Austminex To Commence Historic Exploration Program
WA-based gold group Austminex Limited and its Canadian-based partner Matador Mining Pty Ltd will shortly commence the most intensive and comprehensive exploration & development program ever seen in the history of the Coolgardie region after yesterday completing the acquisition of the Coolgardie Gold Project (CGP) from Leviathan Resources Limited and Herald Resources Limited.
Austminex and Matador said yesterday that drilling was scheduled to commence later this month at key targets within the newly acquired CGP after the newly established Joint Venture made an outstanding aggregate settlement payment of A$3,464,053 to the vendors (less rehabilitation costs for the CGP), plus the issue of 5 million Austminex shares.
The final payment follows the receipt of all regulatory approvals for the acquisition and recent announcements by both companies regarding funding arrangements. Matador has secured C$6 million in funding through a secured convertible debenture from fellow TSX-V listed Committee Bay Resources Limited, while Austminex has lodged a Prospectus to raise up to A$5.88 million through the issue of 140 million shares at 4.2 cents.
Austminex yesterday issued 80,825,689 shares pursuant to this prospectus raising. The company has also extended the closing date for applications under the prospectus from the original August 8, 2005 date to August 19.
The joint acquisition of the CGP signals the most significant regional amalgamation of tenement holdings in the Eastern Goldfields since the Kalgoorlie Super Pit concept was first envisioned in the 1980s, and is expected to revitalize gold exploration and development at Coolgardie by bringing a coordinated, regional approach to the newly consolidated tenement holdings for the first time in history.
Austminex's Managing Director, Peter Williams, said the Joint Venture would pursue an intensive and systematic exploration program at Coolgardie to establish a long-term reserve and resource inventory, bringing to fruition a concept for consolidation of the historically fragmented region first conceived by Austminex's Exploration Manager, Chuck McCormick, over a decade ago.
"This is an exciting period for Coolgardie and for both companies," Mr Williams said.
"We will also have the benefit of significant technical and geological input from Matador, with a team of geologists from Canada currently in Coolgardie working on our extensive database for the region and prioritizing key targets. Matador has extensive experience in exploring prolific greenstone belts such as Coolgardie, where we believe there is significant potential for the discovery of further multi-million ounce orebodies."
