There’s nothing like success to breed success and WA prospector Mark Creasy is a perfect example of that.
On Tuesday he did another rich deal with miner Independence Group over his landholdings in the Fraser Range east of Norseman.
In a statement to the ASX Independence said it would it would pay $21 million in cash and shares to Mr Creasy in exchange for a 70% stake in his “highly prospective” Southern Hills tenements.
The 1100 square kilometres of tenements is adjacent to Independence’s 100%-owned Nova nickel-copper cobalt mine.
Independence said in the statement the area had been only partially assessed but a number of drill targets had been identified that the company wanted to test.
Independence has committed $50 million to exploration this year, with about 60% of that earmarked for the Fraser Range.
Mr Creasy told WA media it made sense to consolidate the ground under Independence because of its proximity to the company’s $500 million plant and infrastructure investment at Nova.
He also played down rumours of a big discovery north-east of the mine on another tenement held by his private company Creasy Group, saying only that he was spending “an awful lot of money and effort on a major program across a rather large area” at the Fraser Range.
“All I can say is that we are completing a drill-out and anything of public importance will come out in due course,” he told the West Australian.
In its statement Independence CEO Peter Bradford said Southern Hills further strengthened the company’s position in the Fraser Range, where it had expanded its footprint to 15,800 square kilometres.
“Independence is committed to discovery and we remain confident that there are further discoveries to be made on the Fraser Range,” he said.
The payment to Mr Creasy will comprise $5.3 million in cash and $15.7 million in shares, further boosting the mining investor’s 16.3% stake in Independence, which was yesterday worth about $475 million.
Mr Creasy secured the stake when he converted a 35% holding in Sirius Resources into Independence stock as part of a $1.8 billion takeover of the company in 2015, having previously sold his 30% stake in the Nova project itself to Sirius for more than $200 million.
His other interests in the area include the recently listed Galileo Mining (31%) and Legend Mining (17%). Independence shares fell 1.6% to $4.91 yesterday.
