Auroch completes purchase of SA high-grade zinc projects

Auroch Minerals Limited (ASX:AOU) this morning informed the market that it has completed the acquisition of 90% of the Arden Zinc Project and 100% of the Bonaventura Zinc Project, both located in the world-class mining region of South Australia.

The company can confirm the completion of the acquisitions following shareholder approval at a general meeting today. As reported by the company, the transaction involved the following securities as consideration for the acquisitions:

a. 8,300,000 shares;

b. 6,400,000 class A performance shares which vest on publication of a JORC (2012) Indicated Resource for the Arden Zinc Project of at least 3Mt @ greater than 10% zinc equivalent with a cut-off grade of at least 3% zinc equivalent;

c. 2,300,000 class B performance shares which vest on publication of a JORC (2012) Indicated Resource for the Bonaventura Zinc Project of at least 2Mt @ greater than 10% Zinc equivalent, with a cut-off grade of at least 5% Zinc equivalent; and

d. 2,300,000 class C performance shares which vest on publication of a JORC (2012) Indicated Resource for the Bonaventura Zinc Project of at least 5Mt @ greater than 10% Zinc equivalent, with a cut-off grade of at least 5% Zinc equivalent.

These consideration securities are subject to voluntary escrow restrictions, meaning that one third will be freely tradable on issue, one third will be escrowed for six months following completion and the last third will be escrowed for 12 months following completion.

In addition, AOU has reimbursed vendor costs of A$150,000 as part of the acquisitions. At the same time as the acquisitions were finalised, the company also issued:

e. 1,500,000 shares to the party that introduced the acquisitions as well as 1,000,000 class D performance shares which vest if any of the above performance milestones applicable to the class A, class B and class C performance shares are achieved;

f. a total of 8,000,000 performance rights to AOU directors, employees or contractors which vest over 2 years subject to continuous service with the company.

Of course, as with all minerals exploration, success is not guaranteed — consider your own personal circumstances before investing and seek professional financial advice.

Last month the company announced it had penned an agreement covering the two acquisitions, informing shareholders of a list of positives for each tenement. This included previous drilling results at Bonaventura hitting high-grade zinc intersections like 16 metres at 3.4% zinc and 0.7% lead from 52 metres (including 6 metres at 6.3% zinc); and 11 metres at 3.1% zinc and 1.5% lead from 26 metres (including 1 metres at 8.0% zinc).

As for the Arden Zinc Project, AOU reported that are multiple assays of 9-10 per cent zinc and 0.1 per cent cobalt had been recorded from historic trench-sampling over a strike length of 1.5 kilometres, with a total strike length of the prospective geological unit of over 10 kilometres. Recent sampling at the Kanyaka target within the Arden tenement yielded up to 2.5 per cent cobalt.