IGO to farm-into Venus Metals’ Henderson nickel and lithium project
IGO will spend $4 million on exploring Henderson for lithium and nickel to acquire a 70% interest.
Major miner IGO (ASX: IGO) has agreed to farm-into Venus Metals’ (ASX: VMC) Henderson nickel-lithium project in Western Australia, with the deal including a $1 million “reimbursement” to the junior.
Under the deal announced this morning, IGO can progressively acquire up to 70% of the project by spending $4 million on exploration and providing a $1 million “reimbursement” to Venus.
As part of the agreement, IGO will fund all exploration through to completion of a pre-feasibility study.
If a pre-feasibility study is completed, IGO has the right to acquire Venus’ remaining 30% stake in the project for a price based on “fair market value”.
The purchase price will be reduced by any IGO’s aggregate expenditure on the project.
If IGO elects not to purchase the remaining 30%, the project will be owned under an unincorporated joint venture.
Venus managing director Matthew Hogan said the company was “thrilled” to cement an agreement with IGO regarding the Henderson project.
He noted the project was located in an emerging nickel and lithium province where “significant spodumene” had been discovered directly north.
Henderson project
Henderson is located in WA’s Yilgarn Craton and comprises four granted tenements covering 800 square kilometres.
The project hosts about 25km of strike from the Mt Ida/Ularring Greenstone Belt.
According to Venus, the Mt Ida/Ularring Greenstone Belt has been historically known for its gold and nickel prospectivity, but recent discoveries of spodumene deposits have highlighted its lithium potential.
Delta Lithium’s (ASX: DLI) Mt Ida project borders Henderson and has a current resource of 12.7 million tonnes grading 1.2% lithium.
Formerly known as Red Dirt till last week, Delta is developing a direct shipping ore lithium mine at Mt Ida, followed by a longer-term concentrate operation.
In addition to the lithium potential, Venus has identified several anomalies that could represent nickel targets at Henderson.
Exploration at Henderson to-date has involved surface mapping and rock sampling along with shallow aircore and reverse circulation drilling.
This has identified several outcropping pegmatite clusters spanning 20km of strike.