10 highlights of FinnAust mining's acquisition of Avannaa Exploration

FinnAust Mining, the exploration company with operations in Greenland, Finland and Austria, has announced that it will strengthen its position in Greenland with the acquisition of Avannaa Exploration Limited. The company is a mineral exploration company with several advanced projects in the south-west of Greenland.

The acquisition, which will also see FinnAust acquire share capital of Avannaa from Capricorn Oil Limited, a subsidiary of Cairn Energy Plc.

Here are 10 highlights of the deal:

• Two of the projects, which have been the subject of more than US$50 million of technical work prior to Capricorns activities by blue chip mining houses, are of particular interest:
• The 194 sq km Disko-Nuussuaq (‘Disko’) Magmatic Massive Sulphide (‘MMS’) nickel-copper-platinum project (‘Ni-Cu-PGE’)

Detailed sulphide inclusion analysis from the Disko flood basalts show strong sulphide segregation has taken place

The existence of a 28 tonne massive sulphide boulder assaying 7% Ni, 3% Cu & 2ppm PGE in a cross cutting dyke interpreted to have sampled an MMS conductor during emplacement, confirms the model

• Seven large scale MMS Ni-Cu-PGE conductor targets confirmed, the two largest are 5.9km long & 1.1km wide and 4.8km long & 800m wide
• The 107 sq km Kangerluarsuk SedEx lead-zinc-silver project (‘Kangerluarsuk’)
• Previously drilled by Cominco then RTZ, historical results include 41% Zn, 9.3% Pb and 596 g/t Ag
• 2 large scale drill ready SedEx targets located in favourable topography
• Projects complement FinnAust’s stated strategy of acquiring low cost, high quality assets – both have minimal exploration commitment and low administrative holding cost due to historical expenditure credits
• Primary focus to remain on delivering production at Pituffik Titanium Project in Greenland (‘Pituffik’) – bulk sampling targeted to commence in 2017
• Acquisition price of £500,000 to be satisfied through the issue of new ordinary shares in FinnAust
• Acquisition conditional upon, inter alia, change of control approval being received from the Greenland Government

FinnAust CEO Roderick McIllree said, “This acquisition further consolidates FinnAust’s position in Greenland and sees us add quality acreage to our Greenlandic portfolio, which already includes the unusually pure Pituffik Titanium Project.  Having worked in Greenland extensively over the past 10 years, my team and I have an excellent understanding of the resource opportunity in this emerging jurisdiction, the potential of which grows day by day as a result of environmental changes.”

“In terms of strategy, FinnAust will maintain its immediate focus on advancing Pituffik, which is shaping up to be a globally significant titanium asset. Before announcing details of our work programme plan for these new assets, our team will first absorb the large datasets available to ensure that all future work delivers the success we have seen at Pituffik and maximises shareholder value.”

The September issue of Mining Global Magazine is live!

Follow @MiningGlobal

Get in touch with our editor Dale Benton at [email protected]