“Changing the company”: Aruma charts a new path in multi-minerals

Aruma Resources is heralding a potentially “company-changing” acquisition of two copper operations in Queensland and a highly prospective iron oxide, copper, gold (IOCG) and uranium facility in South Australia.

As part of the share purchase agreement with NHM Holdings, the company acquired the Wilan project near Olympic Dam in SA, also adding the Fiery Creek and Bortala copper works near Mt Isa in Queensland. Management says all three acquisitions are owned by NHM subsidiaries and have the potential for significant copper and gold mineralization, while Wilan has been identified as hosting paleochannel uranium deposits.

Due diligence has already been completed for all three new companies, and the official takeover is still subject to shareholder approval.

The latest acquisitions build on Aruma’s gold, lithium and rare earth operations in Western Australia, including its saltwater rare earth gold business in the Pilbara, the Mt Dean lithium and tantalum deposit near Norseman and the project regarding Salmon Gums rare earth gold near Esperance.

As part of the transaction, NHM shareholders will receive 26.5 million fully paid ordinary shares of Arum and 24.5 million non-transferable and exercisable options upon obtaining drilling consents at Wilan, as well as 28 million options for a 3-meter well report at one of the new projects for sorting more than 600 parts per million of uranium oxide or at least 20 m of copper content exceeding 0.8%.

Management says it has also agreed to pay a 2% net royalty to the smelter for any minerals extracted and sold from the latest additions.

We are excited about the potential of this acquisition to transform the company. We believe the combination of a high-quality portfolio of exploration assets with high-demand commodities located in active tier-1 mineral belts in progressive mining jurisdictions is clearly a good fit for Aruma Resources.

Both the Bortala and Fiery Creek projects are located in the northern part of Queensland’s Mt Isa copper belt and are considered underexplored in a region that also hosts significant copper mines including Mount Oxide, Lady Loretta and Capricorn Copper. Management plans to direct modern exploration techniques to Bortala to search for an IOCG system similar to those discovered in the Cloncurry District of Queensland and the Gawler Craton in South Australia.

Mining giant Anglo American has a majority stake in neighboring Fiery Creek, and the land was previously held by MIM Holdings – now known as Glencore – in addition to BHP, Rio Tinto and Sumitomo. The company says limited exploration work has been completed at the site, with no geophysical surveys and only minimal Sumitomo drilling.

Wilan covers an area of approximately 1,993 square kilometers on the eastern side of SA’s Gawler Craton, which is home to a number of world-class mining operations, including BHP’s Olympic Dam deposit. The company has already identified a priority uranium target in the Playa Lake exploration area west of its SA tenements.

Still awaiting shareholder approval before it can begin exploration through its latest acquisitions, Aruma appears to be building a complex portfolio of projects in prime prospect properties for key minerals including copper, gold and uranium.

The market seemed very impressed with Aruma’s recent acquisitions, with the company’s shares jumping more than 25 percent to 2.5 cents in intraday trading from a previous close of 1.9 cents, and more than 5.4 million shares changing hands .

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