Venture shares up on Chalice deal

Shares in Venture Minerals surged as high as 27 per cent today after the explorer announced a farm-in deal with Chalice Gold Mines.

The exploration agreement is for Venture’s nickel-copper-PGE project in the South West, where Chalice recently made a significant discovery at its Julimar project.

Reverse circulation drilling found a wide, shallow, high-grade palladium-nickel-copper zone about 60 metres east of the discovery hole.

Venture managing director Andrew Radonjic said the farm-in deal with Chalice would bring a potential Julimar 'look-alike' discovery.

The main targets within Venture's South West project are the Thor and Odin discoveries, where Chalice will test for nickel-copper-PGE sulphides.

Chalice managing director Alex Dorsch said the Thor target looked "remarkably similar” to the Julimar complex and provided an exciting new discovery opportunity.

"Having uncovered the new West Yilgarn nickel-copper-PGE province in Western Australia, Chalice is in the unrivalled position of being able to leverage its proprietary knowledge to make further discoveries," Mr Dorsch said.

Under the farm-in deal, Chalice will spend $1.2 million on exploration within two years – including a minimum of $300,000 within the first year – to acquire a 51 per cent joint venture interest in the South West project.

Chalice could earn a 70 per cent interest in the project by spending a further $2.5 million on exploration over the following two years.

Venture can then elect to either contribute 30 per cent or dilute to a minimum of 10 per cent joint venture interest, which would revert to a 1.25 per cent net smelter royalty on the project.

Shares in Venture closed up 21.2 per cent to trade at 4 cents.

Chalice shares also closed up, trading 1.9 per cent higher to $1.06.