Gladiator shares up 25% on Independence JV news

Shares in Leederville-based nickel explorer Gladiator Resources Ltd surged 25 per cent today after it announced plans to undertake a joint venture with South Perth-based nickel producer Independence Group NL.

The full text of a Gladiator announcement is pasted below

Gladiator Resources Ltd has formalised its East Kambalda-Lake Lefroy joint venture with successful nickel producer Independence Group NL.

Under the terms of the agreement IGO will spend a minimum of $2.0 million over 3 years to earn a 70% interest in the nickel rights on
Gladiator's Mt Hogans tenements, 25 kilometres east of Kambalda.

Gladiator Chairman John Palermo said the joint venture was part of Gladiator's strategy to maintain an aggressive exploration profile and would allow shareholders to participate far more vigorously in the search for nickel at east Kambalda than would otherwise have been possible.

IGO is major nickel producer at the nearby Long Nickel Mine.

Mr Palermo said the joint venture allowed Gladiator to apply a global approach to unlocking the nickel potential of the Mt Hogans tenements where previous exploration identified high-priority nickel targets at Lisa's Dune and SA22 prospects.

IGO has advised Gladiator that AngloAmerican Exploration (Australia) had approved the use of its leading-edge low-temperature SQUID technology to test the nickel potential of magnetic features possibly representing prospective ultramafic lithologies masked by the Lake Lefroy salt lake system south of Kalgoorlie.

The technology can scan vast surface areas of lake and salt flats that cannot be explored by conventional EM techniques because of conductive lake sediments.

Mr Palermo said IGO had developed a significant database on the Mt Hogans area, having already reported a large EM anomaly at the Lake Lefroy Ultramafic Dome under another of its joint ventures.

"We expect the revolutionary SQUID EM technology to be particularly suited to the Gladiator's Lisa 's Dune prospect and target areas on our Hogans tenements which are partially covered by the Lake Lefroy and Lake Randall salt pans," he said.

Mr Palermo said Gladiator's Lisa's Dune prospect, comprising an interpreted ultramafic strike length of 28 kilometres partially straddling the interpreted Lake Lefroy Dome, had always been a high priority exploration target.

Gladiator had agreed to allow IGO to farm-in on the nickel rights on all of the Company's 325 sqkm of contiguous tenement holdings at Mt Hogans which also surrounded Mincor's Carnilya Hill high grade nickel mine on three sides.

"We are excited by this partnership because IGO is a proven exploration performer that has the technology, financial ability, know-how and commitment to develop new nickel mines in the Kalgoorlie-Kambalda region," he said.

Mr Palermo said the terms of the joint venture were favourable for Gladiator shareholders because while giving momentum to the nickel search, it freed the Company to continue exploration pursuits on the Hogans tenements for gold and other non-nickel resources.

Key points of JV:

• IGO to spend a minimum of $2 million over 3 years to earn a 70 per cent interest in the nickel rights.
• IGO to spend a minimum of $140,000 in the first 12 months before it may withdraw.
• Gladiator may dilute to 20 per cent which will be free carried to Bankable Feasibility Study.
• If IGO uses the SQUID EM, Anglo will be entitled to a 1% royalty in any related subsequent discoveries. If the discovery of an ore body exceeds a predetermined size, Anglo may convert its royalty into an 80 per cent interest of IGO's project equity under the IGO Anglo licensing arrangements. The minimum threshold for Anglo is 100,000 tonnes of contained nickel metal as delineated by a feasibility study.
• Subject to any third party rights of Anglo, both parties may sell their interest at any time with both parties having a first right of refusal over the other party's interest.