AEON GETS GOVERNMENT BOOST

LISTED minerals explorer Aeon Metals Ltd (ASX: AQR) has been given a helping hand by the government in its plan to unlock potential riches in far north-west Queensland.

The Bundall-based company has been awarded a grant totalling $107,250 which it will apply to test drilling at the company’s Walford Creek Project.

The grant has been made by the Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Mines under its Future Resources Program.

“We are very pleased to have the support of the department and grateful for the funding,” says Aeon’s managing director Hamish Collins.

“It is a testament to the exploration potential of the region and specifically the strike potential of the mineralised Fish River Fault structure.”

Aeon is targeting about 6000 metres of drilling through its current program which will finish in September.

It plans to drill a further 6000 metres in 2015 with a view to outlining the parameters of a pre-feasibility study for the resource by the end of next year.

It expects results of its early stages of drilling to be released this month.

Aeon last month said it was sufficiently funded to proceed with the drilling program to the end of 2015.

The company bolstered its position in the base-metals sector earlier this year after acquiring Aston Metals (Qld) Ltd from receivers.

Aeon heralded the acquisition as a “company-transforming, value accretive acquisition providing Aeon with significant scale, specifically with the large Walford Creek Project, which has the potential for a world scale base metals operation”.