Ardea Resources Limited (ASX: ARL) (Ardea or the Company) is pleased to announce that the Company has executed a binding term sheet with Brightstar Resources Limited (ASX: BTR) (Brightstar) for a tenement swap of exploration tenure from the Kalgoorlie Nickel Project (KNP) Goongarrie Hub and Brightstar's Menzies and Goongarrie Gold Projects.

This transaction will allow Ardea to acquire tenure that borders key production mining leases at Goongarrie and Highway and will provide significant synergies through improving access to the Goldfields Highway, rail line and provide additional land area for important project development infrastructure

Managing Director and CEO Andrew Penkethman noted: 'Ardea and Brightstar have worked together to deliver a positive outcome for both companies. The key benefits of this transaction for Ardea are the extra land area around key Goongarrie and Highway production mining leases. This will enable the optimum detailed mine design for the upcoming Definitive Feasibility Study and will include increased direct access to the Goldfields Highway and rail line, and shorter haul road distances from satellite pits to the Goongarrie plant site. Of particular importance, the extra land area allows the extension of the width and depth of open pit mine designs to facilitate safer and more productive ore movement. Also, waste rock landforms can be better designed with final site rehabilitation optimised.'

Key Points

The transaction will allow Ardea to swap a series of non-core tenements at Ghost Rocks and Highway located in the northern section of the KNP - Goongarrie Hub to Brightstar. In return, Ardea will acquire tenure that borders key production mining leases at Goongarrie and Highway. This acquired tenure will provide significant synergies in being able to provide direct access to the Goldfields Highway, rail line and provide additional land area for important infrastructure such as haul roads, ore lay down areas, clay ore 'aging' prior to processing and waste rock landforms.

The acquisition of tenement E29/984 at Highway is especially important as the current optimised open pit mine design currently extends to the mining lease boundary, so Ardea believe that there is an opportunity to increase the size of the nickel-cobalt laterite resource and Ore Reserve, through potentially extending the existing Highway deposit northwards. Acquiring this tenement will also allow Ardea to design more cost effective staged open pits that maximise resource utilisation. This is especially important as Highway is the main source of Mineralised Neutraliser. This clay ore material type at other Eastern Goldfields nickel laterite operations has been demonstrated to have significant processing benefits if 'aged' for several months as paddock dumps exposing the clay ore to the weather. Such dumps require large surface areas. Regarding tenement E29/981, at Ghost Rocks, Brightstar will receive gold and lithium rights only, with Ardea retaining all other mineral rights and a 2.0% net smelter return royalty payable on any lithium extracted and sold on E29/981.

Contact:

Tel: +61 8 6244 5136

About Ardea Resources

Ardea Resources Limited (ASX:ARL) is an ASX-listed nickel resources company, with a large portfolio of 100%- controlled West Australian-based projects, focussed on: Development of the Kalgoorlie Nickel Project (KNP) and its sub-set the Goongarrie Hub, a globally significant series of nickel-cobalt and Critical Mineral deposits which host the largest nickel-cobalt resource in the developed world at 854Mt at 0.71% Ni and 0.045% Co for 6.1Mt of contained nickel and 386kt of contained cobalt (Ardea ASX release 30 June 2023), located in a jurisdiction with exemplary Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) credentials, notably environment. Advanced-stage exploration at compelling nickel sulphide targets, such as Emu Lake, and Critical Minerals targets including scandium and Rare Earth Elements throughout the KNP Eastern Goldfields world-class nickel-gold province, with all exploration targets aimed at complementing the KNP nickel development strategy. Ardea's KNP development with its 6.1 million tonnes of contained nickel is the foundation of the Company, with the nickel sulphide exploration, such as Emu Lake, as an evolving contribution to Ardea's building of a green, forward-facing integrated nickel company. Put simply, in the Lithium-Ion Battery sector, the Electric Vehicle and Energy Storage System battery customers demand an ESG-compliant, sustainable, and ethical supply chain for nickel and other inputs. In the wet tropics, with their signature HPAL submarine tailings disposal and rain forest habitat destruction, an acceptable ESG regime is problematic. In contrast, the world-class semi-arid, temperate KNP Great Western Woodlands with its benign environmental setting is likely the single greatest asset of the KNP. The KNP is located in a well-established mining jurisdiction with absolute geopolitical acceptance and none of the land-use and societal conflicts that commonly characterise nickel laterite proposals elsewhere. All KNP Goongarrie Hub production tenure is on granted Mining Leases with Native Title Agreement in place.

(C) 2023 Electronic News Publishing, source ENP Newswire