Investee Company Greatland Gold signs US$65m deal

RNS Number : 7816S

Starvest PLC

13 March 2019

 

13 March 2019

Starvest Plc ("Starvest" or the "Company")

Investee Company Greatland Gold plc signs US$65m deal for Havieron Gold-Copper Find

Starvest PLC (LON:SVE), the London Stock Exchange AIM-listed specialist mining and resources investment business, is pleased to advise shareholders that investee company Greatland Gold plc ("Greatland"; AIM:GGP) has entered into a "farm-in" agreement with Newcrest Operations Limited ("Newcrest"), a wholly owned subsidiary of Newcrest Mining Limited (ASX:NCM), Australia's leading gold company and one of the world's largest gold producers.

Under the agreement, Newcrest will establish a joint venture with Greatland on the Havieron Gold-Copper project, which is located in the highly attractive Paterson Region in northern Western Australia. Under a series of staged investments, Newcrest may acquire up to 70% of the joint venture for US$65m (GBP£50m) over a six-year period.

The original announcement by Greatland can be found at the following link:

https://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/news/market-news/market-news-detail/GGP/13998113.html

The original announcement by Newcrest can be found at the following link:

https://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20190312/pdf/443f1722hyf8p0.pdf

Callum Baxter, Chairman and CEO, commented: 'This is a significant milestone for Starvest investee company Greatland Gold plc. The drilling intercepts announced late last year have attracted the attention of the world's largest mining companies. We view this deal with Newcrest as a major validation of the work done by Greatland and the prospectivity of the Havieron gold-copper find. The funding and support of Newcrest maximise the value of the Havieron asset and provide the opportunity to fast track production."

Newcrest has entered into an exploration farm-in agreement that establishes a joint venture with Greatland over part of its Havieron licence. Newcrest believes Havieron has the potential to deliver high grade gold-copper ore feed to its Telfer operation, located only 45km to the west. Consequently, the farm-in agreement anticipates that the resulting joint venture ore will be processed at Telfer, which has extensive infrastructure and processing capacity, under a tolling arrangement.

Newcrest has a minimum commitment of US$5m over an initial 12-month period with the potential for Newcrest to earn up to a 70% interest through total expenditure of US$65m over a 6-year period.  Newcrest may acquire an additional 5% interest at the end of the farm-in period at fair market value for cash.

Greatland is well-funded to pursue its exploration work on the remaining parts of the Havieron licence and two other Paterson licences, as well as its five other project areas in Australia, with the potential to add other exciting mineral exploration discoveries.

Starvest is a specialist mining and resource investment company and has the industry knowledge and market exposure to select compelling opportunities early in the investment cycle.

Investors are encouraged to view our RNS feed on the Starvest web site www.starvest.co.uk/announcements.

For disclosure, Callum Baxter is founding director and Technical Director of Greatland Gold plc and Starvest holds 84,000,000 shares in Greatland Gold plc.

Callum N Baxter

Chairman & Chief Executive

13 March 2019

Enquiries to:

Starvest PLC

Callum Baxter, Chairman/CEO  [phone]  [e-mail]

Grant Thornton UK LLP (Nomad)

Colin Aaronson, Harrison Clarke or Seamus Fricker [phone]

SI Capital Ltd (Broker)

Nick Emerson or Alan Gunn [phone]        

 

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