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- Gold and copper explorer Alice Queen (AQX) has advised its joint venture (JV) partner for Horn Island is preparing to pull out of the deal
- St Barbara inked a deal with Alice Queen back in 2019, in relation to exploring areas outside of the company’s existing inferred resource
- But, the JV partner has since advised AQX that it will not be carrying out any further exploration expenditure on Horn Island
- Commenting on the decision, Alice Queen’s Managing Director said it was “disappointing” but the company had enjoyed working with St Barbara
- Alice Queen will also retain all of the data generated by the $2.6 million in exploration work carried out by St Barbara to date
- AQX also advises its pushing ahead with a planned scoping study for Horn Island
- Shares in Alice Queen have plummeted following the news, down 24 per cent at 1.9 cents per share
Gold and copper explorer Alice Queen (AQX) has advised its joint venture (JV) partner for the Horn Island Project is preparing to pull out of the deal.
JV partner St Barbara inked a deal with Alice Queen back in 2019, in relation to exploring areas outside of AQX’s existing Horn Island inferred resource — which sits at 7.9 million tonnes at 1.9g/t gold for 492,000 ounces.
But St Barbara has now advised Alice Queen that it will not be pursuing further exploration on Horn Island, and as a result no more expenditure will be earmarked towards the project.
Commenting on the decision, Alice Queen’s Managing Director Andrew Buxton said it was “disappointing” but the company enjoyed working with St Barbara.
“We have greatly enjoyed working with St Barbara over the past two years and,
although we are disappointed that they have elected not to pursue further exploration work, we believe that there is significant exploration potential at both Horn Island, and the neighbouring islands in the Torres Strait,” he said.
“However, in the short term, our focus at Horn Island will remain on the areas previously referred to as the “excluded areas”, as we believe these demonstrate the greatest prospectivity for short-term production,” he added.
Despite the JV partner pulling out, Alice Queen advises it is pushing ahead with a planned scoping study for Horn Island, as it pursues bringing the project into production as soon as possible.
The explorer will also retain all of the data generated by the $2.6 million in exploration work carried out by St Barbara.
Shares in Alice Queen have plummeted following the JV withdrawal news, down 24 per cent at 1.9 cents per share at 10:58 am AEDT.
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