FinnAust Mining buys Avannaa, gains new Greenland exploration licence

(ShareCast News) - Titanium and ilmenite explorer FinnAust Mining has bought Avannaa Exploration, after gaining approval from the Greenland government, and has won a new licence, which "strengthens" its footprint within country.FinnAust bought Avannaa from Capricorn Oil, a subsidiary of Cairn energy, for £500,000, which was paid for by the issue of 7.58m shares of 0.01p each sold at 6.59p. The shares are expected to trade on AIM on 11 January withe company's share capital now consisting of 614.16m shares.The AIM-listed miner was also granted a 28 square kilometers exploration licence for the Illukunnguaq area adjacent to Avannaa's existing licence areas.The company already holds a majority stake in the Pituffik titanium project, which is in the Illukunnguaq area and has the potential to be a top percentile ilmenite project for heavy mineral grade with the maiden resource expected during February. FinnAust's focus is on delivering a bulk sample during the year and larger scale production in 2018.Through the acquisition it gained two new projects, the 194 square kilometer Disko-Nuussuaq magmatic massive sulphide nickel-copper-platinum project and the 107 square kilometer Kangerluarsuk Sed-Ex lead-zinc-silver project.Chief executive Roderick McIllree said, "Having already proven the success of our exploration model and regional understanding of Greenland through the advancement of the Pituffik titanium project, we are delighted to have strengthened our footprint within this extremely prospective region."Our newly acquired projects complement our stated strategy of acquiring low cost, high quality assets and we believe all three offer significant upside potential. Whilst Pituffik remains our flagship project and primary exploration/development focus, with a maiden JORC resource and bulk sampling due next year, we look forward to further proving up the resource potential of these new projects in order to build value for shareholders."He added that the Disko project in particular, has the potential to become "a significant nickel sulphide deposit".Shares in FinnAust Mining were down 1.06% to 7p at 0928 GMT.