MinRes offloads WA manganese assets

RDG acquired MinRes’ Ant Hill and Sunday Hill manganese tenements, located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, for a 75 per cent shareholding in the former.

MinRes agreed to provide RDG with a funding assistance of up to $35 million through a services contract to develop a manganese project in March.

The contract will focus on design, construction, supply and commissioning of processing and non-processing infrastructure.

MinRes managing director Chris Ellison is brother to RDG co-founder and chairman Andrew Ellison, which resulted in the former’s absence from MinRes board discussions relating to the transaction.

“We are pleased to have completed this transaction with RDG, which will allow MRL to realise value from the non-core manganese assets today while preserving long-term optionality,” MinRes chairman Peter Wade said.

“As we have flagged previously, MRL will support RDG in its aspirations to grow the volume and value of project work within the mining, energy and infrastructure sectors at a level that is complementary to MRL’s own contracting and mining services focus.”

With a 75 per cent shareholding in RDG, MinRes has enlisted Mike Grey, Mark Wilson and Paul Brown as non-executive directors of RDG’s board.

RDG directors Gary Reid and Ivan Ruefli resigned from their positions following the transaction.

“The board and management are excited by the prospects of the Company and look forward to sharing further updates with its shareholders in the future,” RDG stated.