Archer Exploration Limited (ASX:AXE) advises that the ‘subject to finance’ condition has been satisfied for the $1.35 million sale of the Sugarloaf farmland in South Australia with the sale agreement now unconditional.
This provides for the settlement to occur on July 1, 2019, which brings Archer’s total proceeds from the sale of non-core assets during the 2019 financial year to $3.35 million.
The company said these funds were enabling it to push ahead with its quantum technology focus, which forms part of its advanced materials strategy.
READ: Archer Exploration signs $1.35 million deal to sell Sugarloaf farmland
In November 2018 Archer advised that it had sold the Sugarloaf farmland near Cleve on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula.
One of the conditions of the sale was that the buyer obtain finance by February 1, 2019, and this has been satisfied.
This farmland is within Archer’s exploration tenement EL 5920 and hosts the Sugarloaf carbon deposit as well as the proposed site of the Sugarloaf Graphite Processing Facility.
It is proposed that this facility will process the graphite from the nearby Campoona mining lease.
Processing facility option
The sale agreement provides for Archer to sell the entire Sugarloaf farmland but an option is maintained to buy back around 30% of the land required for construction of the processing facility.
This option can be exercised any time during the next 20 years.
The $1.35 million to be pocketed from this sale adds to the $3.35 million realised from the sale of the Leigh Creek Magnesite Project in July 2018.
READ: Archer obtains exclusive agreement for quantum computing technology, shares surge
Last year Archer executed a licence agreement giving it exclusive rights to develop and commercialise quantum computing technology intellectual property.
This agreement is with the University of Sydney Commercial Development and Industry Partnerships (CDIP) and the technology is a chip device capable of quantum information processing at room-temperature.
The materials that would form the critical componentry of the chip are available in the inventory of Archer’s wholly-owned subsidiary Carbon Allotropes.
Successful development of the technology would represent a major global breakthrough in the quantum computing industry, estimated to reach $US29 billion by 2021.
Notably, this market is also linked to the $US500 billion semiconductor market, catalysed by technical advances that allow for practicality, accessibility, and widespread consumer adoption.
READ: Archer Exploration appoints quantum technology specialist
As part of implementing this strategy, the company has appointed Dr Martin Fuechsle to the position of Quantum Technology manager.
He is internationally recognised for developing the smallest transistor being a single-atom transistor and the fabrication of breakthrough quantum computing devices.