The deal saw former Neptune Marine Services chief financial officer David Deloub join Nickelore's board last Friday while Robert Gardner - who provided $600,000 in the form a convertible note which will convert into shares in Lone Star which Nickelore will acquire with the takeover - will stay on the board as will Jay Stephenson.

 

Paul Piercy has resigned as a Nickelore director, though that name will change soon with shareholders to meet on February 16 to approve the acquisition, with the quotation of shares to resume on March 19.

 

Nickelore pulled the pin on its foray into solar energy after its plan to buy Brazilian rooftop supplier Helio fell through, which in July the company said would "result in a significant change to the nature and scale of the company's main business, which the Nickelore board considers to be positive and in the best interests of Nickelore shareholders".

 

After 18 months of work by Nickelore, which still had a nickel exploration project in Western Australia that it planned to sell once the Brazil deal was completed, Helio changed strategy in September, saying it would not proceed with the transaction.

 

Lone Star announced last month that its subsidiary LS Operating had done a deal with BRK Oklahoma Holdings to refer opportunities for future conventional drilling, the first of which was the Texas Panhandle Greever prospect in the Marmaton Formation in the Hansford oil and gas field in Hansford County, about 154km north of Amarillo. 

 

The Hansford field is believed to hold more than 1000 billion cubic feet of gas, with an initial well bore spudded in July to offset a recent successfully drilled producing horizontal well, and is next to an analogous field with five recently-drilled horizontal Marmaton Formation producing wells.

 

LS Operating has a 25% working interest (and an 18.75% net revenue interest) in the Sutton-2-52 well within the Greever prospect which has been drilled, completed and is now flowing back to sales.

 

The Burgess prospect, the second opportunity presented to Lone Star, is in Oklahoma's Ellis County, proposes to target Morrow sands at about 7850ft depth which are known to produce commercial quantities of gas from vertical wells within section 28 and adjacent sections.

 

The Burgess well was due to spud last month, which Nickelore said on Friday it had indeed done, adding that it should reach about 8100ft by mid-December.

 

Nickelmore plans to raise up to $4.5 million at 2cps to fund ongoing exploration, admin and working capital.

 

Nickelore was last trading at 2.6c.