25/5/2015 — Gold
Antipodes advances deal with Chatham Rock
By Ross Louthean
A formal loan agreement between troubled gold explorer Antipodes Gold Ltd (TSX-V & NZAX: ASG) and Chatham Rock Phosphate Ltd (NZAX: CRP) has progressed.
Subject to approval of shareholders of both companies and regulatory authorities, the companies plan a corporate merry-go-round.
Under this agreement, CRP will make an interest-free, unsecured loan to Antipodes for it to meet its share of the transaction costs, and to cover interim general expenditure.
Antipodes was now preparing to lodge relevant initial documents with the TSX Venture Exchange (TSX-V). The dual listed company plans to sell its New Zealand subsidiary, containing its business assets, to Aorere Resources Ltd (NZX: AOR) – a company associated with Chatham Rock Phosphate.
Antipodes is a partner with Newmont Mining Corporation’s subsidiary Newmont Waihi Gold in the Waihi West and WKP gold prospecting joint ventures in the Waihi district.
While Newmont Waihi Gold has a pre-emptive rights relating to these joint ventures there is a new chapter to this exercise as OceanaGold Corporation (TSX, ASX & NZX: OGC) is advancing the purchase of the Newmont Waihi Gold mining assets at Waihi.
So, it becomes a question as to whether the pre-emptive right also moves to OceanaGold. Certainly, Newmont Waihi Gold was patient with cash-tight Antipodes in meeting its financial commitments for drilling on the two joint ventures.
“Unable to raise capital for development of these assets, AXG’s financial position has demanded a restructure to realise the current value of its business assets and remaining company structure,” CRP said late last week.
Should the Waihi joint venture assets be transferred to Aorere, then Antipodes, now a listed shell, would propose undertaking a reverse takeover of CRP by offering new shares to CRP shareholders, winch includes Aorere.
This, CRP said, would leave Antipodes current shareholders with a residual stake in the post-transaction company.
Under the blueprint the Antipodes company may be rebranded Antipodes Phosphate Ltd as it would hold the Chatham Rise seabed phosphate project - recently having its mining consent rejected by the Environmental Protection Authority - and also seabed phosphate deposits off the Namibian coast.

There has been a bit of work on the Antipodes website too: the annual report has been posted to the financial page.

The fact a loan has been made at all, implies there is real value in the TSX listing, perhaps not as a junior gold explorer at the moment, but undersea resources could become increasingly interesting to Canadian investors.

Now the big question is, what value is likely to be involved in the WKP and Waihi West permits, and what are OGC intending to do on this front?