The Azure Minerals Limited (ASX: AZS) share price has rocketed higher today after the mineral exploration company announced acquisition plans. Azure announced that it is set to acquire a number of high quality gold and nickel projects in Western Australia. Since the announcement, the Azure Minerals share price has soared 24% to 16 cents.
What does Azure Minerals do?
Azure Minerals is a mineral exploration company focused on the development of nine mineral projects in Mexico and now in Australia. The company maintains a primary focus on developing the high grade, zinc, lead, silver Oposura project in Mexico, with full scale production expected by early to mid 2021.
The company often looks to leverage partnerships with major resource companies to develop advanced stage projects with potential for large scale, long life mining operations.
What has caused the Azure Mineral share price to move today?
Azure has entered into tenement sale and joint venture agreements with entities controlled by the Creasy Group on several Western Australian gold and nickel projects. These projects include;
- The Turner River gold project (70% Azure/30% Creasy Group). It is located adjacent to De Grey Mining Limited (ASX: DEG)'s Mallina project. The project hosts 12 kilometres of very fertile strike zone for gold discovery.
- The Andover nickel and copper project (60% Azure/40% Creasy Group). The mine hosts nickel-copper mineralisation discovered by the Creasy Group in 2018, however there has been no drilling since the initial discovery in 2018.
- The Meentheena and Coongan gold projects (70% Azure/30% Creasy Group). The Meentheena site has been drilled for epithermal gold mineralisation and has been explored by Creasy Group since 1994.
Commenting on the background to the acquisition, Azure's managing director Mr. Tony Rovira said: "Due to the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico and the uncertainty of future field operations, Azure sought gold and nickel projects in Western Australia to enable the Company to continue exploration activities."
Azure Minerals capital raise
Another factor pushing the Azure Minerals share price up today is the news it has received binding commitments from institutions and investors to raise $4 million. The raise will occur at 10 cents per share via a share placement. The money will be put to use supporting the initial exploration activities on the new Western Australian projects.
About the Azure Minerals share price
With the Azure Minerals share price up to 16 cents today, the company continues its resurgence this year. The share price is up by 60% from this time last year, which is impressive considering the almost 10% drop in the All Ordinaries (INDEXASX: XAO) across the same period.
