Caerus Mineral Resources Plc (LSE:CMRS) offloaded the Black Pine nickel-cobalt project and associated licences in Southern Cyprus for £0.5mln (A$0.9mln) in a cash and shares deal with Aeramentum Resources Pty Ltd.
Aeramentum, a private Australian company with plans to list on the ASX in the near future, will pay a £30,000 cash deposit immediately and £270,000 cash by the end of next month.
The equity balance of the transaction is payable to Caerus in the form of shares in Aeramentum, valued at £200,000 at the IPO price when Aeramentum completes its initial public offer.
Caerus said the cash injection means the cash-cost of the Cyprus Gold Mines acquisition announced last month will be offset in full and so the core funds raised at its own IPO specifically for copper-gold exploration are safeguarded.
The company reminded investors that in its prospectus, it had indicated that the Black Pine licences were a non-core asset, with no exploration expenditure budgeted in the near future and the licences requiring renewal this year.
Martyn Churchouse, chief executive of Caerus, said: “This transaction successfully achieves a number of goals.
“The cash component covers the full cost of the recent acquisition of the highly prospective suite of copper-gold licences that make up Cyprus Gold Mines, the financially neutral transaction neatly offloads non-core assets whilst bolstering our Cu-Au portfolio and finally, we are making available exploration licences that has immediately resulted in further investment in the exploration sector in Cyprus.
“As previously mentioned, Caerus is focused on strong capital discipline and the disposal of Black Pine allows the company to remain focused on its two-pronged strategy whilst ensuring shareholder value."