PERTH: Saracen Mineral Holdings has entered into a binding agreement which will see it acquire the Sinclair project from Talisman Mining for A$10 million.

Sinclair is located 25 km south-west of Saracen’s Thunderbox project in the world-class Agnew-Wiluna greenstone belt. Sinclair includes a 207sqkm tenement package covering more than 80km of prospective ultramafic host rocks.

The Sinclair tenure is contiguous with Saracen’s Bannockburn project area. Saracen’s recent air core drill program across Bannockburn highlighted significant anomalism along the prospective Bannockburn and Blue Tank Shear zones.

The southern extension of these anomalous structures continues on to the Sinclair package, presenting an outstanding exploration target devoid of any systematic gold exploration to date.

The Sinclair project contains extensive infrastructure and assets that provide strong synergies for further exploration and monetisation of Resources in the Bannockburn area, as well as adding value to the existing Thunderbox operations.

The Thunderbox underground mine will also benefit from primary and secondary ventilation fans, electrical starter boxes and refuge chambers, which are in excellent condition and currently held in storage at Sinclair.

The project also hosts the Sinclair nickel deposit, which was mined between 2008 and 2013, producing approximately 38,500t of nickel at an average head grade of 2.4% nickel and includes an existing +350,000tpa nickel processing plant.

The combination of Sinclair with Saracen’s Waterloo / Amorac Nickel Project will enable substantial value to be unlocked at the right time via economies of scale and a pathway to production.

Under the deal, Saracen has agreed to acquire Talisman Nickel Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of Talisman Mining Limited and owner of the Sinclair project. Saracen has agreed to pay Talisman A$10m cash at completion and a 2% NSR payable on metal production from the Sinclair project tenements and non-precious metals production from the Saracen-owned Waterloo tenement (M36/473).

Saracen Managing Director Raleigh Finlayson said the Sinclair acquisition was consistent with the Company’s organic growth strategy.

“Saracen believes Sinclair offers significant gold exploration upside close to the Thunderbox mill,” Finlayson said. “This means it ticks two key boxes for us.“The extensive infrastructure and other assets at Sinclair also provide opportunities to further enhance the Thunderbox mine and mill, adding further value to the acquisition.”

Edited by Kiran Khan