Armour cuts ties with base metals division

Ripple holds multiple mineral exploration licenses across Queensland and the Northern Territory that are considered prospective for lead and zinc.

Upon completion of the acquisition, Aurburn parent company DGR Global will own a 39 per cent stake in Auburn. Armour will receive 5.6 million fully-paid ordinary Auburn shares for the sale of Ripple.

According to Armour chief executive officer Brad Lingo, the company is looking to focus more of its attention towards its core oil and gas business.

“The execution of the sales agreement with Auburn further demonstrates Armour’s commitment to streamlining its asset portfolio and focusing on the core oil and gas assets in the Surat and Cooper basins,” he said.

“Ripple has some great assets and Armour will be a keen observer of Auburn’s progression over the coming years.”

Auburn is focussed on zinc-copper-gold exploration in Northern Queensland and the Northern Territory.

DGR Global general manager John Bierling said the acquisition would fortify Auburn’s assets ahead of the ASX listing.

“Execution of the share acquisition agreement of Ripple Resources by Auburn and its completion in due course, represents a strong addition to the Auburn asset portfolio and is a highly complementary and logical fit for Auburn, enhancing Auburn’s diversified commodity portfolio, across a number of deposit types,” he said..

“With the initial asset portfolio now nearing completion, our attention is now squarely focussed on progressing Auburn’s IPO plans for ASX listing in 2021, subject to market conditions.”

Ripple was initially established by DGR Global to explore base metals within the McArthur and Mount Isa basins that were explored by Armour for gas and oil.

Completion of the transaction is expected to occur in April 2021.