Mineral Resources shares rise on completed gas deal with Hancock
Make us a preferred source
Make us a preferred source on Google
The news: Mineral Resources has completed the sale of its exploration permits in the Perth Basin to Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting, sending its shares higher.
The numbers: MinRes confirmed the completion of the sale of Exploration Permits 368 and 426 to Hancock, with the initial consideration of $780 million received.
It will secure an extra $24 million payment by March 2025 after agreeing to form two exploration joint ventures with Hancock for its remaining exploration permits in the Perth Basin and Carnarvon Basin, with Hancock to buy 50% of the MinRes explorer drill rig and associated infrastructure.
MinRes shares are up 1.5% to $35 in early trading on the ASX.
The context: Mineral Resources and Hancock agreed on the up to $1.1 billion deal for Perth basin exploration permits in October.
The deal included an initial payment of nearly $804 million, with additional payments of $327 million, subject to meeting certain resource thresholds and classifications from MinRes' Moriary Deep prospect and its Lockyer Gas and Erregulla Oil discoveries.
Earlier this year, the Perth-based mining group said it was reviewing options to release value from its gas exploration ground, in response to a number of inbound queries from domestic and global parties.
The source: ASX announcement
