Australian Mines has completed due diligence to acquire Nigeria Gold, owned by Mines Geotechniques (MGL), in north-west Nigeria.

The company said it expects NGL to finalise the acquisition by mid-January.

MGL owns 47 granted exploration licences covering 2,170 million square metres and a further 17 exploration licence applications covering 1,924 million square metres.

The main leases are located in three main areas in north-western Nigeria in the relatively dry savannah-like region of the country, which has good access and comparatively low land-use intensity.

The initial work is expected to identify drill-ready targets for gold through ongoing soil sampling and geological mapping programmes.