Tectonic Gold Plc Year End Corporate Update

 
TIDMTTAU 
 
8 August 2023 
 
TECTONIC GOLD PLC 
 
("Tectonic" or the "Company") 
 
Year end corporate update 
 
Tectonic Gold plc (TDIM: TTAU, is pleased to provide an update on key corporate 
and operational developments including funding from the Australian Government, 
partnering with a leading Australian mining group on the ongoing development of 
the Specimen Hill gold project and an engagement to lead commercialisation of a 
major gold portfolio in Ghana. 
 
Highlights: 
 
 1. Receipt of R&D funds from Australian Government 
 2. Farm-out of Specimen Hill copper/gold project 
 3. Commercialisation of privately held gold portfolio in the Ashanti Gold Belt 
 4. Rare earths outcome in Heavy Mineral Sands("HMS") joint venture 
 
Tectonics' strategy is to build participation in projects through a transfer of 
its IP, technology and expertise without having to internally fund project 
development. Farming out Specimen Hill at the completion of the research 
program, coupled with an expert advisory engagement to earn an interest in the 
Ghanaian portfolio is the most efficient way to crystalise value without having 
to raise additional capital. We are constantly evaluating additional 
opportunities to build project level interests and over time, a diversified 
revenue from those interests. 
 
R&D update 
 
In July Tectonic received a further $157,000 from the Australian Government 
under its research and development funding program. Over $3 million has been 
received from this program to date which has substantially funded the 
development of exploration technology improving the efficiency of gold resource 
identification and delineation. 
 
The technology expertise and exploration methodology created through years of 
rigorous in-field testing at Specimen Hill has generated two significant 
opportunities. 
 
 1. The data package generated over multiple seasons of field testing at 
Specimen Hill has attracted a farm-in partner to undertake the continued 
development of the project. This is discussed in more detail below. 
 
 2. The advanced technical expertise developed over the program attracted the 
interest of an international gold investor and has resulted in Tectonic being 
appointed to lead the commercialisation of a large privately held gold portfolio 
in the world class Ashanti Gold Belt in Ghana. Details of this are provided 
below. 
 
Expenses in Australia have been significantly reduced and all foreseeable costs 
will be covered by cash in hand and expected future funding from the Australian 
Government. 
 
Specimen Hill project farm-out 
 
In August Tectonic finalised terms with Fiddlers Creek Mining Company Pty Ltd 
(Fiddlers Creek) on an option for Fiddlers Creek to farm-in to a majority 
position in the Specimen Hill project. Fiddlers Creek is the exploration 
division of ASX listed White Energy Limited, a corporate vehicle being developed 
by a highly successful Queensland resources investment group. The terms are as 
follows: 
 
  · Stage 1 - an option to acquire 51% at the project level for a cash spend of 
AU$1 million within 3 years 
  · Stage 2 - an option to acquire a further 25% (76% in total) by spending a 
further AU$2 million 
  · Stage 3 - Tectonic has the choice of co-funding further development or 
selling a further 15% to Fiddlers Creek for AU$2 million in cash 
  · The remaining interest may then be converted into a non-diluting 3% royalty. 
 
White Energy has a similar technology approach to Tectonic and has a proprietary 
ionic geochemistry technique that they will be deploying on Specimen Hill in the 
second half of August. This advanced testing is highly effective in identifying 
copper targets at depth and will complement the extensive work Tectonic has 
already completed on testing the gold in the Specimen Hill system. This will 
enable a comprehensive understanding of the copper/gold prospectivity of 
Specimen Hill. 
 
This arrangement brings advanced technology and a successful Queensland based 
team into the project to complement the work done to date. In addition, it 
enables Tectonic to retain a significant economic exposure to Specimen Hill 
without incurring development cost as the project is further de-risked. 
 
Ashanti Gold portfolio development lead 
 
Tectonic has been working closely with the principals of Optimus Resources Ltd 
("Optimus") over the last six months reviewing a 1,500km2 tenement portfolio 
surrounding the lucrative Obuasi and Tarkwa operations within the Ashanti Gold 
belt in Ghana. Independently verified historic exploration on this portfolio 
reports immediate resources of over 1 million ounces of gold. 
 
The portfolio has been privately held for over twenty years by a leading Ghanian 
family office. Their interests span media, insurance, packaging and real estate 
and the family wishes to now commercialise the gold portfolio, building a 
vertically integrated gold mining business. Their objective is to have it listed 
on a major international stock exchange. Tectonic has been engaged to provide 
technical expertise and a corporate development strategy for the portfolio. 
 
The Company has begun to evaluate, rank and prioritise assets within the 
portfolio and construct a project development pipeline, commercialisation 
strategy, identify suitable merger and acquisition opportunities and define a 
pathway to listing the group on a major exchange. 
 
This program is being fully funded by the owners. 
 
This is an exceptional opportunity for Tectonic to gain access to a tenement 
package of this scale in one of the most productive geological settings in the 
world.  The Ashanti Gold Belt has been a major source of global gold production 
for over a century and hosts a number of the largest international mining 
companies. Tectonics' key management has experience on the ground in Ghana and 
companies affiliated with Tectonics' founding team are already operating in 
country, servicing these major gold mines. Tectonic is bringing its deep 
technical research capability, developed with support from the Australian 
Federal Government and leading Australian exploration and mining research 
institutions, to contribute to the discovery and development of the next 
generation of Ghanaian gold mines. 
 
Rare earths in heavy mineral sands joint venture 
 
Tectonic holds a 40% economic interest in Whale Head Pty Ltd, a heavy mineral 
sands mining ("HMS") project being developed by joint venture partner, AIM 
quoted Kazera Global Plc ("Kazera"). In July, Kazera announced elevated 
radioactivity readings in ores beneficiated from alluvial mining of HMS in the 
Walviskop project in South Africa and as a result the need to engage South 
Africa's National Nuclear Regulator. This is worth understanding in more 
technical detail as the source of the radiation is weakly radioactive thorium, a 
Rare Earth Element (REE) found in monazite. 
 
The HMS ores at Walviskop include economic concentrations of rutile, zircon, and 
monazite. Rutile and zircon are widely used with a range of industrial 
applications. Monazites are less well known, but are rare earth minerals 
typically comprising thorium, lanthanum and cerium. Lanthanum and its neighbour 
on the periodic table, cerium, are used in high end lighting applications, think 
flat screen TVs and iPhones. Thorium is used in heat resistant ceramics and 
platinum catalytic converters in diesel engines on cars, trucks, ships and 
trains. The elevated radiation readings in the Kazera testing should be 
understood as evidence that the ores contain valuable monazites. With China's 
recent restrictions on the export of certain REEs, this is a positive outcome 
for Tectonic. 
 
Mr. Brett Boynton, Managing Director - Tectonic Gold Plc 
 
"The team is really encouraged by the recognition for what we have achieved in 
our research in Australia over the last five years. The Fiddlers Creek 
endorsement is validation of Tectonics' courage to pioneer new ideas in 
exploration and winning the role with Optimus is a Company changing opportunity 
to take all of that experience into one of the premier gold belts in the world. 
 
Tectonic is still deeply entrenched in research in Australia and is now 
exporting that expertise to Ghana, with a strong in-country partner who has a 
genuine desire, and the means, to see a new major gold play created. Ghana, like 
Australia, has a long and storied gold mining history. Tectonic is bringing 
expertise directly from the crucible of research and development in Australia, 
to be a part of the next generation of Ashanti mining stories. 
 
Tectonic is actively reviewing opportunities where we can build a portfolio of 
holdings in high quality global gold projects." 
 
The Directors of the Company accept responsibility for the contents of this 
announcement. 
 
Investors can sign up to Tectonic's mailing list at the following link: 
 
http://www.tectonicgold.com/contact 
 
Follow us on Twitter: @Tectonic_Gold 
 
For further information, please contact: 
 
Tectonic Gold plc     [phone] 
 
Brett Boynton 
 
Sam Quinn 
 
www.tectonicgold.com 
 
@tectonic_gold 
Aquis Stock Exchange Corporate Adviser and Broker  [phone]??? 5004??? 
 
VSA Capital Limited 
 
Andrew Raca - Corporate Finance 
 
Andrew Monk - Corporate Broking 
 
 
This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com 
https://news.cision.com/tectonic-gold-plc/r/year-end-corporate-update,c3814595 
 
 
END 
 
 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 08, 2023 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)