First Development Resources (AIM:FDR) has agreed to sell its interests in the Braeside West and Ripon Hills exploration licences in Western Australia to ASX-listed Accelerate Resources, in exchange for 25m Accelerate shares valued at AU$125,000 (about £66,500) at current prices.
Completion is expected on 2 October, after which First Development will hold roughly 1.7% of Accelerate's enlarged share capital, with the consideration shares locked in a 12-month voluntary escrow.
The two Western Australian licences were carried at about £50,000 in the company's latest accounts.
Accelerate takes on responsibility for future exploration spending at both projects, while First Development retains upside through its shareholding without funding further work itself.
The disposal follows a year of geophysical surveying, mapping, sampling and maiden drilling across First Development's Northern Territory licences, which the company now frames as three distinct workstreams rather than a single project: the Lander West gold and copper target, rare-earth element prospects at Tourmaline and Peake Bore, and an early-stage uranium opportunity.
Lander West, where reverse-circulation drilling earlier this year confirmed bedrock gold mineralisation and intersected copper, remains the most advanced of the three, with field teams due back on site in October.
"Braeside West and Ripon Hills no longer form part of our core exploration plans and the equity-based consideration allows FDR to retain exposure to their potential future value whilst concentrating our own capital and management resources on the Northern Territory," said chief executive Tristan Pottas.
The company retains its separate Wallal project in the Paterson Province, where it is still assessing next steps.
A standalone operational update on Lander West is expected once field teams redeploy in October.