Galileo Mining has announced the completion of its farm-in and joint venture agreement with MinRes alongside the results of recent drilling from its Norseman project in Western Australia.
Galileo Managing Director, Brad Underwood, said that with completion of the MinRes lithium joint venture agreement, lithium exploration will now begin at the Norseman project.
“MinRes have an incredible depth of experience in the lithium business and have secured the rights to work on our untested lithium potential at Norseman,” Mr Underwood said.
“In return Galileo shareholders will benefit from a focussed program of lithium exploration while the company continues to concentrate on the extensive potential for nickel, PGEs and gold in the same region.
“Our recent drill results show more prospective palladium and platinum zones within close proximity to geophysical anomalies. Our exploration strategy follows a cyclical pattern with campaign drilling, review and interpretation of results, integration of new information, and then more drilling.
“We believe this cycle of exploration activity gives us the best opportunity of making further discoveries in a fundamentally unexplored tenement package. Follow up drilling is now being planned with the next round of drilling scheduled for August.”
The Tranche 1 payment of $5 million under the agreement (of the $7.5 million total consideration) has been received. This cash payment significantly bolsters the funds available to Galileo to undertake exploration programs at both its Norseman and Fraser Range projects. The Tranche 2 payment of $2.5 million under the agreement is due on or before 30 May 2025.
MinRes and Galileo have now formed a 30:70 unincorporated joint venture for the exploration and, if deemed warranted, mining of lithium on the Norseman tenements. MinRes can increase its stake to 55 per cent by sole funding an additional $15 million of exploration expenditure on the Tenements over the four years following completion. MinRes has the further ability to elect to increase its stake to 70 per cent by sole funding expenditure through to a decision to mine. Upon MinRes earning a 70 per cent interest, Galileo must elect to either remain in the joint venture and contribute to development costs or convert its interest into a royalty.
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