Ariana Resources PLC (LON:AAU) has kicked off an earn-in agreement to acquire up to 50% of Venus Minerals Ltd, which owns exploration and development projects targeting copper and gold in Cyprus.
In an update on Monday, the AIM-listed miner said that it plans to provide Venus with €500,000 in funding during the first year of operations, which will take its stake in the company to 11% by December 2020.
Ariana currently owns 6% of Venus, which is developing two advanced copper-gold-zinc prospects in Cyprus with historical resources of 4.3 million tonnes (Mt) at a grade of 0.5% copper and 0.8% zinc, and 5.2Mt at a grade of 0.7% copper, respectively.
Venus has completed scoping and pit-optimisation studies for the prospects, which it is hoping to develop into a single project known as Magellan.
Ariana said it has conducted two years’ due diligence on the projects owned by Venus.
If Ariana provides additional funding of €1.9mln between October 2020 and October 2022, it will have acquired 50% of Venus as long as the company gets no additional third-party funding.
Kerim Sener, managing director of Ariana commented: "We are exceptionally pleased to expand our interests within the Tethyan Metallogenic Belt and to do so in the operationally-friendly jurisdiction of Cyprus represents the fulfilment of a well elucidated long-term diversification strategy of the Company.
"Cyprus holds a global reputation for high-quality copper deposits, which tend to occur in distinct clusters; many of which remain significantly underexplored."