PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Junior explorer Aeon Metals has acquired struggling mining personality Nathan Tinkler’s flagship Aston Metals, which went into administration in November last year.

Aston owns the Walford Creek project, with a Joint Ore Reserves Committee-compliant resource of 48-million tonnes at 1.42% copper equivalent, and an interest in four exploration joint ventures in the Mount Isa region of Queensland.

Aeon told shareholders on Thursday that the acquisition of Aston would provide the company with significant scale and sustained long-term growth potential.

“The addition of the Walford Creek project and the Mount Isa tenement package to our portfolio forms a highly complementary asset base, and will significantly increase our scale and long-term growth potential,” said Aeon MD Hamish Collins.

“This is a major deal for a junior like us and will transform Aeon into a premier base metals-focused company.”

Under the terms of the transaction, Aeon would provide Aston a A$20-million nonrecourse loan, with a 12%-a-year capitalised interest payable after three years, along with 48.2-million Aeon shares, at a price of 14.5c a share and options with a face value of some A$10-million.

Subject to shareholder approval, Aeon would look to raise about A$8-million in capital through an equity placement to institutional and sophisticated investors, with 66.7-million shares being placed at 12c each.

The placement price represented a 20% discount to the closing price at March 26.

The proceeds from the placement would be used to advance the Walford Creek project, with funding going towards drilling, infrastructure studies, metallurgical flowsheet assessments and environmental studies, as well as Aeon’s existing Ben Hur and 7B projects, also in Queensland.

The placement would result in Aeon being fully funded until the end of December 2015, at which point the company was targeting a prefeasibility study for the Walford Creek project.