Surely this is good news! It unlocks the gold in these 2...

Surely this is good news!

It unlocks the gold in these 2 tenements which are adjacent to the Fortnum tenements.

In a deal done with RNI/AUR ('AUR') 4 years ago (when MLX bought Fortnum from AUR), MLX also acquired the gold rights to AUR's 80% interest in these 2 tenements. FEL already had a 20% interest in all minerals in place going back some years.

MLX/WGX ('WGX') was therefore reliant on AUR to find a minable resource before being able to capitalise on its gold rights. FEL had no obligations as it was free carried until a decision to mine had been made. It was therefore entirely left up to AUR which, although it has tried hard to find minable copper, has more or less run out of steam in fully exploring the 2 tenements.

There is copper there. There is gold there. The mineralisation is quite widespread. It's just that no easy good stuff has been found to date.

AUR had a pre-emptive right to buy FEL's 20% interest but has waived that right, thus allowing WGX to deal with FEL.

The result now is that AUR and WGX are owners 80/20. However, the gold is 100% WGX. The non-gold is 80AUR/20WGX.

Cookie said this in the ann:

“This acquisition clears the path to mining the high grade gold cap above the Forrest Prospect. The mining of the gold cap will also expose the high grade copper already defined at Forrest and Westgold could consider the mining and commercialisation of the copper with Auris, by the simple addition of float cells at its operating Fortnum Plant.”

I suspect that the 2 Boards have agreed on something. Whilst WGX is free-carried as to 20% of all minerals, i reckon that the 2 companies will get together with a new deal whereby the 2 tenements will be fully explored and exploited. In that new deal WGX will run the show - imo.

There is copper there, no doubt. I have been an AUR holder for 8 years and have followed its activities  very closely over that period.

So, WGX might become a copper producer. Well, who would have thought! - given the demerger with MLX to be base metals and WGX a pure gold play.

A bit over a year ago WGX found copper at Starlight. Earlier this year it announced that a copper  exploration program was being worked on, with more news to follow soon. So far as I can see, nothing else has been announced  about the copper at Starlight. Was is a fizzer? Or has the matter developed in a positive way but because it's not price-sensitive nothing has been announced? Hmmmm!

By stating that the Fortnum gold plant can be adapted so as to also process copper makes me think that  copper recovery is a real possibility, not only in the 2 said tenements, but also in and around Fortnum.