Mont Royal to acquire 75% stake in Northern Lights Minerals

Australia’s Mont Royal Resources has announced plans to acquire a 75% stake in Northern Lights Minerals (NLM), a proprietary limited company with the rights to acquire a 536km² land package in the Upper Eastmain Greenstone Belt in Quebec, Canada.

The potential acquisition will provide Mont Royal with access to this land package, which will expand its presence in the province. NLM’s assets were said to be prospective for both precious and base metals mineralisation.

Besides owning a 100% stake in Tarku, RHE-Extension and CR Properties, NLM holds the option to acquire a 70% interest in the Dios Assets and a 100% interest in the Focus Assets. As agreed, Mont Royal will issue five million fully paid ordinary shares to NLM as consideration. The shares will be subject to voluntary escrow for 12 months.

“The board of Mont Royal expects to be able to complete due diligence on the acquisition assets shortly,” said the Mont Royal board. “Subsequently, the company will prepare and despatch the materials to shareholders that are required in order to consider the proposed acquisition and associated capital raising at its forthcoming Annual General Meeting.”

Australia’s Bastion Minerals to acquire San Juan gold project in Chile

Australia-based Bastion Minerals is to acquire the San Juan Gold Project in Chile’s Atacama Region. The company has signed a binding framework agreement for executing a mining purchase option contract with Sociedad Minera del Norte regarding the acquisition.

The agreement provides Bastion with the option to acquire a 100% stake in the gold project, as well as 18 mining licences covering an area of 11.5km² within the Capote Mining District.

The purchase option agreement will be signed within 45 days after the completion of Bastion due diligence. During the option period, Bastion can conduct exploration works on the licences, and a $1.5m total consideration will be paid for the acquisition along with other commitments.

“This acquisition represents a rare opportunity to consolidate and control a historically significant high-grade gold system covering approximately 30km²,” said Bastion executive director Ross Landles.

“The potential of this new tenement package cannot be understated and represents the execution of Bastion’s corporate strategy to identify, acquire and explore high-grade gold districts that have been locked up for several decades and missed any modern exploration methods.”

Australian Mines signs offtake agreement with LG Energy Solution

Australian Mines has signed an offtake agreement with battery producer LG Energy Solutions (LGES) for mixed nickel-cobalt hydroxide from the Sconi Project in North Queensland.

Under the initial term of the binding agreement, LG Chem subsidiary LGES will purchase 71,000 dry tonnes of nickel and 7,000dmt of cobalt in the form of a mixed hydroxide precipitate from the project.

This represents 100% of the anticipated production at the Sconi project. Effective from the end of 2024, the agreement is expected to help LG Energy address the increasing concerns about future raw material supplies. The supply agreement has an initial six-year term and may be extended for a further five years by mutual agreement.

“Securing key raw materials and a responsible battery supply chain has become a critical element in gaining a greater control within the industry, as the demand for electric vehicles worldwide heightened in recent years,” said LG Energy Solution president and CEO Jong-hyun Kim.

Australia’s Core Lithium signs offtake agreement with Ganfeng

Australia’s Core Lithium has signed a binding offtake agreement with lithium producer Jiangxi Ganfeng Lithium for its Finniss project in the Northern Territory.

According to the transaction, a subsidiary of Jiangxi Ganfeng Lithium will purchase 300,000 dry tonnes of spodumene concentrate at 75,000tpa from the Finniss project over four years.

The agreement, along with the existing supply deal with Sichuan Yahua, accounts for approximately 80% of production from the project over the first four years of mine life. Ganfeng has also agreed to make an equity investment of $24.9m (A$34m) into Core Lithium at $24.8 (A$33.8) cents per share.

Core said that the investment will contribute towards the development of stage one of the Finniss lithium project. The investment is subject to the Core shareholder approval, regulatory approvals in China, and Core signing binding arrangements for a minimum total financing of $58.7m (A$80m).

“The offtake and equity investment by Ganfeng represents a transformational moment for Core,” said Core managing director Stephen Biggins. “Ganfeng has a proven track record of investing in high-quality lithium projects across the world and of being a strong and supportive offtake partner.”