New Talisman Acquires Newcrest NZ Pty Ltd
New Talisman Acquires Newcrest NZ Pty Ltd
• NTL Buys 80% interest in Rahu
• Drill ready targets and all data acquired
• Drilling to commence post SPP
New
Talisman (NTL) is pleased to announce that, it has acquired
100% of Newcrest New Zealand Exploration Pty Ltd, a
subsidiary of Newcrest Mining Limited (Newcrest) that held
80% of the highly prospective Rahu Project with 20% held by
NTL. NTL has entered into a sale and purchase agreement with
Newcrest which supersedes the previous agreements with
Newcrest. NTL is evaluating options to fast track the
exploration project having acquired all geological and site
targeting data and logging.
The Rahu permit lies to
the north of the Karangahake Gorge, between Mackaytown and
Waikino. It covers the Rahu Ridge-White Rocks area (which is
primarily rolling farmland) and extends into Department of
Conservation (DoC) scrub and forest in the north of the
permit. Access into the middle part of the permit is via
Rahu Road, with further access from farm
tracks.
CEO Matthew Hill said “Following
discussions with Newcrest it was agreed that NTL could
acquire Newcrest’s 80% interest in the Rahu project. We
are very excited by the opportunity of this drill ready
prospect and appreciate the efforts of the Newcrest team in
completing this transaction in a short space of time”.
Chairman Charbel Nader said “We are pleased to
take over effective ownership of the Rahu asset. Newcrest
have been a great partner, however with our on-ground NZ
presence and expertise, and our desire to move ahead in
developing this asset expeditiously, this deal makes sense
for all.”
Prior to entering in joint venture
discussions with Newcrest NTL had completed a comprehensive
exploration and evaluation work programme on the permit
which had delineated a 700m wide x 1.5 km long NNE trending
zone of mineralisation and hydrothermal alteration. This has
been shown to be the NNE extension of the Karangahake system
recognised within the Talisman permit.
31 drill
holes, totalling 4585 metres, have been completed into this
structure and have intersected highly anomalous Au and Ag
values with some high-grade gold and silver intercepts. Upon
successful completion of the SPP and conditional upon
sufficient funds raised, the sites which have been targeted
by Newcrest for drilling will be finalized and applications
made to commence drilling at Rahu as soon as possible.
Resource estimation carried out based on these
results has determined a JORC 2012 compliant resource of
41,590 oz. gold and 258,400 oz. silver in the indicated and
inferred categories.
Exploration Targets have been
estimated at 14 million tonnes ranging between 0.5g/t and
2.0g/t Au for between 225,000 oz. and 902,000 oz. gold. This
target constitutes a global Exploration Target as defined in
the 2012 JORC Code. The potential quantity and grade is
conceptual in nature and there has been insufficient
exploration to estimate a Mineral Resource. It is uncertain
if further exploration will result in the estimation of a
Mineral Resource.
The resource estimate upgrade
recently completed at the Talisman Mine, culminating in a
JORC 2012 compliant estimate of 427,000 Oz Gold Equivalent,
gives the company further comfort in its development of Rahu
on an accelerated basis.
The current SPP which
offers existing shareholders the opportunity to participate
at a generous discount to share prices immediately prior to
the SPP:- being 2.2 cents per share with an attaching 5 year
option at 5.5 cents per share which provides a further
discount at a range of NZ 1.1 to 2.1 cents or 0.22 to 0.425
cents per share discount under a Black Scholes calculation
formula.
The offer allows the exploitation of the
Rahu permit and the acceleration of operations at Talisman
which provide the company the ability to accelerate the
pathway to full production and subsequent revenues. New
Talisman advises the offer closes on Friday the 22nd
September 2017 at 5pm NZT as set out in the offer document
which can be found at http://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20170828/pdf/43lsxfd3rt343h.pdf
ends