Aston Bay Holdings Ltd, a Canadian mineral exploration company, said on Wednesday it has signed a preliminary deal with Antofagasta Plc for the two to partner on Aston Bay's promising Canadian Arctic copper project. The memorandum of understanding gives Antofagasta a path to an eventual proposed joint venture and the option to earn up to a 70 percent interest in the Storm project, which is controlled by Aston Bay.In the first part of the deal, Antofagasta will invest a minimum of $10 million over six years and earn a 50.1 percent interest in Storm. In the second phase, the miner will invest another $6 million over three years and take the project through a feasibility study."Our agreement with Antofagasta will advance the Storm project without significant dilution expected for Aston Bay's shareholders and will leave Aston Bay with a meaningful interest in the project," said Aston's Chief Executive Officer Benjamin Cox, in a statement.The two sides plan to sign a binding agreement by Dec. 1 to finalize the deal.
Shares of BAY fell by 15.0% or $-0.06/share to $0.34. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $0.12 and as high as $0.45. On average, 16440 shares of BAY.V exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 38000.
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