Junior Strickland Metals has completed the sale of its interest in the Millrose gold project, in Western Australia, to gold miner Northern Star Resources.

The two companies last month struck a A$67-million deal, which included a A$41-million cash component and 1.5-million shares in Northern Star, with a A$2-million deposit immediately payable to Strickland.

Strickland on Tuesday said that in addition to the A$2-million cash deposit initially received, the company had now received a further A$39-million in cash and has been issued 1.5-million shares in Northern Star.

“Completion of the Millrose sale transaction with Northern Star is a momentous step in the development of Strickland. We now have one of the strongest balance sheets in the junior exploration space, along with a portfolio of very promising, advanced exploration projects,” said CEO Andrew Bray.

“Work is commencing imminently on a number of prospects at the Yandal gold project, as well as at Iroquois and the wider Earaheedy base metal project. An update will be provided to the market next week on these programs.

“The company’s balance sheet also enables Strickland to consider acquisitions complementary to its existing projects. Given the lack of capital available to many junior resource companies, management believes there are potentially numerous value accretive opportunities to be considered in coming months. The company will update the market in due course should any of these opportunities materialise.”

The Millrose gold project has a published mineral resource of 346 000 oz of gold at a grade of 1.8 g/t gold, and offers significant geological upside. The project is some 40-km east of Northern Star’s Jundee operation, and is expected to be a supplementary feed source for the Jundee mill in the medium-term, complementing the project’s underground base load.