West Australia-focused explorer Solstice Minerals Ltd (ASX: SLS) has sold its Hobbes exploration licence – which contains a deposit inferred at more than 170 thousand ounces of gold- to Northern Star Resources Pty Ltd (ASX: NST) for $12.5 million.
According to the Sale and Purchase Agreement, Solstice will divest its 80 percent holding in the E31/1117 licence, and the remaining 20 percent – held by a private company – will also be sold to Northern Star, which operates open-pit and underground mining at its Porphyry Mining Centre 5 kilometres southwest of the licence area.
The licence area is also proximal to Northern Star’s Carosue Dam production hub.
Last year, Solstice gained an inferred mineral resource estimate (MRE) for the Hobbes gold deposit of 4.6 million tonnes at 1.2 gram per tonne of gold for 177,000 ounces of gold.
The company said this divestment would allow a refocus on its exploration efforts – in particular new prospects connected to the Yarri gold project, Ringlock Dam and the Poynton project – all in the WA eastern goldfields region.
This exploration would be supported by the A$10 million which the Hobbes sale would add to Solstice’s $8.2 million cash balance, as reported in December 2023.
Solstice Minerals is trading at 10c.