Olympio Metals (ASX:OLY) announces mining giant Liontown Resources (ASX:LTR) is progressing stage one of the earn-in phase of a two-stage farm-in arrangement for the Mulwarrie Lithium Project in Western Australia.
Liontown, which has a market capitalisation of $3.36 billion, can now earn a 51% interest in the Mulwarrie and Mulline projects by spending $400,000 on exploration over a period of 12 months.
At the completion of the stage one Farm-In, Liontown will have earned the right to 51% equity in the projects. Once Liontown has earned a 51% interest, Olympio can elect to end the farm-in and form a JV, with Liontown holding 51% and Olympio 49%.
The JV agreement will be on standard commercial terms.
If Olympio does not elect to end the farm-in and form a JV, Liontown may earn a further 39% interest in the projects by sole funding a further $1 million on exploration within a 3-year period from the completion of the minimum commitment.
Olympio reports stage two farm-in will not occur if the JV has been formed. At the completion of that farm-in, Liontown will hold a 90% interest and Olympio 10%. At this point Olympio can again elect to enter into a JV agreement and contribute pro rata to the exploration expenditure.
Olympio Metals Managing Director Sean Delaney says the company is pleased with Liontown’s decision to progress to agreement following the return of promising results from its soil sampling program.
A recent soil sampling program collected and assayed 1,201 geochemistry samples, as per the minimum condition term of the farm-in agreement.
Lithium soil results highlighted several anomalous trends that require follow-up assessment, according to Olympio.
The company reports ‘spectacular’ gold results returned from the soil results, including 2 samples returning 19.3 grams per tonne (g/t) gold and 11.45g/t gold.
The Mulwarrie JV project sits in the Goldfields region of Western Australia.
Olympio Metals is an Australian explorer focused on the discovery and development of critical minerals projects.
As of 30 September 2023, the company had $3.541 million cash and cash equivalents at hand, according to its latest quarterly report.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: Olympio Metals
