[ferro-alloys.com]WA’s uber prospector Mark Creasy has struck another multimillion-dollar deal with miner Independence Group over his landholdings in the Fraser Range east of Norseman.

Independence announced yesterday it would pay $21 million in cash and shares to Mr Creasy in exchange for a 70 per cent stake in his “highly prospective” Southern Hills tenements.

The 1100sqkm landholding lies adjacent to Independence’s Nova nickel mine.

Independence said the ground had been only partially assessed but a number of drill targets had been identified that the company wanted to test.

The mid-tier, multi-commodity miner said it would manage and fund all exploration at Southern Hills up to a feasibility study with work to start this year.

Independence has committed $50 million to exploration this year, with about 60 per cent of that earmarked for the Fraser Range.

Mr Creasy said it made sense to consolidate the ground under Independence because of its proximity to the company’s $500 million plant and infrastructure investment at Nova.

The veteran prospector also played down rumours of a big discovery north-east of the mine on another tenement held by his private company Creasy Group, saying only that he was spending “an awful lot of money and effort on a major program across a rather large area” at the Fraser Range.

“All I can say is that we are completing a drill-out and anything of public importance will come out in due course,” he said.

Independence managing director Peter Bradford said Southern Hills further strengthened the company’s position in the Fraser Range, where it had expanded its footprint to 15,800sqkm.

“Independence is committed to discovery and we remain confident that there are further discoveries to be made on the Fraser Range,” he said.

The payment to Mr Creasy will comprise $5.3 million in cash and $15.7 million in shares, further boosting the mining investor’s 16.3 per cent stake in Independence, which was yesterday worth about $475 million.

Mr Creasy secured the stake when he converted a 35 per cent holding in Sirius Resources into Independence stock as part of a $1.8 billion takeover of the company in 2015, having previously sold his 30 per cent stake in the Nova project itself to Sirius for more than $200 million.

His other interests in the area include the recently listed Galileo Mining (31 per cent) and Legend Mining (17 per cent).

• [Editor:王可]