.”