ann: abu to divest exploartion tenement, page-11

"Hmm, was fine with this initially but there is a slight fishy smell lingering - ABU's Chairman Mike Etheridge is also Chairman of CLY, now in the ann all the right noises were made about his lack of involvement in the transaction, but really ......?"

Forget the conspiracy theories!

The reason for the deal with this company is that Darren has confidence in its management’s ability.
As for the deal itself, it is not because Darren thinks it has little potential. To the contrary he wants to see it move ahead ASAP because of his confidence in the project.
ABM will have 27% interest and 47% on exercise of the options. They will have someone on the board and contribute to the exploration efforts but without the need to spend the money and still have strong exposure (47% over the 3 years option period) to the upside. They also get this upside exposure while maximising efforts and cash investment where it brings the most immediate benefit to shareholders- Old Pirate.
This is as good as a JV agreement.