Venus Metals to shower shareholders with Rox shares in $10M dividend

Rox Resources' Youanmi gold project in WA, where Venus Metals has unlocked $46 million from selling its royalty.

Venus Metals (ASX: VMC) has pulled the trigger on a special dividend, distributing 25 million Rox Resources shares worth $10.25 million.

The dividend equates to 0.1212 Rox shares for every Venus share held on the July 10 record date and follows the company's recent blockbuster $46 million cash sale of its Youanmi gold royalty.

Management says today's share distribution is only the first course, with a further cash dividend of $35 million planned for September. The in-specie distribution is the latest step in a broader value-unlock strategy that has transformed the company's balance sheet after crystallising the value of its Youanmi assets.

The relationship with Rox Resources has been central to that strategy. Venus converted its Youanmi project interest into a significant Rox shareholding, retained a royalty over the project and later sold that royalty for a major cash injection.

Now it is returning part of that shareholding directly to shareholders.

We maintain our commitment to pursuing opportunities which recognise the underlying value of Venus' unique portfolio of assets and their future potential. Following the transfer of Rox Shares under the Distribution Dividend, Venus will continue to hold a diversified range of assets with potential upside.   Venus Metals Managing Director Matthew Hogan

The sequence has become a textbook example of how a junior explorer can unlock value without giving away its future.

This marks a significant transition for Venus, repositioning it from an asset-heavy explorer into a more nimble value-realisation story with the balance sheet to back its next growth phase.

While the dividend is a significant return, the company has been quick to point out that it is not giving away the farm. Venus will retain a significant holding in Rox and a well-funded portfolio of gold, lithium and critical minerals projects that could generate its next wave of growth.

The company's most advanced asset is its wholly owned Bellchambers gold project near Sandstone in Western Australia. The project hosts a resource of 766,000 tonnes grading 1.27 grams per tonne (g/t) gold for 31,400 ounces, backed by a granted mining lease and a near-complete prefeasibility study.

Bellchambers sits just 70km from Rox Resources' Youanmi gold project, opening the door to future toll-treatment or ore-sale options rather than funding a standalone processing plant. Notably, metallurgical testwork returned free-milling ore with gold recoveries of 90 to 99 per cent using conventional processing.

Beneath the existing resource, Venus has defined an exploration target of between 800,000 and 950,000 tonnes grading 1.75g/t to 2.0g/t gold for a potential 45,000 to 60,000 ounces. Drilling beneath the Bellchambers and Rangeview deposits is already testing the target while seeking to expand the existing resource.

Beyond Bellchambers, Venus is advancing its Henderson gold project near Menzies in WA's Eastern Goldfields, giving the company another iron in the fire alongside its Sandstone and Youanmi assets. The project spans 202 square kilometres of the prospective Mt Ida-Ularring Greenstone Belt, where recent work has defined drill-ready targets.

Adding another string to its bow in WA's Southwest is the company’s Bridgetown-Greenbushes lithium project, broadening Venus' portfolio beyond its Murchison and Eastern Goldfields gold assets. Major miner IGO Limited has earned a 51 per cent interest and elected to spend a further $3 million ($3M) to increase its stake to 70 per cent.

The project is adjacent to the Talison Lithium-operated Greenbushes mine, the world's largest hard-rock lithium operation and one of its lowest-cost producers. That address provides geological appeal and major-company validation, while leaving Venus leveraged to any discovery, as IGO does the heavy lifting in exploration.

With the Youanmi royalty cashed in and a hefty dividend heading to shareholders, Venus has shown it can convert years of patient project building into tangible investor returns.

Rather than simply cashing out, the company has replenished its balance sheet while retaining exposure to future value drivers across gold, lithium, base metals and critical minerals.

The real trick, however, may be that it has done so without emptying the cupboard, leaving its saddlebags packed with a suite of promising WA projects capable of driving the company's next chapter.

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