Venus Metals and IGO have inked a binding agreement for exploration – and possibly development and extraction – at the pair’s Henderson nickel-lithium project in Western Australia’s Eastern Goldfields region.
The deal involves a farm-in and joint venture (JV) in which a subsidiary of IGO can progressively acquire up to a 70 per cent interest in the project by spending $4 million on exploration and reimbursing Venus with $1 million.
In a move likely to please Venus’ purse-string holders, IGO has promised to fund all expenditure for the JV until the completion of the project’s prefeasibility study (PFS). On completion of the PFS, IGO’s subsidiary will have the right to take Venus’ 30 per cent stake for a price based on fair market value, minus an apportioned aggregation of the expenditure incurred on the project to date.