Accelerate Resources has grabbed full control of its Woodie Woodie North manganese project 260 kilometres east of Port Hedland in WA’s East Pilbara region in a savvy move that clears the decks of all legacy payments and royalties ahead of a significant drilling campaign planned for next month.
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that → grab → month
The company has executed two binding, share-only agreements that deliver 100 per cent of the 432-square-kilometre tenure.
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that → execute → tenure
The deals simplify a previously complex ownership structure and remove any future milestone payments, which could otherwise have potentially cost the company up to $2 million in cash and 20 million shares.
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which → simplify → cash
In the first transaction, Accelerate will acquire full title to two key exploration licences by issuing 25 million shares to subsidiaries of First Development Resources.
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Accelerate → acquire → Resources
Previously, the company held only the manganese and iron ore rights over the tenements under a 2021 option.
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company → hold → option
The deal now gives it outright ownership and extinguishes all remaining claims, including milestone payments and royalties.
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deal → give → payments
‘All manganese we discover and develop at Woodie Woodie North will now belong solely to Accelerate shareholders.’Accelerate Resources chief executive officer and managing director Luke Meter
A second transaction involves Accelerate issuing 30 million shares to a group of seven unrelated vendors to terminate all legacy agreements across the wider project.
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Accelerate → discover → project
The move scrubs all future milestone payments, deferred consideration, royalties and reversionary rights tied to resource definition and development.
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move → scrub → definition
The company says the two scrip-based deals mean no cash will leave its coffers for the acquisitions, leaving it well-funded for its upcoming exploration push.
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cash → say → push
Key to the consolidation is that Accelerate now stands to capture 100 per cent of the upside from any future discovery, resource upgrade or development at Woodie Woodie North.
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stands → stand → North
Management says the simplified structure will also better support any potential funding, offtake or partnering discussions down the track.
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structure → say → track
Accelerate Resources chief executive officer and managing director Luke Meter said: “This is a decisive simplification of the Woodie Woodie North ownership structure.
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This → manage → structure
On Completion, we will own the Area 42 corridor outright and every remaining milestone payment across the project will be extinguished, with no cash leaving the Company.
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cash → own → Company
From that point, all manganese we discover and develop at WWN will belong solely to Accelerate shareholders.”
The Woodie Woodie North project sits 55km north of Consolidated Minerals’ long-running Woodie Woodie manganese mine.
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project → discover → mine
The company has already carved out a maiden inferred mineral resource of 1.2 million tonnes grading 19.1 per cent manganese, alongside an exploration target of between 5.3 and 10.7 million tonnes at grades of 10 to 19 per cent manganese.
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company → carve → manganese
Perhaps more importantly though, the at-surface geology doesn’t respect tenement boundaries, with Accelerate saying it appears to be sitting on a significant extension of the same mineralised system that has made its neighbour a globally significant producer.
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neighbour → respect → system
With the ownership structure now cleaned up, the company is turning its focus to the drill bit.
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company → clean → bit
Scheduled for October, maiden drilling at the project’s Gingarrigan prospect follows recent mapping that identified more than 200 manganese outcrops across it and the nearby El Largo area, outlining a combined manganese footprint of almost 10 hectares.
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that → schedule → hectares
Rock chip sampling from the outcrops returned high-grade results of up to an impressive 59.4 per cent manganese.
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sampling → return → manganese
The upcoming 3000-metre reverse-circulation program will test the continuity of the surface mineralisation at depth and along strike, with management eyeing the potential to add a second resource area to the project.
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management → test → project
Additionally, rock chip sampling from the company’s newly defined Rancor and Wampa prospects has returned grades as high as 58.4 per cent manganese, with a slew of other impressive hits including 57.6 per cent and 55.6 per cent manganese.
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sampling → define → manganese
For context, Australia’s two major operating mines at Woodie Woodie and Groote Eylandt run resource grades of 45.5per cent and 43.6 per cent manganese, respectively.
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mines → operate → cent
The outcropping grades look bang on for direct-shipping ore (DSO).
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grades → look → ore
DSO is the holy grail for bulk commodity miners, meaning the ore is high-grade enough to be dug up and shipped directly to customers with minimal processing, dramatically slashing both capital and operating costs.
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ore → mean → costs
Accelerate’s focus on manganese is part of a dual-pronged strategy, which also includes the Balagundi gold project near Kalgoorlie.
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which → include → Kalgoorlie
In a nod to its two key commodities, the company is planning to rebrand as “Mango Metals”, a combination of the words manganese and gold.
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company → plan → words
Having tidied up its ownership and removed the burden of legacy payments, Accelerate has a clear run at its Pilbara project.
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Accelerate → tidy → project
If the upcoming drilling at Gingarrigan can convert those high-grade surface rocks into a significant discovery, taking full control of the project will look like a very shrewd piece of business indeed.
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taking → convert → business
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting?
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company → list → something
The Aporia
