Pilbara Minerals snaps up Mt York ground
Kairos Minerals has offloaded several non-core prospecting licences and an associated mining lease application at its Mt York gold project.
These assets, which contain a gold resource of 0.23 million ounces (Moz) across two satellite gold deposits, were sold to Pilbara Minerals for a total of $20 million, including a two per cent royalty on future sales of gold, lithium and tantalum.
Kairos retains the larger 1.38-million-ounce (Moz) main trend resource at Mt York, which remains the cornerstone of the project and extends over a continuous 3km zone.
“The $20 million sale to Pilbara Minerals is an attractive deal which will create significant value for our shareholders,” Kairos Minerals managing director Peter Turner said.
“The tenure being sold represents a small and non-core part of our Mt York gold project, meaning we will retain the 1.38Moz main trend resource which underpins the Mt York gold project and have access to a further 1.4km of the continuous main trend mineralisation into the Pilbara ground that we know is well mineralised.”
Additionally, Kairos and Pilbara Minerals could each enter an agreement regarding all mineral rights (except lithium and tantalum) over 367 square kilometres of neighbouring exploration tenements, which includes an additional 1.4km extension of Mt York’s main trend.
Kairos chair Zane Lewis said their strategic positioning puts the company in a strong place.
“By proposing to secure mineral rights to an additional 367 square kilometres of highly prospective ground that has seen minimal modern-day exploration, located adjacent to the existing Mt York resource, we are positioning Kairos as a key player in the area, driving our business towards a development scenario with significant blue-sky upside.”
The sale’s proceeds will support Kairos’s plans to expand the Mt York resource and undertake development studies, including a minimum 5000m drilling program targeting higher-grade, near-surface mineralisation.
The scoping study for the Mt York gold project, managed by GR Engineering, is already underway and after an internal valuation exercise has confirmed strong potential for the Mt York to be a “high value, robust mine”.