Kingston Resources Ltd (ASX:KSN) has completed the sale of its Livingstone Gold Project in Western Australia and has received $3.5 million in a deal with gold-copper explorer Metal Bank Ltd (ASX:MBK).
The ASX lister will hand over its 75% interest in the WA gold camp for upfront consideration of $2.5 million in cash and $1 million worth of Metal Bank shares.
In addition to the upfront consideration received today, Kingston is entitled to received further milestone payments based on Livingstone’s performance.
Ultimately, the sale frees up time and resources for the company to acquire the Mineral Hill Mine next month, as well as deliver a series of key studies for its flagship, 3.8-million-ounce Misima Gold Project in Papua New Guinea.
“Outstanding growth opportunity”
Commenting on the Livingstone acquisition, Metal Bank chair Inés Scotland said: “We are very excited to have finalised the acquisition of the Livingstone Gold Project, which provides MBK with an outstanding growth opportunity through its compelling series of advanced prospects and exploration targets across the area of the project.
“Work has already commenced: we have appointed a project manager, we are assessing drilling tenders and we have developed a work program for the next year aimed at substantially increasing JORC resources and testing the multiple additional targets across the project.
“We are looking forward to exploration success in 2022.”
The fine print
As part of its $1 million share payment, Metal Bank will issue 125 million ordinary MBK shares and 62.5 million options, exercisable at $0.016 and expiring on December 7, 2023.
There are also some performance milestone that will trigger payouts down the line. These include:
- A $1.5 million cash payment upon the identification of a 100,000ounce gold equivalent JORC resource or 12 months post-completion, whichever is sooner;
- A $1 million cash payment upon the identification of a 250,000ounce gold equivalent JORC resource; and
- A $4 million cash payment upon the identification of a 500,000ounce gold equivalent JORC resource.
The Livingstone Project
The Livingstone Project is an advanced gold exploration project 140 kilometres northwest of Meekatharra in Western Australia.
It includes 395 square kilometres of granted exploration licences, covering the entire western arm of the Proterozoic Bryah-Padbury Basin.
The Livingstone Project provides:
- A JORC 2004 inferred resource of 49,900 gold ounces at the Homestead prospect with potential for expansion;
- The Kingsley prospect, discovered by Kingston, which has mineralisation defined over 1 kilometre of strike and sufficient drilling to support an exploration target of 660,000 to 770,000 tonnes, grading 1.3 to 1.5 g/t gold for a total of 30,000 to 34,000 gold ounces using a nominal 0.5 g/t cut-off;
- The Livingstone prospect, with extensive gold in soil anomaly, historical mining activities and historical high-grade drilling intersections;
- Multiple advanced yet underexplored gold targets, including Hilltop, Stanley, Winja, Winja West, VHF and Kirba (Ni); and
- More than 10 regional greenfields targets identified by independent experts with a 40-kilometre prospective strike length.
What’s next for Kingston?
With the Livingstone sale on the books, Kington is focused on completing the Mineral Mine Hill acquisition.
Announced in mid-November, the takeover will make Kingston a NSW gold producer and put the company in charge of a tier-one tenement with copper-gold exploration upside.
Speaking to the deal at the time, Kingston managing director Andrew Corbett said the acquisition of Mineral Hill is a unique opportunity for Kingston shareholders.
“We are very excited to be able to acquire a fully-developed gold and copper project in a tier-one location that has recently restarted operations with immediate gold production.
“The attractive deal metrics, near-term cash-flow and significant gold and copper exposure make for a fantastic strategic fit with our cornerstone asset, the 3.8Moz Misima Gold Project in PNG.
“Misima is a large-scale, long-life and low-cost development project which, combined with the near-term production profile and extensive exploration opportunities at Mineral Hill, provides Kingston with an ideal platform for growth.”
