Barton Gold (ASX: BGD)(OTCQB: BGDFF) will spend a total of $15 million in cash and shares to acquire the Wudinna gold project in South Australia from Cobra Resources.
The project — which houses the Barnes, White Tank, Clarke and Baggy Green discoveries — is located approximately 200 kilometres south-east of Barton’s Tunkillia gold development and 200km west of the township of Whyalla in the north-central area of the Eyre Peninsula.
The acquisition will include tenements granted for exploration licence applications 2024/0033, 2024/0034, 2024/0035 and 2024/0036.
Increased Gold Resource
Barton expects Wudinna will add 279,000 ounces (5.81 million tonnes at 1.5 grams per tonne gold) to Barton’s South Australian portfolio, taking the company’s total gold endowment in the region to 2.14Moz (78.9Mt at 0.85g/t).
Exploration licence 2024/0032 (and underlying EL 5953), which hosts Barnes and White Tank as well as Cobra’s Boland rare earths project, will remain under Cobra’s ownership.
Cobra will also retain mineral rights for certain rare earths and other elements across the tenements included in the sale, and Barton will acquire all other mineral rights.
Transaction Terms
Under the terms of the transaction, Barton will pay Cobra an initial consideration of $1m comprising a $50,000 non-refundable deposit, $150,000 cash and $800,000 in Barton shares on granting of the tenements.
The company will pay a further $4.5m comprising $300,000 cash and $4.2m in Barton shares on transfer of title.
Barton will also pay Cobra contingency benefits of as much as $9.5m in cash and Barton shares if it achieves certain exploration and production milestones.
Low-cost Optionality
Barton managing director Alexander Scanlon said the company had completed due diligence on the sale assets.
“Wudinna offers significant low-cost optionality to our long-term regional development objectives and we will be pleased to welcome Cobra and its shareholders to our register as we steadily unlock value across our entire platform,” he said.
“We applaud South Australia for a new regulatory framework permitting the sub-division of mineral tenements which has enabled a transaction which would otherwise not have materialised.”
(20min delay)