30 May 2017
Starvest Plc ("Starvest" or "the Company")
Investee Company Greatland Gold PLC Signs Deal With Global Gold Producer
Starvest PLC (LON:SVE), the London Stock Exchange AIM listed specialist mining and resources investment business, is pleased to provide an update on its investee company Greatland Gold PLC (LON:GGP), which earlier this month announced that it had signed a deal with global gold giant Newmont.
Highlights
· Investee company Greatland Gold PLC ("Greatland") signs deal with Newmont Exploration Pty Ltd ("Newmont"), a subsidiary of Newmont Mining Corporation (NYSE:NEM), one of the world's largest gold producers, with respect to Greatland's 100% owned Ernest Giles gold project;
· Newmont is granted a right of first refusal should Greatland wish to sell or joint venture the Ernest Giles project during a six month period;
· Positive results from recent work at Ernest Giles have established Ernest Giles as a new gold province in Western Australia.
Callum Baxter, Chairman and CEO commented: "Starvest have supported Greatland for several years after initially investing pre-IPO. The team at Greatland have worked very hard at developing their projects and the recent discoveries at Ernest Giles are very exciting. The tie-up with Newmont validates their technical capability and management skills. We look forward to further news on the activities at Greatland and the Ernest Giles Project.'
Greatland Gold PLC - Ernest Giles
Greatland was admitted to AIM in 2006 and Starvest initially invested pre-IPO following a positive review of their assets and management. After several years of project evaluation and early stage exploration work Greatland has assembled a robust portfolio of gold focussed projects located in Australia. All projects are 100% owned by Greatland or Greatland has the rights to 100% of the projects. The Ernest Giles project is currently a primary focus for Greatland.
Ernest Giles is a large gold project in central Western Australia covering over 1,800 square kilometres. The prospective rocks are buried under younger sequences making the area virtually unexplored. Greatland is targeting large +5m ounce deposits at Ernest Giles and in January 2017 announced it had discovered two large zones of gold mineralisation at the Meadows target in the southern portion of the Ernest Giles project highlighting the potential for the Ernest Giles project to host several major gold camps.
During May 2017 an agreement was entered into by Newmont Exploration Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of Newmont Mining Corporation, and Greatland Pty Ltd, an Australian-based subsidiary of Greatland Gold plc whereby, for a period of six months a) Greatland Pty Ltd grants Newmont access to the Ernest Giles project tenements and exploration database; and b) Greatland Pty Ltd grants Newmont a right of first refusal should Greatland wish to sell all or part of the Ernest Giles project.
The agreement with Newmont represents a major milestone for the Ernest Giles project and Greatland. Newmont are one of the largest global gold producers and for a project to be attractive it must have the capacity for significant upside; in terms of size and profitability. The tie-up demonstrates the potential of the Ernest Giles project and validates Greatland's technical capacity and management skills.
Newmont has several proprietary exploration techniques developed in-house some of which are ideally suited to the Ernest Giles project. Newmont will solely fund activities they carry out at Ernest Giles over the coming field season. Additional activities, guided by Greatland, are underway at Ernest Giles to better define drill targets within the vast project area.
Starvest continues to closely follow the activities at Greatland and looks forward to additional information from the Ernest Giles project. The involvement of Newmont could result in a fundamental company changing event for Greatland with a possible significant increase in market capitalisation. Starvest is a specialist mining and resource investment company and has the industry knowledge and market exposure to select compelling opportunities early in the investment cycle.
Callum N Baxter
Chairman & Chief Executive
30 May 2017
Enquiries to:
Starvest PLC
Callum Baxter Chairman/CEO 07922 255 933 cbaxter@starvest.co.uk
John Watkins Finance Director 07768 512 404 jwatkins@starvest.co.uk
Grant Thornton UK LLP (Nomad)
Colin Aaronson or Harrison Clarke 02073 835 100
SI Capital Ltd (Appointed Broker)
Nick Emerson or Andy Thacker 01483 413 500