Augustus sells project stake for $2m

West Perth-based Augustus Minerals Ltd has offloaded its 19 per cent interest in a Kazakhstan project for over $2 million in a bid to focus on its Western Australian project.

The company, which floated on the local bourse earlier this year, said it will sell the stake to its joint venture partner Cigma Metals Corporation for $US1.5 million ($A2.2 million).

On settlement, Augustus will have some $9 million of cash in the bank, which it intends to use on its Mt Palmer project which is prospective for gold and base metals.

Investors pounced on the news, pushing the company's share price up 0.5c to 12.5c at 13:11 AEDT on an otherwise bleak day on the local market where the major indices have fallen over 5 per cent.