UK-based private tin exploration company Treliver Minerals Limited (TML) announced on 29 November that it had concluded the acquisition of Saxony Mines Limited (SML), a subsidiary of ASX-listed Indo Gold Limited (IGL). Saxony Mines controls a number of large tin deposits in the “Ore Mountains” on the East German/Czech border. The Westerzgebirge project includes several deposits with an historical resource of 243,000 t of tin at an average grade of 0.34%. Within the total a higher grade skarn deposit of 12 Mt at 0.76% tin, containing 88,000 tonnes, has been identified. However due to adverse market conditions, Indo Gold had had difficulty in financing new exploration work in order to produce a compliant resource and scoping study.
Under the deal TML will progressively provide a mix of shares and cash, starting with a US$1.1 million subscription to Indo Gold shares and the issue of three million of its own shares to IGL. It will spend a minimum of $2 million on the project within the next 18 months and issue up to six million further shares to IGL upon the definition of a 100,000 plus JORC-compliant reserve and the subsequent production of a scoping study approved by an independent consultant which achieves a 15% internal rate of return for a project producing not less than 2,000 tpa of tin.
TML is a private company with tin exploration and development properties and applications in Cornwall, UK. It holds £1.7million of cash and the ability to raise significant additional funds to pursue and advance projects focused on tin. Its most advanced property is Treliver Farm which was identified by Billiton Exploration UK in the 1980s as a potential open-pittable, low to medium grade project.
