Rimfire Pacific Mining NL (ASX:RIM) has a new substantial shareholder in Golden Plain Resources Pty Ltd (GPR) which has accumulated a 5.36% interest.
GPR, with which Rimfire Pacific has entered earn-in and joint venture agreements covering the Fifield Project in Central West NSW, holds a total of 85 million shares.
On May 20 GPR acquired 75 million shares valued at $240,000 in a placement and on August 5 bought another 10 million shares in an on-market transaction valued at $50,000.
GPR commitments
The agreement includes GPR’s commitment to the $240,000 equity investment at 0.32 cents per share and the annual investment of $1.5 million for three years to earn a 50.1% interest in the JV area.
This area comprises 103 square kilometres of highly prospective ground and includes the Sorpresa gold discovery, which has a resource of 74,300 ounces of gold and 3.4 million ounces of silver.
Rimfire will have control of the design and execution of the fieldwork programs to be undertaken during the earn-in period.
Of GPR’s $1.5 million annual investment, $1.2 million will be for in-ground exploration and technical work to obtain mine development approvals in the earn-in area and $300,000 for Rimfire corporate purposes.
Aim to form JV
Following completion of the earn-in, GPR has committed to fund the development of the Sorpresa project, including Rimfire’s portion.
After the earn-in commitments are completed, GPR and Rimfire will form an unincorporated joint venture over the area.
At the time of the agreement, Rimfire’s managing director Craig Riley said: “The company at the end of 2018 announced a dual strategy comprising monetisation of Sorpresa and discovery of a significant economic zone of mineralisation.
“Whilst discussions were held with a number of companies it was determined that Golden Plain Resources is a strong fit as they share a mutual desire to fast track the monetisation of Sorpresa gold discovery whilst in parallel embarking on a significant exploration program in the local area for further mineralisation.
“The company very much looks forward to a rewarding future with Golden Plain Resources.”