15th Jul 2015 07:41
LONDON (Alliance News) - Noricum Gold Ltd Wednesday said it has issued shares to acquire a 50% interest and operational control of the Bolnisi copper and gold project in the Republic of Georgia.
The miner said the deal represents a "major transformation" for the company with the project holding a resource of 980,000 tonnes of contained copper, 6.6 million ounces of gold and 22.0 million ounces of silver.
They are currently not classed as a JORC resource, which is the Australasian code for reporting of exploration results, mineral resources and ore reserves and is used worldwide as a professional standard for reporting those results.
"As part of this strategy, the company will immediately move to implement a programme aimed at converting the historical resources to JORC compliant resources," said the company.
Noricum has paid GBP2.6 million by issuing 1.29 billion new shares at 0.2 pence per share in the company to GMC Investments Ltd with no cash element for the deal. The deal was structured via Noricum's 100% acquisition of GMC Investments.
GMC holds a 50% stake in Georgian Copper & Gold Ltd, which holds the license for the Bolnisi project. The other 50% of Georgian Copper is held by Noricum's new joint venture partner for the project, Caucasian Mining Group.
GMC also was issued with 80.0 million Noricum options, which can be exercised within eight months at 0.4 pence.
"Acquiring Bolnisi via an all-share transaction ensures the interests of our joint venture partner and those of our shareholders are aligned. At the same time, it exposes our shareholders to an immediate and significant value event," said Noricum.
The miner will spend USD6 million over a two-year period on exploration and development at the project, after which the joint venture partner, Caucasian Mining, will be required to contribute payment or dilute its stake in the project from the current 50% it holds.
Noricum shares were up 9.2% to 0.197 pence per share on Wednesday morning.
By Joshua Warner; [email protected]; @JoshAlliance
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