Horn Island gold hopeful Alice Queen has entered a conditional agreement to acquire Fiji-based exploration company Viti Mining.

Viti Mining and Alice Queen have worked together to secure recently granted applications for the Nabila prospect (SPL1514) and Viani prospect (SPL1513) in Fiji.

Alice Queen will, subject to regulatory and completion conditions, acquire Viti Mining as the means to acquiring the rights to explore the two gold prospects.

 “After a full two years working with our team on the ground to secure these Fiji assets, we are delighted to be able announce that we now have a formal agreement in place to acquire Viti Mining which has recently secured the Nabila and Viani prospects,” managing director Andrew Buxton said.

“We have over the past two years also assembled a fabulous Fiji team led on the technical front by our own chief technical advisor, John Holliday. Along with his former Newcrest colleague, Patrick Creenaune, John oversaw the significant Namosi acquisition for Newcrest in Fiji and its subsequent JV with Mitsubishi Japan.”

On the corporate front, the team was led by local businessman and former Fiji Rugby Union player John Sanday, he said.

News of the acquisition came after Alice Queen this week announced it had started a scoping study to assess the economics of a potential open-pit operation at the historic Horn Island gold mine in the Torres Strait.

The existing inferred resource of 7.9 Mt grading at 1.9 g/t gold for 492,000oz for an area adjacent to the abandoned pit will be updated as part of the process.

“With our Horn Island St Barbara JV progressing well and a scoping study launched to assess the economics of a future operation in respect of Horn Island Resource, we believe the company is perfectly positioned to take advantage of these highly prospective Fiji assets and create further value for all shareholders,” Mr Buxton said.