Dual-listed AEX Gold is setting up a joint venture (JV) focusing on strategic minerals in Greenland, a region which CEO Eldur Olafsson says is “one of the few remaining under-explored frontiers” for minerals vital for the global energy transition.

He notes that the western world is in short supply of strategic minerals, such as copper, zinc, nickel, rare earths and graphite, with recent geopolitical events putting security of supply in sharp focus.

“Our exploration work so far has given us confidence that South Greenland has the potential to host world-class deposits of strategic minerals,” Olafsson says.

AEX has signed a nonbinding head of terms with natural resources-focused partnership ACAM to establish a special purpose vehicle (SPV) and create a JV for the exploration and development of strategic mineral assets for a combined contribution of £36.7-million, about C$58-million.

Subject to negotiation of the final terms of the JV, ACAM will invest £18-million in exchange for a 49% shareholding in the SPV, with AEX holding 51%. AEX will contribute its strategic nonprecious mineral licences, as well as a contribution in kind, valued in aggregate, at £18.7-million in the form of site support, logistics and overhead costs associated with using its existing infrastructure in Southern Greenland to support the JV’s activities.

An option for further future funding of £10-million is to be available on the achievement of agreed milestones.

Olafsson says that the investment by ACAM for a 49% interest in the strategic mineral assets puts a concrete value on the nonprecious mineral assets in AEX Gold’s portfolio.

The investment will enable the JV to bring the strategic mineral targets up the value curve towards future production and also enable AEX Gold to explore the wider area to identify further nonprecious strategic assets.

To reflect the broader mineral potential in AEX Gold’s portfolio, the company will be changing its name to Amaroq Minerals in the near future.