Ivernia to continue Prarie Downs JV

Canada's Ivernia has announced that it will continue to fund exploration at the Prarie Downs base metals project near Newman under a joint venture agreement with the project's owner signed in June last year.

Ivernia said today that it had completed the joint venture's minimum obligation expenditure of $2 million at Prarie Downs, and said it would provide a further $1 million over the next six months.

The additional spending will allow Ivernia to earn an option to acquire a 60 per cent interest in the Prarie Downs project for $10 million in cash or shares.

The Prarie Downs base metals project lies within 550 square kilometres of tenements holding zinc, lead and silver deposits.

Prarie Downs Metals, which owns the Prarie Downs project, said its board remained enthusiastic about the project, and the Ivernia commitment would accelerate exploration and development.

Prarie Downs Metals' stock was down 9.5 per cent at 12:15PM (WST) today, trading at 19 cents.