Exciting News Today NUBIAN TO ACQUIRE STAVELY'S FOSTERVILLE EAST & TASMANIAN GOLD PROJECTS
On July 11, 2020, Nubian Resources Ltd. entered into a binding letter of intent (LOI) with Stavely Minerals Ltd. (SVY) and its wholly owned subsidiary, Stavely Tasmania Pty. Ltd., to acquire Stavely's interest in three projects: Fosterville East and the Lefroy and Mathinna projects, subject to final due diligence and negotiation of definitive agreements. Together, the Projects comprise six exploration licenses that include the Fosterville East Project located in central Victoria, approximately 10 km east of Kirkland Lake Gold's Fosterville Gold Mine, and the Lefroy and Mathinna projects located in northeast Tasmania. Further details on the Projects are included below.
Martin Walter, President & CEO of Nubian, commented, "With the Fosterville East Project's close proximity to the Fosterville Mine and the Lefroy and Mathinna projects having similar geology as central Victoria, these exploration projects are a perfect addition to the Company's more advanced Yandoit Gold Project that is at development stage. The Company is working to finalize definitive documents for the Yandoit Gold Project and is looking forward to executing on its exploration and development plans in Australia."
Chris Cairns, Executive Chairman and Managing Director of Stavely added, "We are pleased to have undertaken this transaction with Nubian which allows Stavely to focus its efforts on exploration of our recent copper-gold discovery in western Victoria. Nubian's technically experienced team progressing a focused exploration campaign at these high-potential orogenic gold assets will provide Stavely with exposure to future upside from exploration success via a significant shareholding in Nubian at a time of significant investor interest in the Victoria gold exploration industry in the North American market."
In exchange for acquiring 100% of Stavely's interest in the Projects, Nubian has paid an AU$100,000 (CA$94,900) non-refundable deposit and will issue Nubian shares equal to AU$2,400,000 (CA$2,278,000) based on the volume weighted average price of Nubian shares on the five trading days prior to the execution of definitive agreements, subject to a minimum of 5,050,000 common shares being issued. Closing of the Acquisition is expected to occur by September 12, 2020 and is subject to, among other things, the receipt of all necessary approvals and all conditions having been satisfied or waived with respect to the terms of the LOI including the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.
Central Victoria
The Fosterville East Project (100% EL006668 - 82 km2), located within the Bendigo Structural Zone approximately 10 km east of Kirkland Lake Gold's Fosterville Gold Mine and immediately east of a recently lifted exploration moratorium area, is largely covered by shallow cover which has limited the amount of past exploration. There is at least one major interpreted structure (Mount Pleasant Fault) running through the tenement which appears to be sub-parallel to the main north-northwest structures that control gold mineralisation at the Fosterville Gold Mine. Like several major Victorian goldfields, the Fosterville Mine lies in the hanging wall of the west-dipping Redesdale Fault, Bendigo lies in the hanging wall of the Whitelaw Fault, and Ballarat in the hanging wall of the Williamson Creek Fault. Gold mineralization is associated with smaller faults that are interpreted to splay off these major structures. Most of the Fosterville East licence lies within a few kilometres of the hanging wall of the major north-northeast trending Heathcote Fault Zone, with the target Mount Pleasant Creek Fault interpreted as a north-northwest splay off of the west-dipping Heathcote Fault.
In addition to carrying out a comprehensive review of all historical exploration data pertinent to the licence area, Nubian will evaluate various cutting-edge exploration targeting techniques which have been refined and tested in recent years. In particular, the Company will investigate the application of reprocessed thermal remote sensing imagery for the identification and quantification of mineral alteration assemblages masked by transported overburden. Another source for state-of-the-art exploration methodologies is the State Geological Survey of Victoria which has been applying predictive structural and tectonic analysis for vectoring into district-wide mineralisation pathways. By availing itself of these relatively low (or zero) cost "pre-drilling" tools, Nubian will aim to effectively locate and prioritise ‘blind' targets within the Fosterville East tenement.
Northeast Tasmania
The 27 km2 Lefroy Project consists of one Retention Licence (RL1/2011) which covers the historical Pinafore and Chum mines, and one Exploration Licence (EL3/2015) which covers the majority of the remaining historical Lefroy Goldfield. The Lefroy Goldfield is dominated by high-grade, east-west trending gold reefs that have historically been mined to depths of 30 to 100 metres. Historical reporting from Mineral Resources Tasmania show that the Lefroy Goldfield produced more than 167,000 ounces of gold at an average grade of 26 g/t Au, with the bulk of production coming from four mines that included the Pinafore and Chum mines1. The area has seen limited regional exploration activity in the last 20 years with most exploration focused near the past-producing mines.
The 142 km2 Mathinna Project consists of four Exploration Licences (EL2/2015, EL19/2018, EL4/2019, EL6/2019) that cover about 30 km of structural trend within the historical Alberton-Mathinna Goldfield. Historical reporting from Mineral Resources Tasmania show that production from the Mathinna Project area is about 315,000 ounces of gold at an average reported grade of 26 g/t Au, with 20,000 to 30,000 ounces coming from alluvial production2.
The Company notes that limited recent exploration and drilling has been completed and the selected sampling disclosed above are not necessarily representative of the mineralization currently hosted on the Lefroy and Mathinna projects. A Qualified Person has not verified the data disclosed in respect of the Lefroy and Mathinna projects, including sampling, analytical and test data underlying this information. The data comes from historic reports prepared by previous owners and available in the public record including Mineral Resources Tasmania.