Great Western Exploration divests non-core Yandal West gold project to Albion Resources

Great Western Exploration (ASX: GTE) has entered into a binding agreement to divest its non-core Yandal West gold project in Western Australia to Albion Resources (ASX: ALB).

The all-scrip deal will see Great Western retain exposure to future exploration success at the project through a significant shareholding in Albion.

Completion of the transaction is expected in January.

Equal instalments

Albion’s gross consideration for the deal will comprise the issue of 22.22 million Albion shares at a deemed price of $0.045 per share and 30 million performance rights, subject to shareholder approval.

The rights will be split into two equal instalments, with the first 15 million issued on confirmation of a minimum 250,000-ounce gold resource at Yandal West with a grade of at least 0.75 grams per tonne and the remainder issued on a decision to mine.

Albion’s directors, who hold a combined 18% of the ordinary shares on issue, have confirmed they will vote in favour of the acquisition.

Core assets

Great Western managing director Shane Pike said the Yandal West divestment would allow the company to focus on its core prospective assets.

“We have an exciting exploration program underway at the Oval South copper-gold discovery and have planned drilling at the Sumo niobium target and multiple prospects within the Juggernaut volcanic-hosted massive sulphide mineralised system,” he said.

“Yandal West […] is not able to get the attention it deserves within our company and we are delighted to have reached an agreement with Albion, which is well-funded and has the dedicated resources to progress the project.”

Project location

Yandal West comprises three contiguous tenements over 61 square kilometres of the world-class Yandal Greenstone Belt, nearby to the Bronzewing and Jundee gold mines owned by Northern Star Resources (ASX: NST).

The project is adjacent to the recent Siona gold discovery made by Yandal Resources (ASX: YRL), which this month reported strong intercepts, including 107m at 1g/t gold from 96m to end of hole.

Several shallow, high-grade gold targets including Barwidgee Fault, Ives Find and May Queen have been identified within Yandal West for priority testing.

Exploration plans

Albion plans to aggressively explore the drill-ready Barwidgee Fault, which is believed to have the potential to host a large gold mineralised system over 3km of strike (excluding potential parallel shears).

The company’s first-pass proof-of-concept drilling in 2023 returned significant gold results, including 4m at 9g/t from 39m and 7m at 1.02g/t from 23m.

Experienced mining executive Chris Tuckwell will join the Albion board on completion of the acquisition.