Lawson Gold buys into Saudi firm to explore for precious metals

JEDDAH — Lawson Gold Limited, a gold exploration company listed on the Australian stock market, has signed an agreement to acquire up to a 51 percent interest in a joint venture with Mawarid Investments Limited, the directors of the Australian company said Wednesday.

The deal is still subject to shareholder approval — and if the go ahead is given Lawson, will transition into an exploration company focused on the highly prospective Nubian Shield in Saudi Arabia.

The deal covers 16 licenses which are predominately around ancient workings or outcrop of gold, copper and base metals, with the initial work program forecast to cover over 10,000 meters of diamond drilling on the four most advanced projects, together with soil sampling, geochemistry and geophysics on all licenses.

Consideration for the deal include 77.1 million Lawson shares to Mawarid for the purchase of a 5 percent interest in the joint venture, together with the issue of 76.3 million shares to the sponsor of the transaction.

In addition Lawson Gold and Mawarid have agreed to advance $40,000 each to supplement a similar amount already committed by the transaction sponsor, in order to fast track exploration work on the most prospective licenses. Lawson Gold’s commitment is refundable in the event completion does not occur.

The transaction is conditional on Lawson raising A$15 million in initial funding through a share issue at $0.20 per share to support the program from established offices in Jeddah.

The current Western Australia exploration assets together with A$2.2 million will be transferred to a new entity, the shares in which are to be distributed to existing Lawson Gold shareholders as part of this transaction, and will also receive renewed focus now that the Saudi transaction has been signed. — SG/QJM