Aurora up on Desert JV announcement

Shares in Aurora Minerals have climbed slightly after announcing it is in discussions with its 53 per cent-owned subsidiary Desert Energy to enter into a joint venture on its wholly-owned Camel Hills Project in central Western Australia.

As part of the proposed deal Aurora will grant Desert Energy the option to earn a 70 per cent interest in the project by funding and conducting exploration.

Previous exploration at Camel Hills has been limited to reconnaissance sampling for magnetite-iron, gold and copper-nickel which has yielded numerous anomalies and targets for follow-up and drill-testing.

Aurora said the arrangement will provide it with the ability to focus its attention on its large Capricorn Project, where its high grade manganese discovery is going to have a very strong drilling focus and where preparation work for this is underway, and it's expected that final details of the proposed joint venture will be released to the market in the coming weeks.

The joint venture will be subject to the approval of shareholders of both Desert Energy and Aurora Minerals at general meetings of the two companies.

Shares in Aurora had raised three cents, or 2.88 per cent, to $1.07 at 1640AEST.

Meanwhile shares in Desert Energy have fallen one cent, or five per cent, to 19 cents per share.

Announcement below:

Aurora Minerals Limited is pleased to announce that it is in discussions with Desert Energy Limited to enter a Joint Venture on Aurora's large 100% owned Camel Hills Project in central Western Australia.

Under the proposed terms Aurora will grant Desert Energy the option to earn a 70% interest in the project by funding and conducting exploration. The proposed terms of the Camel Hills Joint Venture are set out below.

As shareholders will be aware Aurora Minerals owns 47 million (53%) of the shares on issue in Desert Energy.

The Company considers the deal a win-win for both parties.

The ground is highly prospective and Aurora would like to see Desert Energy have strong exploration success at this project to add substantial value to both 1) its Desert Energy shareholding and 2) its direct Camel Hills Joint Venture Interest, aimed at providing a significant additional increase to shareholder value.

The joint venture will provide Aurora with the ability to focus its attention on its large Capricorn Project where its high grade manganese discovery is going to have a very strong drilling focus and where preparation work for this is underway.

It is expected that final details of the proposed Camel Hills Joint Venture will be released to the market in the coming weeks.

The joint venture will be subject to the approval of shareholders of both Desert Energy and Aurora Minerals at general meetings of the two companies.

The Camel Hills Project covers the highly prospective northwest margin of the Archaean Yilgarn Block. Previous exploration has been limited to reconnaissance sampling for magnetite-iron, gold and copper-nickel which has yielded numerous anomalies and targets for follow-up and drill-testing.

The Camel Hills Project covers the highly prospective northwest margin of the Archaean Yilgarn Block. Previous exploration has been limited to reconnaissance sampling for magnetite-iron, gold and copper-nickel which has yielded numerous anomalies and targets for follow-up and drill-testing.