Alecto Minerals (LON:ALO) today confirmed it has completed its acquisition of the Aysid-Metekel gold project in Ethiopia.
It has also made the first share based payment for the separate acquisition of the Wayu Boda gold project, which is also in Ethiopia.
Furthermore the group said it has reached an agreement to reduce the total purchase value of the Wayu Boda acquisition by 10 per cent. This is because Alecto now requires an additional exploration license to look for emeralds.
While the emphasis at Wayu Boda is on gold, Alecto has expressed an interest in exploring for the semi precious stones.
"We have received encouraging findings from initial reconnaissance work across our Ethiopian gold portfolio, which provides us with exposure to two highly prospective mineralised regions,” said executive director Damian Conboy.
“In light of this, we are delighted to secure our holdings over both licences.
“Additionally, we are pleased to announce the negotiation of a 10% discount for Wayu Boda, which has extensive artisanal work targeting gold on site.”
He adds: “Importantly, as recently reported in the Ethiopian newspapers, the National Mining Corporation has discovered a major gold deposit in the regional state of Oromia, located within 20 kilometres from Wayu Boda's eastern boundary and with this in mind, we believe the renegotiation of the purchase price represents a fair outcome for shareholders."
Alecto has now issued 19.5 million new shares to complete its acquisition of Nubian Gold, which in turn owns Aysid-Metekel.
Meanwhile it has issued 12.4 million shares as its first instalment to acquire Rift Valley Resources, which in turn owns Wayu Boda.