PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed junior gold developer Bulletin Resources on Monday announced that it had chosen fellow-listed Pacific Niugini as its joint venture (JV) partner for its Halls Creek gold project, in Western Australia.

In January, Bulletin announced that it had received a A$6.8-million offer from Pacific Niugini to acquire a 49% stake in Halls Creek. The Pacific Niugini offer trumped a A$4.4-million offer from Matsa Resource to become a JV partner in Halls Creek.

Bulletin said on Monday that the company was now proceeding with the Pacific Nuigini deal, after Matsa failed to match the offer.

Bulletin has offered a cash payment of A$1.5-million and the promise to spend about A$1.2-million in the first 12 months of the JV. Bulletin would also receive A$1.3-million in Pacific Niugini shares.

An additional A$1.2-million spend over the following 12 months would add an additional 15% equity, which would bring Pacific Niugini’s holding in the project to 80%.

The company would further have to spend A$1-million to keep the tenements in good financial standing for a period of three years, after the first year.

The Halls Creek project consists of the Lamboo and Golden Crown prospects, and has a Joint Ore Reserves Committee-compliant resource of 1.76-million tonnes, grading 5.2 g/t gold for 294 000 oz.

Pacific Niugini said on Monday that the company would rapidly advance planning for a strategy to develop Halls Creek, with the aim of processing 120 000 t/y of ore from an underground mining operation.

The company had also taken the decision to mothball bulk testing of alluvial gravels at its Sonora operation, in Mexico, and to terminate lease agreements over the Pima 5 concession.

Pacific Niugini MD Paul Cmrlec said that the Halls Creek project was a perfect fit for the near-term production opportunities that the company had been pursuing for some time, and would complement its core skills in underground mining.

“Based on the existing drilling results and resource estimate, we envisage a selective underground mining operation that results in production grades higher than the gold resource, which stands at 5.2 g/t. New reserve estimates focused on quantifying the potential will be generated as a priority,” he said.