Ivanhoe Australia Limited has announced that it has finalised its acquisition of an 80% interest in 13 Exco Resources Limited tenements in the highly mineralised Cloncurry region.
In May 2007, Ivanhoe Australia entered into a joint venture arrangement with Exco in which Ivanhoe Australia would earn an 80% interest in these prospective tenements ("JV Tenements"). In addition, Ivanhoe Australia invested directly in Exco and currently holds an interest of 22.6%.
Under the terms of the joint venture Ivanhoe Australia was required to spend $5.5 million on exploration work on the JV Tenements by 31 October 2011. This amount has been spent and the 80% has been acquired.
Mr Reeve commented: "The Exco Joint Venture has provided an additional exposure to this excellent mineral field. With substantial base exploration completed as part of the Joint Venture we are excited by the prospectivity of these tenements and will be progressing exploration on them in parallel with the other drilling programs on our own tenements."
To date, exploration work on the JV Tenements has included a series of drilling campaigns and, more recently, has focussed on analysing existing and new geophysical data using improved processing and interpretation techniques. The geophysical analysis will assist in the design of drilling programs to be conducted over the next 12 months.
Twelve Exploration Permits for Minerals (EPMs) with a total area of 540 km2 and one Mining Lease with an area of 0.04 km2 are included in the JV Tenements.
Ivanhoe Mines is Ivanhoe Australia's largest shareholder.
Source: www.ivanhoeaustralia.com