Rahu Project

As we all know NTL entered into a JV with Newcrest Mining on the Rahu Project. If the JV proceeds NTL will have a 20% interest.

The recent resource upgrades and increase in MCAP has got me to thinking; is a JV on Rahu the best outcome for NTL, or would we be better of going it alone? When we entered into the JV we had a small MCAP and little cash, so basically we had to get someone else on board to spend $5m on the deep drilling programme. Circumstances have changed a little bit... we have cash in the bank, we have doubled our JORC resource, and the spectacular grades should mean that the bulk sampling will deliver positive cashflow.

I'm by no means against a JV with Newcrest on the Rahu Project. There a many benefits to working with a gold behemoth such as Newcrest. I just wanted to put this out there and get others peoples thought on it.

Just to the jog the memory as to the terms/details of the JV, below is an extract from the announcement dated 28th June 2016:

"The Board of New Talisman Gold Mines Limited (NTL) is delighted to announce that it has executed a binding agreement over the Rahu Project with Newcrest International Pty Ltd a wholly owned subsidiary of Newcrest Mining Limited (ASX:NCM) following the signing of a non-binding Heads of Agreement on 19 May, 2015.

Newcrest international Pty Ltd was awarded a five year exploration permit (MEP 60144) for the Rahu Project by the New Zealand Government in May 2016. Since then NTL and Newcrest have been discussing their on-going relationship in light of the original non-binding Heads of Agreement.

Key terms of the agreement include:
• Should Newcrest spend NZ$5.0 million on the Rahu Project a Joint Venture will be established at that time and a direct 20% interest transferred to NTL.
• In the interim 20% of the Rahu project will be held on Trust by Newcrest on behalf of NTL subject to Ministerial consent.
• Newcrest will manage the exploration activity on the Rahu Project.
• If a joint venture is not established 100% of the project would be transferred to NTL subject to Ministerial consent.
• Upon formation of a joint venture each party will be required pay their respective exploration and development costs on a pro-rata basis.
• If NTL dilutes to below 10% equity, this equity would convert to a Net Smelter Return, (NSR) of 2.5%.

Matthew Hill said “We are delighted to be working with Newcrest on Rahu, a project where New Talisman made the discovery, and which we have always felt was a big company project due to the conceptual modelling that suggests Rahu hosts a major vein system at depth, possibly similar to other gold deposits in the Waihi Gold District such as Talisman, Golden Cross and Martha Hill. The signing of this agreement with Newcrest supports our view of the potential of this key target immediately north of and along strike from the historically highly productive Talisman Mine.”