Two leading resource industry figures in Washington have become major shareholders in battery mineral explorer Bellavista Resources (BVR), which is making its much-anticipated debut in the stock market today.
Capricorn Resources (ASX:CMM) Executive Chairman Mark Clark and Bellevue Gold (ASX:BGL) Managing Director Steve Parsons each acquired a 10% stake in Bellavista, while Capricorn CEO Kim Massey and Michael Naylor , a non-executive director of Bellevue, will have a 6 percent stake.
In addition to these high-profile shareholders, a number of world-class institutions have invested and will own approximately 12 percent of the company.
Upon listing, the top 20 shareholders will account for 59 percent of the company.
The Bellavista prospectus closed heavily oversubscribed on the first day after the company raised $6.5 million in its IPO.
Bellavista will have a market cap of $13.3 million based on its IPO price of 20 cents per share, giving it an enterprise value of just $6.3 million.
Bellavista owns the Edmund Project which covers a significant 130km corridor in the Edmund Basin, 130km south west of Newman in Western Australia. The project is considered highly prospective for large base metal and uranium deposits as historic sampling and drilling intersected widespread evidence of mineralization.
Numerous walkable drill targets have been identified along with other important geological features. The area has not been exposed to modern exploration techniques, primarily due to low base metal prices at the time historical work was conducted.
This once overlooked region is increasingly viewed as an emerging exploration hotspot as Canadian giant Teck recently secured a large land position approximately 20km north of Bellavista’s properties, while ASX listed Galena Mining’s new Abra Base Metals mine is 30km lies south.
Bellavista is led by veteran CEO Mel Ashton. Ashton is a Chartered Accountant who has been Chairman and Director of numerous successful ASX listed and private companies including the Hawaiian Group, Fremantle Dockers, Gryphon Minerals and Royal Flying Doctors.
Natalia Brunacci, a geologist who has played a key role in Bellevue Gold’s rapid exploration success since its inception, has been appointed Exploration Manager.
Start of drilling within a few days
Bellavista is well advanced in preparing to execute its aggressive exploration strategy. Drilling is scheduled to begin this month paving the way for a strong news flow shortly after the listing.
The Company has budgeted $3.6 million for two years of in-ground exploration, including an upcoming 17,000m drill program.
The majority of this will be invested in the advanced Brumby zinc-copper-silver project where historical reconnaissance drilling by CRA/Rio Tinto 25 years ago returned broad mineralized intervals in a prospective horizon over a very large area of 30 square kilometers that remains open.
Results from this historic drilling on 1 sq km centers included:
- 29 m @ 1.3% Zn, 0.22% Cu, 24.5 g/t Ag
- 26m @ 1.3% Zn, 0.22% Cu, 22 g/t Ag
- 26 m @ 1.3% Zn, 0.22% Cu, 22.5 g/t Ag
- 20m @ 1.5% Zn, 0.24% Cu, 20.5 g/t Ag
(Silver and Copper Report with Zinc)
Drilling highlighted the potential for an enriched supergene zone at the base of the oxide material and possibly a number of mineralized units within the host sequence. These represent priority targets for the upcoming drill program.
Exploration will also begin at the Vernon Base Metals Target immediately west of Brumby and geophysical surveys will be conducted at the Vernon Nickel-PGE Project, which is believed to have a similar geological setting to the Nova-Bollinger nickel discovery in the Fraser Range of WA has.
At the western end of Bellavista’s land position is the highly prospective Kiangi uranium target. Historical surface rock chip samples from Kiangi returned high-grade uranium values of up to 1,200 ppm, well above the 400 ppm average uranium grade of current producers. The host unit of uranium mineralization is mapped over a large strike length in excess of 35 km.
Ashton said, “Bellavista has been carefully engineered at every level to maximize its chances of success as both an explorer and a project developer.”
“We have built an exceptional team with an enviable track record of delivering shareholder value across the resource spectrum, from exploration and development to production and corporate transactions.
“The skills and experience of this team will be applied to four highly promising projects in the heart of Western Australia.
“Bellavista is firmly in the sweet spot of shareholder value creation as its projects contain a variety of prospective geological attributes, including known mineralization, but value has yet to be unlocked through exploration.
“As a result, these projects and their immense benefit reside in a company with an enterprise value of just $6.3 million, presenting investors with a compelling opportunity.”
Ashton said that Parsons and Clark currently hold executive positions primarily focused around gold, which means Bellavista gives them, as shareholders, access to battery metals exploration opportunities.
“The decision of Mr. Parsons and Mr. Clark, who have such an excellent track record in the resource industry, to invest in Bellavista is a compelling endorsement of the tremendous potential of our company and its projects,” he said.
This item was developed in partnership with Bellavista Resources, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publication.
This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.
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