Codrus is seeking A$5-8 million at 20c per share to drive exploration to fund a $3-5.7 million exploration program over the next two years.

 

Blackstone expects to own 47-58% of Codrus, and existing shareholders are being offered participation in a priority offer.

 

The explorer announced the plan to demerge its non-core assets - Bull Run, Silver Swan South, Red Gate and Middle Creek - in January.

 

Bull Run is a historical, high-grade gold field located in Oregon in the US, while the balance are located within well-understood WA mineral fields.

 

Silver Swan South and Red Gate are within WA's Eastern Goldfields, while Middle Creek is located in the eastern Pilbara region. All are prospective for gold, and Silver Swan South is also prospective for nickel. 

 

Silver Swan is 20km north-west of Kalgoorlie, 10km from Northern Star Resources' Kanowna Belle mine, along the fault that controls the mineralisation at that mine, and 10km south along the geological trend of the Silver Swan and Black Swan nickel sulphide deposits.

 

It is known to host gold, with drilling by Blackstone at the Black Eagle prospect returning 11m at 2.9 grams per tonne from 68m, which is interpreted to be at the interpreted base of the thick cover that has stymied earlier work. 

 

Modern geophysics is expected to help unlock the prospectivity of the concealed stratigraphy, including komatiite units that are interpreted in the area, such as at Venus, where the prospect straddles the stratigraphic contact between the komatiite and

the felsic volcans and has both gold and nickel anomalism.

 

Silver Swan will take the largest share of exploration dollars, up to $2 million.

 

Red Gate, which is 140km north of Kalgoorlie, contains a number of electromagnetic anomalies defined, including one that is co-incident with the Porphyry North prospect, 10km north of the 700,000 ounce Porphyry gold deposit that was discovered in 1933 and was most recently mined by Saracen Mineral Holdings.

 

The 95%-owned Middle Creek project is 10km east of the small township of Nullagine, and is an early stage asset with "significant historical production". There has been no drilling in the area.

 

Bull Run has been intermittently mined for vein gold since the 1920s, but has seen limited modern exploration.

 

Blackstone managing director Andrew Radonjic will take on the role of Codrus' non-executive chairman, while veteran geologist Shannan Bamforth will take on the MD's role.

 

Blackstone company secretary Jamie Byrde will be a non-executive director, while the exploration manager is Stuart Owen, who was a senior geologist on the team that discovered the large Paulsens deposit in WA's Ashburton Basin, and the Southern Ashanti gold deposits in Ghana.

 

Codrus hopes to list next month.