Nexus Minerals Ltd (ASX:NXM) is encouraged by its assessment of the Bethanga Porphyry Copper-Gold Project in northeast Victoria and has decided to exercise an option to purchase the property.
The gold explorer has seen sufficient initial evidence in a porphyry copper-gold fertility assessment study to allow the directors to exercise the option.
This ongoing study is aimed at identifying pathfinder elements indicative of a magmatic-hydrothermal system at depth.
Assessment program
It has included soil sampling along with a program of geological mapping and litho-geochemical sampling and resulted in multiple sites of malachite (copper oxide material) and gossan being observed.
Another aspect of this work has been reprocessing and 3D inversion of regional aeromagnetic data.
Assessment and interpretation of the study results are continuing.
Shares have been as much as 9.8% higher in early trading to $0.45 while the company market cap is approximately $118.1 million.
Read: Nexus Minerals begins ground-based work at Bethanga porphyry copper-gold tenements in Victoria
Earlier in the year Nexus entered into a binding terms sheet for the property comprising 194 square kilometres across two granted exploration licences in the southern part of the Lachlan Fold Belt, Australia’s premier porphyry copper-gold geological terrain.
The project is in the same geological host as the world-class Cadia-Ridgeway and Northparkes porphyry copper-gold projects further north in central NSW.
“Potentially a great value add”
At the time, Nexus managing director Andy Tudor said: “The Bethanga Porphyry Copper-Gold Project is potentially a great value add for our shareholders and a unique opportunity to secure a significant landholding in a highly sought-after province.
“These Bethanga exploration assets are located in the belt hosting the Tier 1 Cadia Valley Porphyry Copper deposits and remain largely unexplored.
“Additionally, analysts are predicting a significant rise in copper pricing, noting the critical importance of securing copper as the decarbonisation of the world accelerates.”
Acquisition terms
- The company paid a $5,000 non-refundable fee for a one-month due diligence period that was completed on April 20, 2021.
- The company successfully completed initial due diligence and paid a further $40,000 non-refundable option fee to the vendors. This option fee allowed Nexus to have the exclusive right for a period of 8 months to undertake reconnaissance exploration activities on the tenements – now completed.
- Nexus has renegotiated the final consideration to acquire 100% of the Bethanga project to $300,000 cash consideration and 1,219,512 NXM fully paid ordinary shares (to the value of $700,000 at a deemed price of 57.4 cents).
Prospective region
The project area is recognised by the Geological Survey of Victoria as a region prospective for porphyry copper-gold and VHMS mineralisation.
Bethanga project is underlain by the Macquarie Arc/Yeoval Tract – a belt of volcanic and intrusive rocks part of the Cowra-Buchan Rift Complex-- which is host to the Tier-1 Cadia Valley and Northparkes deposits.
It is defined by a belt of volcanic and intrusive igneous rocks and an endowment of more than 80 million ounces of gold and 13 million tonnes of copper.
Bethanga was historically mined for copper and gold at the turn of the 1900s and produced 118,000 ounces of gold at 39 g/t and 618 tonnes of copper from selectively mined narrow north-northeast trending quartz reefs developed within shear zones.
The quartz veins are less than 1-metre and were mined at the depth of 30-40 metres.