Novo on the acquisition trail in the Pilbara
Notable Canadian listed conglomerate gold specialist Novo Resources has completed the acquisition of private exploration company Farno-McMahon Pty Ltd this week and has now taken possession of 4 key tenements that look to be prospective for conglomerate, alluvial and shear-hosted gold deposits in the Egina region, near Port Hedland in Western Australia.
Novo is the elephant in the room when it comes to conglomerate gold theorists who believe the Pilbara region in Western Australia hosts similar looking geology to the famed Witwatersrand gold province in South Africa, that is rich with alluvial nuggets accreted into conglomerate in ancient sedimentary basins.
Novo is going all in to prove its conglomerate gold theory in the Pilbara and the latest acquisition of Farno-McMahon’s ground is just one part of that strategy, albeit with a price tag of some $8m, it would appear to be a significant part of the jigsaw.
The transaction comes gift-wrapped with two granted mining licences over the ground that surrounds the historical Womerina alluvial gold workings.
The deal required Novo to pay out an initial A$150,000 in cash to Farno upon execution of the agreement.
The company has also paid a further A$2.35m in cash and issued 1,252,895 Novo shares at a deemed equivalent value of A$5.5m, to the shareholders of Farno-McMahon.
All issued shares are subject to a statutory hold period that expires on February 1st next year.
Novo has now built up an enviable package of wholly owned and JV tenements covering about 12,000 square kilometres in its quest to unearth economic accumulations of conglomerate gold in the ancient Pilbara Craton of Western Australia.
The company also recently reported that it has finalised its transaction with ASX listed Pioneer Resources, to farm into that company’s 100%-owned Kangan gold project, located about 80km south of Port Hedland.
Novo paid Pioneer a $200,000 signing fee in cash and issued Pioneer 100,000 Novo shares valued at about AUD$400,000, based on the prevailing stock price.
Novo will now sole fund A$500,000 of exploration on four tenements over the next 2 years to achieve a 70% holding in that ground, at which point it may elect to form a JV with Pioneer.
Novo management believes the Pioneer ground has good prospectivity for the conglomerate gold deposition it is seeking in earnest in the Pilbara.
Novo Chairman and President, Dr Quinton Hennigh, recently presented the company’s exploration and development initiatives at the very influential Diggers & Dealers mining forum in Kalgoorlie and the Denver Gold Forum in Colorado, in order to spread the word about the firm’s belief in the gold prospectivity of the Pilbara region for the ancient conglomerate-hosted mineralisation.
The cashed-up gold explorer and developer is throwing the kitchen sink at the Pilbara, splashing out some $15.4m during the current financial year alone.