Business
JV Agreement for Development of Verkhuba
East Star Resources Plc has entered into binding Heads of Agreement with Hong Kong Xinhai Mining Services Limited for a joint venture to develop the Verkhuba Copper Deposit, with Xinhai farming in for up to 70% ownership. Xinhai's estimated investment for the feasibility study and mine construction is approximately US$65 million, with the potential to advance the project to production without further funding for East Star if the feasibility study yields positive results. East Star will retain 100% of its Rulikha and Talovskoye prospects, which have an exploration target of 23 million tonnes at 2.4% copper equivalent. Disclaimer*
About this update from East Star Resources Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n\n11 December 2025\n \nEast Star Resources Plc\n \n(\"East Star\" or the \"Company\")\n \nJV Agreement for Development of Verkhuba\n \nMarket leading EPC company to farm into Verkhuba Copper Deposit and advance to production\n \nEast Star Resources Plc (LSE: EST), the Kazakhstan-focused gold and base metals explorer, is pleased to announce it has signed binding Heads of Agreement (\"HoA\") to establish a joint venture company (\"JVCo\") pursuant to which Hong Kong Xinhai Mining Services Limited (\"Xinhai\") will farm in, in five stages, for up to 70% of the Verkhuba Copper Deposit (\"Verkhuba\"), taking the project into production.\n \nXinhai is a privately owned, global process engineering and contracting company that specialises in providing engineering design, procurement, construction (\"EPC\") services and contract mining services to the mining industry.\n \nHighlights\n \n\n\n\n\n· \n\n\nBinding HoA with a market leading EPC firm to finance, de-risk and speed up the development of the Verkhuba copper deposit.\n\n\n\n\n· \n\n\nXinhai's estimated investment for the feasibility study and mine and plant construction costs is approximately US$65 million. \n\n\n\n\n· \n\n\nWith positive results from a Feasibility Study, no further funding is required for East Star to become a copper producer.\n\n\n\n\n· \n\n\nEast Star retains 100% of the Rulikha and Talovskoye prospects including the soviet era Rulikha deposit, independently modelled to contain an upper limit JORC Exploration Target of 23Mt @ 2.4% copper equivalent (CuEq)\n\n\n\n\n \nFarm-In Stages\nXinhai shall have the right to earn an increasing equity interest in the JVCo by funding 100% of the costs required for the project, from additional resource definition drilling through to commissioning and production.\n \nXinhai's equity interest in the JVCo shall increase in stages according to the following schedule upon the satisfaction of the corresponding milestones:\n \n\n\n\n\n \n\n\nMilestone\n\n\nResulting Shareholding (Xinhai / East Star)\n\n\n\n\nStage 1: &...