Chinese explorer to buy 25% stake in Australia’s Arafura

Mining Weekly

ASX-listed Arafura Resources has confirmed that China’s East China Exploration (ECE) would invest A$24-million to acquire a 25% interest in the company.

ECE would acquire 60-million shares at a price of up to 40c a share, by way of two placements. The details of ECE’s commitment were confirmed at the company’s headquarters in China this week.

Arafura is involved in a rare earths/phosphate/uranium project, as well as gold and base metals.

“The ECE capital injection will ensure that Arafura has the cash to progress our feasibility work on the Nolans project this year. ECE will then assist us in project financing for mining and processing for the Nolans project,” said Arafura chairperson Ian Laurance.

The Nolans uranium and rare earth project is located in the Northern Territoriy.

In addition to assisting in the funding of the Nolans project, ECE would enter into a series of relevant joint ventures to explore Arafura’s other tenements in the Northern Territory.

“ECE has had great success in exploration across China and in many other countries, and they are keen to bring their expertise to assist Arafura in developing further opportunities,” Arafura MD Alistair Stephens said.

A delegation of senior ECE executives will now travel to Australia in April to visit the Nolan site, and to meet with the Northern Territory Minister of Mines and the Federal Minister for Resources.


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