Empire progressing with Munni Munni acquisition as drilling begins

Exploration and development company Empire Metals updated the market on the proposed acquisition of a 58.6% interest in Munni Munni - a subsidiary of ASX-listed Artemis Resources, and the beneficial owner of a 70% interest in the Munni Munni Palladium Project in Western Australia's West Pilbara - on Thursday.

The AIM-traded firm said that after completion, it would hold a controlling 41% interest in Munni Munni, which it described as the largest unexploited primary platinum group elements resource in Australia.

It said all parties were “working constructively”, with work continuing on a number of the conditions precedent.

The start of a 13 hole, 1,820 metre reverse circulation drilling programme at Munni Munni was going ahead, in order to take advantage of the current drilling season.

Empire said Munni Munni contained the largest intrusion in the West Pilbara, and hosted a JORC 2004-compliant resource of 24 million tonnes 2.9 grams per tonne of platinum group elements and gold, containing 1.14 million ounces of palladium, 0.83 million ounces of platinum, 0.15 million ounces of gold, and 0.076 million ounces of rhodium.

It explained that the drill programme was designed to extend the primary reef mineralisation and test historical assay grades from diamond drilling, using reverse circulation drilling, and test for the presence of a second reef below the primary platinum group elements reef.

It would also generate data that could contribute to a JORC 2012 mineral resource estimate in the future.

Empire said it had been consulted on, and was in agreement with, its future joint venture partner Artemis on the work being undertaken.

“The teams at Artemis and Empire have been constructively working towards completion of our acquisition of an effective 41% stake in the Munni Munni platinum group elements project,” said chief executive officer Mike Struthers.

“Empire was consulted on and is in full agreement with Artemis regarding the specifics of the drill programme, and it is encouraging to see how positively we are working with our prospective joint venture partners.

“We continue to push ahead with the transaction and will provide further updates in due course.”

At 1207 BST, shares in Empire Metals were up 13.17% at 1.7p.