Australian Potash hits Lake Wells Gold project milestone

Australian Potash’s partnership with St Barbara Ltd at its Lake Wells Gold Project in WA has taken a major step forward with the mid-tier gold producer completing its expenditure obligations under the first earn-in stage as part of joint venture between the two companies.

In 2018, Australian Potash and St Barbara entered into a joint venture over the Lake Wells Gold project near Laverton, which gives St Barbara the right to earn up to a 70% interest in the lake Wells tenements via the expenditure of $1.75m in an initial earn-in stage and a further $3.5 million in a second earn-in stage.

On Monday, Australian Potash announced that St Barbara had completed the first earn-in stage, spending the requisite $1.75 million whilst also agreeing to reimburse Australian Potash another $318,000 for previously incurred gold exploration expenditure.

St Barbara will now proceed to the second earn-in stage, the company said in a statement this week.

Australian Potash chief executive Matt Shackleton said: “In St Barbara, we have that partner and progressing to the second earn-In period increases our confidence that future exploration success could add significant value to APC and its flagship Lake Wells Sulphate of Potash Project.”

The upbeat news from the Sulphate of Potash developer comes after it recently completed a Definitive Feasibility Study into its potash play, located around 500kms northeast of Kalgoorlie.

According to the DFS, the project, officially known as the Lake Wells Sulphate of Potash Project, has a 30-year mine-life with the potential to produce 4.5 million tonnes of high-grade sulphate of potash and generate a massive $3.1 billion in pre-tax free cash flows.

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