JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Aim-listed exploration and development company Stratex on Monday announced that it had completed the formation of a new East and North Africa-focused exploration company in partnership with Thani Emirates Resource Holdings.

Stratex and Thani’s assets in the region were now combined into a new company named Thani Stratex Resources (ThaniStratex), in which Stratex held 40% and Thani 60%.

"Stratex is very pleased to have closed this deal which combines its assets in Ethiopia and Djibouti with those of our joint venture partner in Egypt,” Stratex nonexecutive chairperson Christopher Hall commented.

He explained that further exploration to evaluate the potential of the company’s properties in the region was going to require significant funding beyond Stratex’s resources, which did not fit in well with the company’s business model. 

“By entering into [a] partnership with Thani, with its experience and record in the region, we have ensured that we do justice to this exciting portfolio of properties where we see a clear analogy with the rift-related, epithermal gold province in Argentina. 

“We also gain indirect exposure to Egypt where Centamin has demonstrated the geological potential through the development of the Sukhari mine, with in excess of ten-million ounces of resource and, in time, other jurisdictions in the region,” Hall said.

The concessions being transferred to the newly formed ThaniStratex included the Blackrock licences, in Ethiopia, the Okilla, Assal and Dimoli Khan licences, in Djibouti, and the Hodine and Wadi Kareem licences, in Egypt.

"Planning is well advanced for further drilling at Blackrock, in northern Ethiopia, and an initial drill programme at Oklila, in Djibouti, where the surface sampling of the Pandora structure has returned some of the best results we have seen in the region,” Hall noted.

Stratex and Thani would each contribute $1-million in working capital to assess and add value to priority projects, while third-party investment would be sought in the future to further advance ThaniStratex's portfolio prior to a planned listing on an appropriate stock exchange.

Meanwhile, Stratex executive director responsible for East Africa David Hall had been appointed CEO of ThaniStratex and had consequently stepped down from the board of Stratex.