Gold Road Resources Ltd. said Feb. 5 that its Gold Road (South Yamarna) Pty. Ltd. subsidiary agreed to acquire a 50% stake in the South Yamarna gold project in Western Australia from Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. Ltd.'s Sumitomo Metal Mining Oceania Pty. Ltd. unit for A$7 million in cash.
The buyer agreed to shoulder all costs and expenses for South Yamarna and solely determine the project's exploration programs from Jan. 1 as well as grant the Sumitomo unit the rights of first negotiation and first refusal under specified circumstances.
Gold Road expects to complete the deal by June 30, after which it will own a 100% stake in South Yamarna.
The miner has earmarked a 2018 exploration budget of A$23 million to be shared between South Yamarna and its neighboring North Yamarna gold project. Initial exploration activities at South Yamarna will focus on geological modeling of the priority targets, assessing bedrock targets for follow-up drilling and planning full-field aircore programs.
