Lake Wells Gold venture confirmed

Australian-based gold producer St Barbara (SBM) has acquired a 70 per cent interest in Perth-based resources company Australian Potash’s Lake Wells Gold Project east of Laverton.

In an announcement published on the ASX this morning, Australian Potash confirmed the company had satisfied the expenditure commitment outlined as part of the 2018 joint venture and that the two parties would continue the exploration, development and mining of the site.

Under the terms of the agreement, St Barbara was to spend up to $5.5 million on exploration at the site, while Australian Potash's 30 per cent stake would be free-carried until a feasibility study into deposits identified by SBM's exploration had been completed.

According to Australian Potash, early-stage exploration of the Lake Wells Gold Project tenements, located about 60 kilometres from Gold Road Resources’ tier 1 Gruyere Project, has shown promising results.  

SBM already has several assets, including the Leonora Operations, the Simberi mine in Papua New Guinea and the Gold Ridge mine in the Solomon Islands, with mineral resources of more than 13 million ounces of contained gold.