East Africa currently holds 70% of Harvest, through its subsidiary Tigray Ethiopia Holdings Inc (TEHI).
Under a non-binding letter of intent, Zijin would acquire 55% of Harvest for US$900,000 cash, develop and operate the Terakimti oxide mine and fund all of TEHI's obligations.
The remaining 30% of Harvest is owned by private Ethiopian company Ezana Mining Development, which would contribute 30% of costs.
A 2018 preliminary economic assessment for Terakimti outlined initial capex of $17.2 million for a four-year mine producing an average annual 17,800 ounces of gold and 57,250oz of silver.
It estimated a post-tax IRR of 30.1%, on a 100% basis, using a $1,325/oz gold price and $17/oz for silver.
The precious metals are currently worth about $1,800/oz and $25/oz respectively.
East Africa Metals also has a 30% stake in the nearby Adyabo project, where China's Tibet Huayu Mining is funding development - now scheduled to begin in the second half of this year following COVID-19 restrictions and a six-month state of emergency which ended in May, although conflict is reportedly continuing in the region.
Ethiopia ranked poorly in terms of hard risk in the Mining Journal Intelligence World Risk Report 2020 (feat. MineHutte ratings).
The Canada-based company retains exploration rights on areas of the properties outside the Mato Bula, Da Tambuk and Terakimti mining licenses and expects to start a C$2.7 million exploration programme to test priority targets during the second half of 2021.
In Tanzania, it has a 30% net streaming interest in the Magambazi mine.
East Africa Metals had $4.4 million in working capital at March 31.
Its shares (TSXV: EAM) have spanned 13-58c over the past year and closed up 10% to 33c, to capitalise it at $66.8 million (US$53.2 million).
