The Perth-based company, which was failed coal explorer Lustrum Minerals until a pivot to copper in early 2020, has signed an agreement to earn up to 100% in the 2000sq.km Snowball project, which is 30km north-east of its flagship Witvlei project.
Noronex commenced a 10,000m drilling program at Witvlei in August, but assuming the Snowball deal doesn't melt away, it will expand its holdings in the Kalahari Copper Belt to over 2700sq.km, centred on 100km of strike.
The farm-in requires it spend at least A$400,000 before the end of April 2022. It can then withdraw without penalty or continue to spend $1 million by April 2023 for a 30% interest in the holder of the two Snowball leases, Heyn Ohana Investment.
Details about HOI and its vendors were not provided.
A further $1 million and 12 months will move it to 51% of HOI. Stage three requires a further $2 million by April 2026 for 80%, which confers the right to move to 100%.
Noronex has 60 days to complete due diligence. If happy, it needs to pay back costs of $80,000, plus a monthly $4000 fee while it explores the tenements.
The company describes the Snowball region as having all the hallmarks required to host a large copper deposit in the scale of the 60,000 tonne per annum Khoemecau/Zone 5 or proposed 50,000tpa Motheo operations, but where exploration of an identified paleogeographic high has not been conducted due to shallow sand cover.
Snowball covers the basin margin high linking the mineralisation in the Witvlei Sub-basin with the Kalahari Copper Belt extending into Botswana along the Ghanzi Ridge. The mineralised NPF-Eskadron formation appears to extend across both project areas.
Previous geochemical sampling has defined low level copper anomalies.
Targets have already been generated for geophysics and drilling on the basement highs at five priority areas, with the team overseeing the Witvlei drilling to run the Snowball program as soon as the acquisition is completed.
To help fund its work, Noronex had completed a $4.5 million placement at 12c, with its directors and senior management intending to participate for up to $200,000, subject to shareholder approval.
It raised a similar amount at 5c in July 2020 to complete its recapitalisation under Sandfire Resources' ex-chief commercial officer Robert Klug and former chief exploration and business development officer Bruce Hooper.
The company had $3 million cash last month.
Noronex's shares have traded between 10-19c over the past year and opened up 4% today at 13.5c, valuing it at $19.7 million.
