Junior explorer Metals Australia (MLS) has inked a deal with private company Payne Gully Gold to buy a suite of nickel, gold and copper-gold tenements in WA and the Northern Territory.
Under the deal, Metals Australia will buy 80 per cent of Payne Gully for a mix of cash and scrip, subject to shareholder approval.
Payne Gully’s project portfolio includes the Warrambie project in WA’s Pilbara region, which lies along strike and to the west of Sabre Resources’ (SBR) Sherlock Bay nickel sulphide project, and the Murchison Domain project, which lies near two major gold deposits and is prospective for gold, nickel, copper, platinum group elements (PGE) and lithium.
In the Northern Territory, Payne Gully’s Tennant Creek project lies along strike and within the corridor east of the Warrego copper-gold mine. MLS said this project was considered prospective for iron-oxide-copper-gold (IOCG) discoveries.
Metals Australia Chairman Mike Scivolo said today’s deal was an “outstanding opportunity” for the company.
“These new projects give Metals Australia the opportunity to build on its exploration success over the past few months,” Mr Scivolo said.
“This includes at our Manindi project in WA, where multiple high-grade lithium pegmatite intersections have been produced and where we have also identified high-grade zinc resource extensions and made a new vanadium with nickel, copper and cobalt discovery.”
He said the Payne Gully purchase was in line with MLS’ focus on projects in highly-prospective mineralised terranes.
In return for its 80-per-cent interest in Payne Gully, Metals Australia will issue the sellers 40 million MLS shares at seven cents upon signing the formal agreement. Then, subject to shareholder approval, MLS will issue the sellers another 84 million shares at the same price and pay $300,000 in cash.
Shares in Metals Australia were up 12.5 per cent to 5.4 cents at 10:18 am AEST.
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