Stratex International establishes Turkish JV following US$1m payment

Stratex International (AIM: STI) has received the US$1m purchase fee from its Turkish partner NTF Insaat Ticaret Ltd Sti ('NTF'), and it has now established the NS Madencilik joint venture company. NS Madencilik will now fast-track the development of the Inlice and Altıntepe in Turkey, the two projects currently contain a combined oxide gold resource of approximately 570,000 ounces.

Stratex has now transferred the Inlice Project to NS Madencilik. Through the JV agreement, NTF is effectively earning-into a 55% interest in Inlice.

"This new mining venture with our dedicated joint venture partner NTF is a major step for Stratex in establishing itself as a gold production company as it aims to fast-track the Inlice and Altıntepe projects into production”, Stratex executive chairman David J Hall said.

“With a strong cash position for exploration activities we believe the new venture will allow us to unlock the value in our Turkish exploration portfolio in the future."

The companies initially began their partnership in 2009, and later in February 2010 they signed a definitive agreement, which formalised the terms of the joint venture and NTF’s earn-in requirements. In accordance with the terms of the definitive agreement, NTF is funding the scoping and pre-feasibility studies on the Inlice project and, to a lesser extent, on Stratex's Altıntepe gold project, both located in Turkey. 

NTF has been funding the work since June 2009, through monthly payments of US$50,000, and it is required to fund the Inlice feasibility study up to a total of US$2m. According to Stratex, the partners have made considerable progress towards the pre-feasibility study at Inlice.

To date, a total of 899 metres of infill drilling has been completed, to define the in-situ resource of the Ana East and Gap Zones, and to provide material for detailed metallurgical test work. The drilling has covered 58 drill holes, totalling 835 metres and 104 pits. Five drill holes have been completed for geotechnical purposes, and core samples have been submitted to the Middle East Technical University, in Ankara.

Stratex also noted that the partners have hired Nevada-based engineering and metallurgical consultancy Kappes, Cassiday & Associates (KCA) to manage the feasibility study at Inlice.  

“KCA has a strong track record of taking multiple heap-leaching gold and silver projects into production and both Stratex and NTF are confident that KCA's expertise is appropriate to fast-tracking the development of Inlice”, Stratex stated.

KCA has been contracted to complete the feasibility study within a period of six months, with start-up anticipated in May 2010.

Separately, in parallel with the Inlice project, NTF will continue to finance scoping and pre-feasibility studies at the Altıntepe project, up to US$500,000.  Subsequently, NTF has the option to earn-into Altintepe. Stratex will, assuming satisfactory results of the studies, transfer Altıntepe into NS Madencilik, and NTF can earn an interest of up to 55% of Altıntepe by expending a further US$2 million on a full feasibility study.

http://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/companies/news/15995/stratex-international-establishes-turkish-jv-following-us1m-payment-15995.html