LEX is putting its SSS where its mouth is25 Jun 2026 09:55
Late in 2025, LEX announced that it would strategically be looking to find a way to monetise its USA assets following a successful drilling campaign leading to a JORC reserve of 323k oz. The idea behind this was to be able to concentrate its available firepower on the very substantial JORC assets on hand, 6.02mn oz in the JV with Harmony Gold and start exploring some of the South African shallow gold prospects that had been nurtured for years by well known Aussie prospector, Mark Creasy.
The result announced yesterday is actually a serious surprise on the upside. As I understand it:-
1. They inject their current 51% stake in exchange for a 36.8% immediate stake in a soon to be listed Aussie company (Goldoz) with a 1 year lock up.
2. The IPO will raise 2.5mn pounds which will be applied exclusively to further exploration of the USA assets.
3. Assuming they find more JORC-able ozs, they could go up to as much as 46.3% of Goldoz.
4. Also they will receive up to A$400k in cash (GBP200k) if the IPO goes ahead.
5. LEX retains effective control as the largest shareholder.
Boiling this all down, LEX is sacrificing its 51% for 36.8% upfront and a possible eventual 46.3% based on finding new JORC compliant reserves. So they are potentially sacrificing just 5% and raising 2.5mn of new money for exploration purposes.. Whoever negotiated this deal deserves a serious pat on the back!
LEX has done what it said it would and is now free to follow its South African opportunities. I am sure there will be plenty of good news to salivate over in the next 6 to 12 months.
1. The result of the mining license application at the Jelani JV with Harmony. This is likely to be the tipping point for Harmony as to whether to go ahead with the JV or just buy LEX out for cash.
2. Its interesting to note that The LEX subsidiary, Shango Solutions, the in house geologists of White Rivers when it was owned by Creasy, put out press releases claiming JORC compliant resources of close to 12 million oz. This was in 2018 at a time when the gold price was around 1300 dollars/oz.
3. Even the current 6.02mn oz number is likely conservative as it was based on a gold price of around $1300/oz. Recently, LEX increased the size of its JORC in the USA by 50% based on a gold price of 2,700/oz as I recall.
4. And then there is thee potential huge upside of the Kroonstadt prospect which could be a brand new South African goldfield. LEX has said it is assessing its plans in this prospect, so likely we can hope for a drilling program to be announced in the not too distant future.