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LONDON (Alliance News) - Bluebird Merchant Ventures Ltd Thursday said it has secured its stake in the joint venture covering the Batangas gold project in the Philippines, which is now fully funded through to a definitive feasibility study.
Bluebird said it has made its share of stage one payments under the joint venture agreement, allowing it to secure its 25% stake in the holding company, Red Mountain Mining Singapore Ltd. When combined with its partners share, the funding provided under stage one will fund the project through to that all-important definitive feasibility study, it said.
However, there is other work to be conducted before that study can be completed, including the pre-feasibility study, which will be the venture's key focus before upgrading it to a definitive one.
The project is thought to contain around 445,000 ounces of gold and has already has USD15.0 million spent on it historically.
Under options held by Bluebird, it could potentially push its stake in the project up to 50.1% in the future.
Bluebird shares were up 3.5% to 3.75 pence per share on Thursday morning.
By Joshua Warner; joshuawarner@alliancenews.com; @JoshAlliance
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