Galileo Mining Ltd (ASX: GAL) has entered into a farm-in and joint venture agreement with a wholly-owned subsidiary of lithium mining giant Mineral Resources Limited to explore lithium on Galileo’s Norseman project tenements in Western Australia.
Under the agreement, Galileo will sell a 30 per cent interest in the lithium rights on its Norseman tenements to the MinRes subsidiary for $7.5 million cash.
This comprises an upfront $5 million payment within five days and a further $2.5 million within 12 months.
The two companies will then form an unincorporated 70 per cent Galileo / 30 per cent MinRes joint venture to explore lithium across the Norseman project area.
MinRes has the ability to earn up to a 55 per cent stake by sole funding $15 million on exploration over four years.
It can then increase to 70 per cent by fully funding the project through to a development decision.
Galileo’s Managing Director Brad Underwood hailed the agreement as an exciting opportunity to accelerate lithium exploration on the highly prospective Norseman ground in a world-class lithium jurisdiction.
“We are excited to add a lithium exploration joint venture to our ongoing programs for PGEs and nickel at our Norseman Project,” Underwood said.
“The Norseman project has excellent lithium potential and is strategically located in the world’s most prospective region for lithium.”
He added that partnering with a lithium leader like MinRes provides a potential fast track to any commercial lithium discovery, given the project’s proximity to infrastructure.
Importantly, Galileo retains 100 per cent ownership of the Norseman tenements and all rights to nickel, PGEs, and other minerals outside of lithium-bearing pegmatites.
This includes the 17.5Mt Callisto PGE-nickel resource on Mining Lease 63/671 which is excluded from the lithium joint venture.
With $10 million in existing cash reserves plus the $7.5 million from the MinRes deal, Galileo is fully funded for an aggressive exploration push across its Western Australian project portfolio.