ASX-listed Miramar Resources has agreed to sell its Randalls project, near Kalgoorlie in Western Australia, to fellow-listed Future Battery Minerals (FBM) under a deal valued at up to A$800 000 in cash, shares and milestone payments.

Miramar has granted FBM an exclusive six-month option to acquire 100% of the mineral interests making up the Randalls project. The sale forms part of Miramar’s strategy to rationalise its portfolio and focus on its core gold and critical minerals assets in the Eastern Goldfields and Gascoyne regions.

Miramar executive chairperson Allan Kelly said on Wednesday that the transaction would allow the company to concentrate on its more prospective projects while still retaining upside exposure to Randalls.

“We have some really exciting projects which have potential for near-term discoveries of gold and critical minerals including copper, nickel, platinum group elements (PGEs) and rare earth elements,” Kelly said.

“The consideration for Randalls includes shares in FBM, milestone payments on delineation of Joint Ore Resources Committee-compliant resources and a royalty from any future production from those tenements. This means Miramar retains upside exposure to any future exploration success, development and/or production from that project.”

Kelly added that Miramar’s near-term focus was on exploration at the Gidji joint venture (JV) gold project, north of Kalgoorlie, with drilling of multiple bedrock gold targets planned. The company also continues to advance work at its Bangemall nickel/copper/PGE project in the Gascoyne, where a newly signed exploration JV with Sumitomo will fund ongoing work.

Meanwhile, FBM said the Randalls project offered a large-scale exploration opportunity across 620 km² of highly prospective Archaean greenstone and sedimentary rocks in a proven gold district.

FBM MD and CEO Nick Rathjen described the scale of exploration opportunity at Randalls as "genuinely exciting". "It covers over 620 km² of highly prospective ground in a proven highly fertile gold region.

“The potential strategic expansion of our tenure holdings across the Eastern WA Goldfields delivers us enhanced exploration leverage combined with clear operating synergies with our Coolgardie gold and lithium project.”

Randalls is about 65 km east of Kalgoorlie, within trucking distance of several gold processing facilities, including Vault Minerals’ Randalls Mill, Black Cat Syndicate’s Lakewood plant and Northern Star’s Kanowna Bell operation.

If FBM exercises the option, it will pay A$250 000, split equally between cash and FBM shares, and grant Miramar a 1% net smelter return royalty, along with contingent milestone payments.

FBM said it was already compiling historical data and conducting geophysical and geochemical reviews to identify new targets, with results expected between the fourth quarter of 2025 and the first quarter of 2026.