Perth-based Court Resources has announced a $40 million plan to list on the Australian Securities Exchange under the moniker ANCOA NL and to restart the mothballed Hillgrove antimony-gold project in New South Wales.
ANCOA will pay $20 million in cash and $20 million worth of its shares for Straits Resources subsidiary Hillgrove Mines, which owns the Hillgrove project tenements and plant.
The agreement is dependent on ANCOA completing an initial public offering to raise approximately $80 million before the end of the year.
Patersons Securities has been appointed lead manager to the IPO.
ANCOA will make a priority offer to Straits’ shareholders of $15 million of the funds to be raised by the IPO, which the company said, if completed, would leave it debt free with around $50 million in working capital.
If Straits’ shareholders subscribe for more than $15 million of the IPO, ANCOA would have the capacity to claw back part or all of the $20 million scrip consideration.
The Hillgrove project, which has been on care and maintenance since 2009, is one of the largest identified antimony resources outside of China, holding around 100,000 tonnes of the metal and approximately 860,000 ounces of gold.
Antimony is a crucial ingredient for the production of flame retardants, metal alloys and lead acid batteries.
ANCOA said it would commence production at Hillgrove within the next 12 months.
Managing director Greg Steemson said the antimony market was currently entering a strong demand phase.
“This is the perfect time for Hillgrove to restart production,” he said.
“Based on our project development plan, historic operating results and independent expert reviews, we are estimating potential implied revenues of $80 million per annum for the project.”
The company estimates Hillgrove will have at least a 10 year mine-life, while significant exploration upside remains in the surrounding tenements.
