Hamak Strategy Limited (LON: HAMA) shares jumped about 20% at the opening bell after the company announced a binding agreement to divest its Nimba Gold Project in Liberia.
The transaction has a potential headline value of up to US$4.5 million, approximately £3.4 million, although the consideration is largely contingent rather than payable upfront.
Hamak, through wholly owned subsidiary 79 Resources Inc, has relinquished exploration licence MEL7012725.
Four new exploration licences covering essentially the same project area have subsequently been awarded to entities related to Bea Mountain Mining Corporation, part of Avesoro Mining.
Under the agreement, BMMC and its related entities will fund all future exploration within the new licence areas.
Hamak can receive US$1 million if a mineral resource containing at least 500,000 ounces of gold is declared, followed by a further US$1 million if a Mineral Development Agreement covering gold mining is successfully granted.
The company will also retain a 2% gross production royalty if commercial gold production begins.
BMMC has the option to pay Hamak an additional US$2.5 million to reduce that royalty from 2% to 1%.
That means the full US$4.5 million headline consideration would only be realised if both milestone payments are triggered and BMMC exercises the royalty buyback option.
The royalty itself could potentially provide additional value beyond those milestone payments if Nimba ultimately reaches production.
Nimba was discovered through Hamak’s exploration programme and has returned a best drill intersection of 20 metres at 7 g/t gold near surface.
The mineralisation sits alongside a gold-in-soil anomaly measuring approximately 5km by 1km, around 25km from the Ity gold mine across the border in Ivory Coast.
For Hamak, the transaction removes the need to fund further work at Nimba while retaining exposure to any future exploration and development success.
The company will instead concentrate its resources on the Akoko Gold Project in Ghana, where a Preliminary Economic Assessment for a potential low-cost open-pit heap-leach operation remains scheduled for completion in late November 2026.
Chief executive Karl Smithson said the structure allows Hamak to retain upside from Nimba while shifting the cost and execution risk of future exploration and mine development to BMMC.
For investors, the attraction is the combination of reduced funding exposure at Nimba, contingent cash milestones and retained royalty upside, while management focuses on advancing Akoko.
The main risk is that most of the Nimba consideration depends on future technical and permitting milestones that may take time to achieve or may never be triggered.
The next important catalyst for Hamak is therefore the Akoko PEA in late November, while longer-term value from Nimba depends on BMMC defining a 500,000-ounce resource, securing a development agreement and ultimately bringing the project into production.
