Venture Minerals (ASX:VMS) is allocating the $3 million it has received from the completion of the sale of its Tasmanian iron ore mine to advancing its Jupiter clay hosted rare earth project in Western Australia.
The junior explorer, which has a current market value of just shy of $44 million, has completed the sale of the Riley Iron Ore Mine to Goldvalley Brown Stone.
With the funds now in the bank, Venture Minerals is now well placed to advance the strategic objectives set by the recently refreshed board.
Managing Director Philippa Leggat says 45 parties ran a ruler over the Riley Mine during the independent sales process, with the bid from Goldvalley representing the best offer for Venture shareholders.
“Goldvalley are specialist operators of smaller, lower-grade iron ore projects, making them a good fit to successfully take Riley into production,” she says.
The $3 million from the sale will go towards the completion of a maiden resource at Jupiter in the fourth quarter of this year.
“Jupiter is a major discovery that was made in under a year, following the completion of 22,000 metres of drilling over the 40km2 geophysical target,” Leggat says.
“Assays have consistently returned record-breaking results with broad widths of high-grade intercepts across the entire area.”
Venture Minerals added a further $3.97 million to the coffers in early July following the completion of the first tranche of a placement.
The placement attracted institutional investor support, with NorthStar Impact Fund and Lion Selection Group joining the register.
Leggat says this participation by institutional investors validates the company’s forward strategy which is centred around the Jupiter project.
“Venture is well funded to deliver on our strategic objectives,” she says.
“There is plenty of news to come and we’re looking forward to sharing the Jupiter journey with our shareholders.”
The Roundup
Write to Angela East at Mining.com.au
Images: Venture Minerals
