PERTH: Azure Minerals Limited has entered into two Tenement  Sale  and  Exploration  Joint  Venture  Agreements with entities controlled  by prominent  mining  prospector  Mr Mark Creasy (Creasy Group);  one to  acquire  60% interest in the Andover nickel-copper project and another to acquire 70% interests in the Turner River, Meentheena and Coongan Gold Projects, located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

The consideration for these acquisitions totals 40 million Azure fully paid ordinary shares with the issue of these Shares subject to shareholder approval. Post the placement  and if this transaction is approved, the Creasy Group will emerge as Azure’s largest shareholder  with a 19.1% interest,  which includes the Creasy Group’s participation in the Placement by subscribing for 1.2 million shares.

Commenting on this acquisition, Azure’s Managing Director, Tony Rovira, said: “Due to the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico and the uncertainty of future field operations, Azure sought gold and nickel projects in Western Australia to enable the Company to continue exploration activities.

“We’re delighted to have acquired these four exciting projects which have strong potential due to historical exploration  results,  underlying  geology  and project locations. This acquisition  enables the  Company  to reduce risk by diversifying across commodities and jurisdictions, giving shareholders exposure to both the hottest gold exploration district in Western Australia and an advanced nickel-copper project.

“Andover is a highly prospective and very exciting base metal project with a nickel-copper discovery drilled by the Creasy Group demonstrating potentially economic grades and widths. The mineralisation is hosted in the Andover Complex, a layered mafic-ultramafic intrusive complex similar to the Gonneville Intrusive Complex which hosts the new Julimar nickel-copper-PGE discovery of Chalice Gold Mines.

“The Turner River Gold Project is located in the Mallina region which is rapidly emerging as a major gold province with the potential to be of world-class scale. The property is adjacent to De Grey’s project which contains the Hemi gold discovery plus gold resources of 2.2Moz in multiple shear-hosted deposits. Turner River hosts similar geology to De Grey’s ground, including 12km of the fertile Berghaus Shear and parallel structures associated with the Hemi deposit.

“Creasy Group have been Azure shareholders since 2003 and we are excited to take our relationship to the next level with this acquisition and to partner with him to explore and develop these exciting projects.

“It’s important for our shareholders to understand that our projects in Mexico remain an important core business for the Company, however, these new projects are an exceptional opportunity to explore quality ground in partnership with a proven world-class mine-finder.”