Kainantu Resources Ltd (TSX-V:KRL) announced it has acquired 100% control of the Kili Teke gold-copper Project in Papua New Guinea from Harmony Gold (NYSE:HMY) Mining.
The moves gives Kainantu full control and ownership of its entire blue-chip portfolio of projects, including Kili Teke, May River, KRL North, and KRL South.
Vancouver-based Kainantu paid HGEL a closing consideration of US$400,000 (totaling US$500,000, including the initial payment). Additionally, KRL issued 11,257,252 warrants to Harmony.
Kili Teke is an advanced porphyry gold-copper development project with an existing NI43-101 compliant mineral resource with significant potential for re-optimization, focusing on higher-grade gold skarn mineralization near the surface.
With full ownership of the project, Kainantu now holds a substantial mineral resource inventory, with an Inferred Mineral Resource at Kili Teke comprising 237 million tons containing copper, gold, and molybdenum. The resource includes 802,000 tons of copper, 1.81 million ounces of gold, and 40,000 tons of molybdenum using a 0.2% copper cut-off.
Kainantu said it plans to accelerate re-optimization efforts for Kili Teke, aiming to develop a "first phase" Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) over the course of 2023 and early 2024.
CEO Matthew Salthouse called the news a key milestone for Kainantu.
“This transformational deal provides KRL with an exceptional advance stage project, likely to demonstrate robust economic returns initially as a higher-grade gold focused open pit mine,” Salthouse said in a statement.
“KRL remains committed to our core objective of developing a portfolio of high quality projects of material intrinsic value, with closing the Kili Teke deal being a critical step along this path."
Shares of Kainantu doubled following the news, trading at C$0.05 on Thursday afternoon.