Alba MIneral Resources plc has entered an option for the Finnsbo rare earth project in the historic magnetite mining district of eastern Bergslagen in Uppland, eastern Sweden.
VALUE
The licence lies 15km north of the 540-year-old Dannemora magnetite mine, and within the southern fringes of the “regionally extensive” high strain ductile Forsmark Deformation Zone.
Current operating zinc mines include Garpenberg and Zinkgruvan.
The company said that most workings on Finnsbo were magnetite and copper artisanal pits from the Victorian era, the “most significant” being the Bredasen containing a cluster of 30-40m deep vertical shafts.
Sampling of historic blast material on surface at two separate sites, of Pop 1 and Pop 2, returned assays at Pop 2 of up to 3.5% total rare earth oxides and gold and copper grades of up to 27g/t and 2.9%.
ATTRACTIVE
Alba will pay the vendors an option fee of £10,000 in shares and cash, from today’s £300,000 fundraise, and shares, for a 45-day exclusive due diligence period.
On completion of a formal transaction, the company can make staged payments, totalling circa £1.2 million in cash and shares, to earn increasing interest in the project over 36 months.
Alba also has a 12-month option over two other as yet unnamed Swedish projects also held by the same owners of Finnsbo. The company plans an initial site visit in the coming days.
“We are delighted to have secured this option over a very interesting rare earth prospect in Sweden,” added executive chairman George Frangeskides.
“We have long flagged that we are open to other value-enhancing project acquisitions and investments.
“The reasonable earn-in terms, and the fact that the owners of the project have a well-
established technical team based in Sweden which can continue to support work activities on the ground, make this an attractive proposition which complements, and is not expected to detract from, the company’s continued focus on the roll-out of blasting and development operations at the Clogau gold mine in Wales.”