Join our daily newsletter At The Bell to receive exclusive market insights
- Alice Queen (AQX) has entered into a binding, conditional share sale agreement for the acquisition of Viti Mining in Fiji
- Through the acquisition, Alice Queen will obtain rights to explore the Nabila and Viani licences recently granted to Viti Mining
- Alice Queen’s Fijian exploration will be led by the company’s Chief Technical Advisor John Holliday and his former colleague Patrick Creenaune
- The company’s corporate affairs in Fiji will be led by local businessman and former Fiji Rugby Union player John Sanday
- Alice Queen is up 15.38 per cent and trading at three cents per share
Alice Queen (AQX) has entered into a binding, conditional share sale agreement for the acquisition of Viti Mining in Fiji.
Under the agreement, the company will acquire all the shares in the Fiji-domiciled exploration corporation.
Viti Mining has recently been granted two prospective Fiji Special Prospecting Licences, SPL 1514 Nabila and SPL 1513 Viani. Through the acquisition of Viti Mining, Alice Queen will obtain the right to explore the Nabila and Viana licences.
The Nabila licence is located 40 kilometres south of Nadi, on Fiji’s largest island Viti Levu. The licence hosts the Faddy’s prospect and the historic Mistry Mine, which may have produced 746 ounces of gold from 1,720 tonnes at an average grade of 13 grams per ton up until 1958.
Nabila has previously been explored by several companies, including Emperor, Climax, Millennium and Geopacific Resources. Throughout this history of exploration, the companies have outlined several prospects along a two-kilometre anomalous zone, located between the Faddy’s prospect and Mistry Mine.
The Viani licence is a greenfields project, situated on Fiji’s second-largest island Vanua Levu. The project has undergone significant work in the past, throughout the 1980s and 1990s.
Previous exploration at Viani included the completion of six shallow diamond drill holes, all of which intersected vein structures less than 150 metres below the surface. All of these intersections returned positive gold assays, boding well for future exploration under Alice Queen.
The company’s Fijian exploration team will be led by its Chief Technical Advisor John Holliday and his former colleague Patrick Creenaune. Alice Queen’s corporate affairs in Fiji will be led by John Sanday, a local investment banker and former Fiji National rugby union player.
Alice Queen’s Managing Director, Andrew Buxton, commented on the company’s Fijian acquisition.
“After a full two years working with our team on the ground to secure these Fiji assets, we are delighted to be able to announce that we now have a formal agreement in place to acquire Viti Mining, which has recently secured the Nabila and Viani prospects,” he said.
“With our Horn Island St Barbara JV progressing well and a scoping study launched to assess the economics of a future operation in respect of Horn Island Resource, we believe the company is perfectly positioned to take advantage of these highly prospective Fiji assets and create further value for all shareholders,” he added.
Alice Queen is up 15.38 per cent, trading at three cents per share at 11:14 am AEDT.
