BILLITON AND INTREPID MINERALS CORPORATION ENTER INTO EXPLORATION AGREEMENT
REGARDING BATCHAWANA BAY PROJECT, ONTARIO, CANADA
London, 9 May 2001
Billiton Plc announces that its subsidiary Billiton Resources Canada Inc. has
signed a letter of intent, subject to board and regulatory approvals, with
Intrepid Minerals Corporation ("Intrepid") regarding its Batchawana Bay
copper-gold project in the Lake Superior region of Ontario, Canada. The
Batchawana Bay area is regarded as prospective for the discovery of new iron
oxide-hosted Cu-Au orebodies similar in style to the giant Olympic Dam deposit
in South Australia. The key components of the proposed agreement include:
1 - Billiton will receive a total of 450,000 units in Intrepid, consisting of
one share and one share purchase warrant, over a period of four years. A total
of 100,000 shares are due on signing of the formal agreements.
2 - Intrepid may earn a 50% interest in the property by investing C$1.25
million in exploration work over a four-year period. This commitment includes
an initial C$250,000 within 12 months.
3 - All further work will be funded by the joint venture partners in proportion
to their ownership of the project, unless Billiton elects, at its option, to
increase its interest in the project from 50% to 70%. This would be done by
financing all further work through to the commencement of commercial
production. Intrepid's pro rata share of this expenditure will be repaid from
Intrepid's portion of cash flow.
Intrepid will be the initial project manager but Billiton will have the right
to replace Intrepid during the back-in or joint venture phases.
Commenting on the agreement, David Whitehead, Billiton's Chief Executive,
Exploration and Development said, "We believe that this part of Ontario is very
prospective for the discovery of significant new copper-gold deposits, and we
look forward to working with Intrepid as it applies its expertise to this
exciting new district".
Laurie Curtis, President of Intrepid commented "Billiton is definitely a
partner of choice for Intrepid, and the deal gives us flexibility as operator
to capitalise on our extensive in-house experience with this sort of deposit".
ends
Michael Campbell
Manager Corporate Affairs
Billiton
Tel: +27 11 376-3360
Fax: +27 11 376-3362
Mobile: +082 458 2587
Email: mcampbell@billiton.co.za
Website: www.billiton.com
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