Oracle Power granted mining lease for Northern Zone gold project

(Sharecast News) - AIM-listed natural resources developer Oracle Power on Thursday announced the "major milestone" of being granted a mining lease for its Northern Zone gold project in Western Australia. The project, located 25km east of Kalgoorlie, has been granted a 21-year mining lease, renewable thereafter.

Oracle said the decision followed an "exhaustive" 18-month process and is a key step in unlocking funding for the project.

In September, Oracle and 50:50 joint venture with Riversgold signed a deal with MEGA Resources to fully fund operations, by which the project owners will receive 50% of the profits.

The companies can now submit a Native Vegetation Clearing Permit and Mining Development and Closure Proposal, which will then lead to the operating permit for the start of mining operations.

"This represents a key milestone for our very exciting gold project that is so close to Kalgoorlie," said Oracle boss Naheed Memon.

"A significant number of the inputs have already been completed, such as flora and fauna surveys, hydrogeological wells and testing and heritage surveys with the last of the inputs currently being finalised. I look forward to updating shareholders further in the near term."

Oracle shares jumped initially on the news, hitting an intraday high of 0.070p, before erasing losses by mid-afternoon to trade flat at 0.055p.

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