Morning Star Holdings
Morning Star enters into strategic $4.5 million joint venture
Morning Star Gold (ASX: MCO) has entered into a new $4.5 million Joint Venture with Ample Rise Investments, a Hong Kong-based resources investor with a long term strategic focus.
News of the Joint Venture saw shares in the company increase slightly by 1.5% to 33c.
The Joint Venture is designed to allow gold production opportunities to be fast tracked on Morning Star’s regional Mining Licences (MIN5299 and MIN5241) in the prodigious Woods Point – Walhalla gold field.
The two tenements historically produced in excess of 350,000 ounces of gold at high grades from mostly shallow workings above the water table. The mines subject to the Joint Venture investment include the All Nations, Loch Fyne, Hunts, Dempsey and Rose of Denmark.
The key commercial terms of the Joint Venture are that Ample Rise will expend $4.5M over the next 2 years to earn a 51% interest in MIN5299 and MIN5241. Morning Star will manage and operate the Joint Venture over this time.
The Joint Venture investment will facilitate rapid development of MCO’s two regional Mining Licences (MINs) at the same time that MCO looks to commence gold production at its Woods Point Gold Project based around the Morning Star mine. The JV is separate MCO’s 100% owned and operated MIN5009 (Morning Star, Tingha & Waverly) and MCO’s two Exploration Licences EL5079 and EL4320 (Wallaby, Reliance, Little Comet, Garibaldi).
Morning Star managing director Nick Garling said the company was "delighted" to cement the JV investment with its new Chinese partner.
"Ample Rise’s investment will provide the vital equity capital to progress our regional MINs from greenfields potential to realistic ore sources for our planned on-site gravity mill at the Morning Star mine in Woods Point," Mr Garling said.
Ample Rise becomes a substantial shareholder of MCO with an 11% holding.
Morning Star Gold <ASX: MCO> is 100% owner and manager of the Woods Point Gold Project in Victoria’s historic Eastern gold fields.
The area was mined for around a million tonnes of ore at just under an ounce to the tonne for a recorded production of 883,000 ounces of gold.
It also carries an in situ gold resource, estimated in 2008 to exceed 900,000ozs.









