Monument Mining Limited (TSX-V: MMY and FSE: D7Q1) “Monument” or
the “Company” is pleased to announce that it has entered into a
Joint Venture Arrangement (the “Transaction”) with Odyssey Energy
Ltd (proposed to be renamed Odyssey Gold Ltd) (ASX: ODY) to advance
the Tuckanarra Gold Project (“Tuckanarra”) located in the Murchison
Goldfield.
Tuckanarra is currently 100% owned by Monument
through its Australian subsidiary Monument Murchison Pty. Ltd.
(“Monument Murchison”), which also holds 100% of the Burnakura and
Gabanintha Gold Projects (“Murchison Gold Projects”) as its primary
high-grade gold development projects in the Meekatharra district.
Subject to the closing of the Transaction, ODY will own 80% of
Tuckanarra and develop Tuckanarra together with Monument under an
unincorporated joint venture.
TRANSACTION
HIGHLIGHTS
-
Sell 80% of Tuckanarra interest for consideration of AUD$5 million
cash subject to certain conditions;
-
Retain a 1% NSR royalty over Odyssey’s 80% shared interest;
-
Retain a 20% interest in Tuckanarra Project free carried until a
decision to mine;
-
Preferentially process ODY’s gold ore through Monument’s Burnakura
gold plant subject to commercial terms;
-
Jointly develop the Tuckanarra Gold Project through an
unincorporated joint venture.
President and CEO Cathy Zhai said: “The JV
arrangement with Odyssey is a strategic move by the Company to
divest Tuckanarra, one of our quality gold projects, allowing it to
be advanced faster; and have our team focus on the primary highly
prospective gold projects Burnakura and Gabanintha, former mining
centers in Meekatharra and Cue region, and move these two projects
closer to production through our existing infrastructure. This
strategy will complement our Selinsing Gold Project in Malaysia,
which has been in production since 2010 and has produced over
315,000 ounces of gold to date.”
Ms. Zhai further commented: “We are excited to
work with the Odyssey team, a part of Apollo Group in Perth which
has a long and successful history of exploring and developing
mining assets around the world. Apollo Group collectively has
financed in excess of $1bn of mining projects. We are open to all
opportunities to increase our shareholders value as a whole.”
To date Monument has defined a total 381,000
ounces of gold resources under NI43-101 standards at Burnakura from
its three gold projects (Figure 1), all acquired in 2014 with an
aggregate historical gold resources of 644,000 ounces under JORC
standards, of which 81,000 ounces were attributed to Tuckanarra.
ODY plans to progressively explore high grade opportunity at
Tuckanarra after closing the Transaction.
Tuckanarra is directly adjacent to the Stakewell
Gold Project that was recently acquired by ODY. Together ODY will
own tenements covering 25km of strike of highly fertile banded iron
formation (“BIF”) and greenstones with extensive gold mining
history. Given Odyssey access to Monument’s Burnakura gold process
plant located 25km from Odyssey’s projects, Odyssey will
preferentially process ores extracted from both projects, subject
to commercial terms at the Burnakura gold processing
plant.
Figure 1 is available
at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/bc71899e-ec99-48cf-aadf-190290f19eef
TENEMENT SALE AND
UNINCORPORATED
JV STRUCTURE
Tenements Sale
Monument and Monument Murchison (together
“Monument Group”) entered into a binding Tenement Sale Agreement
with ODY and its subsidiary Tuckanarra Resources Pty. Ltd.
(“Tuckanarra Resources”) (together “ODY Group”), under which
Monument Group sells to ODY Group a 80% of the Tuckanarra Gold
Project for the aggregated consideration of AUD$5 million in cash,
plus 1% net smelter return royalty over the ODY’s percentage share
the Tuckanarra Gold Project on standard terms, as detailed
below:
-
Deposit: AUD$150,000 cash payable on signing the Tenement Sale
Agreement;
-
Completion Consideration: AUD$1,850,000 cash payable on completion
of the Acquisition;
-
Deferred Consideration: AUD$2,000,000 cash payable within 6 months
of completion of the Acquisition; and
-
Milestone Consideration: AUD$1,000,000 cash payable on the
delineation of an independently assessed mineral resource in
accordance with the JORC Code (2012 Edition) of at least 100,000
ounces of gold at a minimum resource grade of 1.55g/t in relation
to Tuckanarra Gold Project, within 36 months of completion of the
Acquisition.
The acquisition is subject to condition
precedents including:
- Regulatory Approval:
All ASX and other regulatory approvals required in relation to the
Acquisition having been obtained either unconditionally or on
conditions acceptable to the relevant party (acting
reasonably);
-
Due Diligence: Odyssey completing due diligence on the Tuckanarra
Gold Project subject to its satisfaction;
-
Capital Raising: Odyssey successfully completing a capital raising
of at least $1 million at a price not less than $0.02 per
share;
-
Shareholder Approval: Odyssey obtaining shareholder approval in
relation to the Acquisition or relevant aspects of
The completion of the Transaction is projected
by December 9, 2020. The cash proceeds will be used for Murchison
Gold Projects development and working capital.
Unincorporated Joint Venture Agreement
Tuckanarra Resources (80%) and Monument
Murchison (20%) have also entered into an unincorporated joint
venture agreement in respect to the exploration and development of
the Tuckanarra, on the following key terms:
-
Tuckanarra Resources will be the manager of the joint venture;
-
A joint venture management committee will comprise of two members
from Tuckanarra Resources and one member from Monument Murchison
and will have the responsibility for overseeing joint venture
matters, including a decision to mine;
-
Monument Murchison’s 20% interest is free carried until a decision
to mine on the Tuckanarra Gold Project, following which the
participant will contribute pro rata or dilute;
-
If a decision to mine is made, the parties will form an
unincorporated mining joint venture on certain agreed terms and
subject to a separate mining joint venture agreement;
-
There is a pre-emptive right on disposal of joint venture interests
and drag along and tag along rights;
-
Tuckanarra Resources and Monument Murchison have agreed to
negotiate in good faith a processing arrangement on reasonable
arm's length commercial terms for Monument Murchison to process ore
extracted by Tuckanarra Resources from the Tuckanarra or Stakewell
Gold Projects at Monument Murchison's Burnakura plant in
Meekatharra, Western Australia; and
- Other
standard terms and conditions for an unincorporated exploration
joint venture including areas of interest and rights upon default
by a participant (including an option to acquire a defaulting
participant’s interest at fair market value).
Planned Exploration under the Unincorporated
Joint Venture
Upon completion of the Transaction, work planned
to develop the targeting profile for Tuckanarra in the near term
will include:
-
Reassessment and re-processing of historical high-resolution
magnetics in the area;
-
Potential sub audio magnetics ground geophysical survey;
-
An updated 3D structural targeting model of the region;
-
Confirmation of the drill database through on-ground work and
reference to historical company reports;
-
Re-interpretation of soil sampling data including potential infill
lines;
-
A target ranking exercise over the area; and
-
Re-logging and re-assaying of drill core and samples where
appropriate.
MURCHISON GOLD PROJECT
DEVELOPMENT (BURNAKURA AND
GABANINTHA)
Murchison Gold Project is situated in the
Meekatharra district. The unique position in the Murchison
Goldfields, where historically millions ounces of gold were
delivered and major production from Westgold Resources and Ramelius
Resources are still ongoing. This together with the fully
functional small size gold processing plant designed for high grade
production that can be upgraded to larger capacity, makes Murchison
Gold Project strategic and attractive as the recent success of
Musgrave Minerals and Spectrum Metals highlights.
Burnakura and Gabanintha Gold Projects are at
the development stage with considerable exploration potential,
located approximately 650km north of Perth and 45km south of
Meekatharra in the Murchison Goldfields, containing a total of
381,000 ounces of gold under NI43-101 Standards (historical
resources of 563,000 ounces). The projects have extensive mining
histories and have been mined via numerous open pits and
underground methods as well as smaller workings. The projects cover
an area on the eastern margin of the Archean Meekatharra -Wydgee
greenstone belt within the north-eastern Murchison Domain of the
Yilgarn Craton.
The 260,000 tpa gold processing plant, 108 man
camp and infrastructure facilities are well maintained, and ready
to be placed into production once a three stage refurbished
crushing plant is installed. An economic assessment was completed
in 2018 and it is currently under review, with the new rally of
gold prices in 2020. The Murchison Gold Project requires both
development and exploration work to increase its prospective
potential to add value to the Monument Group as a whole.
Burnakura Project
The Burnakura project consists of a full set of
gold processing facilities and operating camp, 6 mining licenses, 3
exploration licences (2 under application) and 5 prospecting
licenses covering a total area of 123.1km2. It contains a NI43-101
compliant Resource of 381,000 ounces of gold. The historical
resources were in total 410,000 ounces of gold under JORC
standards. Significant effort was devoted to development and
exploration since acquisition, to establish production capacity and
economic viability to compliment the Selinsing Gold production.
The Burnakura gold deposits are situated along a
northeast trending splay (Burnakura Shear Zone) that parallels and
is linked to the north-northeast trending regional scale Mt Magnet
fault. The Burnakura Shear Zone Gold mineralization is typical of a
brittle to semi-ductile shear zone, forming semi-continuous
dilational veins.
Figure 2 is available
at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/5319cac1-67eb-422c-9a51-af1400e7d3bf
The main historical mining period was between
1898 and 1961, and a total production of 32,231 ounces of gold at
26 g/t has been estimated to have been produced. More recent
production, prior to the commissioning of the Burnakura gold
processing plant in 2005, from the 13 producing pits and two
underground operations amounts to 216,000 ounces of gold at 3.7g/t.
Gold production since the Burnakura plant was commissioned totals
58,371 ounces from Tectonic, ATW Gold Corp and Kentor Gold.
The project has been extensively explored and
numerous drill programs have been carried out since 1986.A total of
20,642 drill holes are in the current database as well as 13,278
surface samples. The main mining leases were covered by an aerial
photographic survey carried out in 2014, and various geophysical
surveys have been completed including an airborne magnetics,
radiometric and digital elevation survey in 2008 at 40m line
spacing. In addition, several structural interpretations have been
completed by various consultants.
An updated mineral resource was reported by SRK
in 2018 under NI43-101 standards, with 381,000 ounces of gold for
the NOA 1-6, NOA 7-8, ANA, Authaal and Federal City deposits,
comprised of 88,000 ounces of Inferred and 293,000 ounces of
Indicated Resource.
Gabanintha Project
The Gabanintha project consists of 2 mining
licenses, 3 exploration licenses and 16 prospecting licenses (5
under application) covering a total area of 43.4 km2. It contains a
historical Inferred Resource of 153,000 ounces of gold at
2.16g/t.
The project lies on the Gabanintha Shear Zone, a
1km wide north-northwest anastomosing regional shear zone hosted
within a mafic and ultramafic sequence with minor volcanics.
Mineralization is associated with quartz veins and stockworks
hosted within a volcanogenic suite of lithologies which include
ultramafic, mafic and felsic volcanics, felsic porphyry,
gabbro/dolerite, volcanogenic sediments and thin BIFs.
Historical mining production of 11,800 ounces of
gold has been estimated up until 1914, with intermittent gold and
copper production until the late 1940’s. Between 1987 and 1991,
Dominion Mining expanded the resources at Kavanagh, Yagahong and
Canterbury and mined Terrell’s, Yagahong, Kavanagh, Canterbury,
Canterbury South and Tumblegum pits, producing approximately
150,000 ounces of gold. There was no production from Jinka Minerals
Limited or Kentor Gold who owned the project after Dominion.
Figure 3 is available
at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/9a6490ac-076c-4770-9cfc-76120801af34
A total of 8,718 drill holes are in the current
database as well as 13,452 surface samples. The project has been
covered by over 8 geophysical surveys including multiple EM surveys
which were primarily used to target copper mineralization. Various
resource estimations have been completed between 2011 and 2013.
Work Plan for Murchison Gold Project (Burnakura
and Gabanintha)
The work plan for the Murchison project will
consist of re-assessing the production profile at current higher
gold prices, developing a range of high priority exploration
targets, as well as further advancing existing mineral resources so
that updates can be incorporated into a new life of mine plan. In
addition, there will be further corporate development work, and
other opportunities that could potentially add value to
shareholders that will be explored.
The main focus of development work will include:
- Review and updates
of existing drilling data including wireframe remodelling for a new
Alliance resource estimation considering an underground mining
scenario.
- Review status of
data for all deposits that are included in the life of mine plan
and generate a program of work to update existing data to ensure
robust mine plans.
- Collection of
additional data and reinterpretation of data for deposits included
in the life of mine plan as required.
- Drillhole planning
to infill and immediately extend deposits to ensure mine plans are
based on comprehensive datasets.
- Resource updates as
required. This will be especially important for resources that are
being targeted by underground mining.
- Complete an updated
life of mine plan and financial model for production
potential.
The main focus of exploration will include:
- Drill programs that
will target down plunge of existing high-grade resources that have
the potential to be mined underground such as at NOA 1, 7-8 and
Alliance deposits at Burnakura and Yagahong deposits at
Gabanintha.
- Close spaced
magnetic orientation surveys that may be able to delineate
favourable structures in prospective host lithologies such as
BIF.
- Upgrade existing
drilled areas to resource status such as Tumblegum and Kavanagh at
Gabanintha.
-
Further refinement and ranking of regional style exploration
targets, that have the potential to host significant deposits.
There are multiple areas in both projects that have no first pass
sampling information.
-
Complete budget in line with exploration strategy.
The scientific and technical information in this
press release has been prepared by Adrian Woolford, B.Sc. (Hons)
Chief Geologist of Monument Mining Limited; reviewed and approved
by Roger Stangler, MEng, FAusIMM, MAIG, a Qualified Person as
defined by NI43-101, retained by Golder Associates Pty Ltd.
About Monument
Monument Mining Limited (TSX-V: MMY, FSE: D7Q1)
is an established Canadian gold producer that operates the 100%
owned Selinsing Gold Mine in Malaysia. Its experienced management
team is committed to growth and is advancing several exploration
and development projects including the Mengapur Copper and Iron
Project, in Pahang State of Malaysia, and the Murchison Gold
Projects comprising Burnakura, Gabanintha and Tuckanarra in the
Murchison area of Western Australia. The Company employs
approximately 200 people in both regions and is committed to the
highest standards of environmental management, social
responsibility, and health and safety for its employees and
neighboring communities.
Cathy Zhai, President and CEOMonument Mining
LimitedSuite 1580 -1100 Melville StreetVancouver, BC V6E 4A6
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION visit the company web
site at www.monumentmining.com or contact:
Richard
Cushing, MMY Vancouver |
T:
+1-604-638-1661 x102 |
rcushing@monumentmining.com |
"Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation
Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the
TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or
accuracy of this release."
Forward-Looking Statement
This news release includes statements containing
forward-looking information about Monument, its business and future
plans (“forward-looking statements”). Forward-looking statements
are statements that involve expectations, plans, objectives or
future events that are not historical facts and include the
Company’s plans with respect to its mineral projects and the timing
and results of proposed programs and events referred to in this
news release. Generally, forward-looking information can be
identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as
"plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget",
"scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or
"does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words
and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may",
"could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be
achieved". The forward-looking statements in this news release are
subject to various risks, uncertainties and other factors that
could cause actual results or achievements to differ materially
from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.
These risks and certain other factors include, without limitation:
risks related to general business, economic, competitive,
geopolitical and social uncertainties; uncertainties regarding the
results of current exploration activities; uncertainties in the
progress and timing of development activities; foreign operations
risks; other risks inherent in the mining industry and other risks
described in the management discussion and analysis of the Company
and the technical reports on the Company’s projects, all of which
are available under the profile of the Company on SEDAR at
www.sedar.com. Material factors and assumptions used to develop
forward-looking statements in this news release include:
expectations regarding the estimated cash cost per ounce of gold
production and the estimated cash flows which may be generated from
the operations, general economic factors and other factors that may
be beyond the control of Monument; assumptions and expectations
regarding the results of exploration on the Company’s projects;
assumptions regarding the future price of gold of other minerals;
the timing and amount of estimated future production; the expected
timing and results of development and exploration activities; costs
of future activities; capital and operating expenditures; success
of exploration activities; mining or processing issues; exchange
rates; and all of the factors and assumptions described in the
management discussion and analysis of the Company and the technical
reports on the Company’s projects, all of which are available under
the profile of the Company on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Although the
Company has attempted to identify important factors that could
cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in
forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause
results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can
be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as
actual results and future events could differ materially from those
anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not
place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company
does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements, except
in accordance with applicable securities laws.
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