Ariana Resources PLC (LON:AAU) announced the launch of a discovery fund to assess potential investments in discovery-stage mineral exploration companies.
The wholly owned fund, Asgard Metals Fund, is being developed as part of Ariana's proprietary Project Catalyst Strategy.
Asgard Metals Pty. Ltd, the wholly owned Australian subsidiary of Ariana, intends to invest an initial A$2mln (£1.1mln), primarily into listed exploration companies with projects that meet its rigorous selection criteria.
Investments will be focused on potentially high-value discovery-stage opportunities, which show early development potential, and the projects can be located anywhere in the Eastern Hemisphere, so they are close to Ariana's operational hubs in Australia, Turkey and the UK.
"We are launching the Discovery Fund in order to support the early-stage exploration of high-quality exploration opportunities, which show the potential for value creation over the near-term,” said managing director Dr. Kerim Sener.
“This launch is in line with our long-term ambition to represent the cutting-edge of the mineral exploration and development sector internationally.
“It builds on our earlier and highly successful strategy of making early-stage exploration investments in gold and lithium assets across several non-European jurisdictions, which now provides the financial basis of the Fund.
“Following several years of significant under-investment across the junior exploration sector, we are taking a major-company approach to the funding and development of exploration projects to the benefit of our project partners, and ultimately, our shareholders," he concluded.
Selected projects will receive an initial investment of up to about A$500,000 in capital and will receive expert assistance from the Ariana team, while participating companies will have the opportunity of working with Ariana's exploration team.