Empress Royalty Corp (CVE:EMPR) (OTCQB:EMPYF) announced that it has closed and fully funded the C$2 million purchase of a 2.25% royalty on the Manica hard rock gold project in Mozambique, operated by Mutapa Mining & Processing LDA (MMP).
The royalty deal, initially announced in February, will pay Empress 2.25% of revenue from gold sales until 95,000 ounces (oz) have been sold. Then, the royalty percentage will reduce to 0.75%, the company said.
Manica is located in the Odzi-Mutare-Manica greenstone belt and comprises several deposits on Xtract Resources PLC’s (LON:XTR) (FRA:R9XN) mining concession licence 3990C, which includes four deposits. The main deposit, Fair Bride, has a SAMREC-compliant resource statement that Empress is currently in the process of updating to NI 43-101 requirements.
READ: Empress Royalty announces the appointment of Natascha Kiernan to its board of directors
MMP and Xtract have entered into a collaboration and profit-share arrangement, whereby MMP will build, finance and operate a carbon-in-leach plant to process ore mined from Xtract's concession, Empress told shareholders.
“The Manica gold project royalty marks an exciting milestone for Empress,” CEO Alexandra Woodyer Sherron said in a statement. “Once MMP completes construction, Manica is expected to be our first revenue-generating African investment. The successful closing and funding of this royalty demonstrate Empress’ commitment to creating new royalties to help bring projects into production.”
The royalty is secured by a first ranking security interest in certain assets of MMP, the company said.
Vancouver-based Empress has a portfolio of 15 gold royalties and is actively focused on finding industry partners with development and production stage projects, who require additional non-dilutive capital.
Contact Andrew Kessel at andrew.kessel@proactiveinvestors.com
Follow him on Twitter @andrew_kessel