(Alliance News) - Empire Metals Ltd on Friday said that it had begun rationalising its mining portfolio in order to focus efforts on its flagship Pitfield project.
Empire Metals is a minerals explorer and developer, primarily focused on the Pitfield titanium project in Western Australia.
The company said that it had decided not to extend its tribute agreement at the Gindalbie gold project, due to expire on Saturday.
Empire entered into the tribute agreement for the mine in February 2022, giving it the exclusive rights to explore, develop and mine at the site, adjacent to its Eclipse gold project in Western Australia.
Until expiration, Empire had the option to pay Maher Mining Pty Ltd, the owner of Gindalbie, AUD250,000 to extend the licence by 12 months.
Empire Metals said that the decision to forego this was in line with its current strategy of disposing of non-core assets in order to accelerate development of its flagship Pitfield project.
In January, results from the Pitfield reverse circulation drilling programme revealed "extensive, shallow high-grade bedded titanium mineralisation", and confirmed titanium dioxide "present in every metre, starting from or near surface, in all holes drilled".
Empire is currently pursuing the next phase of exploration activities, which will quantify two high-grade zones of titanium mineralisation and provide critical mineralogical and metallurgical data for Pitfield.
Managing Director Shaun Bunn said: "Given the focus on the rapid advancement of Pitfield, the company considers it prudent to rationalise its exploration portfolio and has decided not to renew the tribute agreement covering the Gindalbie tenement which sits adjacent to our Eclipse gold project...The board no longer believes that this is a core project for Empire. By rationalising the company's portfolio, the board can apply all of the company's energy and resources on Pitfield as it targets a maiden resource in 2024."
Shares in Empire were up 3.1% at 10.10 pence each in London on Friday morning.
By Hugh Cameron, Alliance News reporter
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Empire Metals (EEE)