Axiom Mining is moving forward following an announcement in relation to the Solomon Islands Court of Appeal decision regarding licensing at the Isabel Nickel Project.

The ASX-listed company is in discussions with key stakeholders to re-apply for the Prospecting Licence (PL) for the Kolosori tenement.

Axiom's CEO Ryan Mount has confirmed that Axiom’s landowner partners have committed to continue their partnership with Axiom. “I’m pleased that they have decided to continue to stand with us — they know that Axiom lives by our values of 'Build, Share, Protect', which are based on principles of inclusion and respect.

“Axiom will continue to honour our commitment to the landowners via our joint venture company Axiom KB.”

The company is also in discussions with the Solomon Islands Government and is awaiting advice on the timing and procedures of the re-application process.

Ryan Mount said Axiom was optimistic about regaining the PL and had plans to continue investing in the mineral-rich Solomon Islands. “We have every reason to believe the government will consider our application favourably, as Axiom’s achievements to date speak for themselves.”

Axiom said that it had been able to maintain strong landowner and community relations, develop the necessary remote site infrastructure and logistics, employ almost 150 locals and deliver a maiden JORC resource that defined the first five years of production—all while being involved in complex litigation and during a global downturn in the resources industry.

Following the recent judgment, which considered the Kolosori tenement, Axiom will also focus its operations on the San Jorge tenement, which is part of the world-class Isabel project. Its Prospecting Licence was granted in March 2015 with approval from the Solomon Islands Government and the customary landowners.

San Jorge’s close proximity to Kolosori enables Axiom to rapidly re-deploy most existing project infrastructure and resources to progress work on San Jorge.

Axiom is undertaking preliminary exploration activities on the tenement including community consultation and environmental studies.

The company is confident that San Jorge offers a parallel opportunity to the excellent drilling results and resource estimates for the Kolosori tenement. Approximately half the historical drilling undertaken by INCO in the 1960s took place on the San Jorge tenement.

The available INCO pit and drilling data is broadly spaced at 100 to 200 metres, and will be used to guide the exploration and identify key target areas.

Axiom expects that tighter infill drilling will help to define saprolite with deeper drilling than that completed by INCO.

Axiom has also raised $5 million net of fees via a private placement of ordinary shares, which provides the company with a significant new source of funding to undertake the next phase of the development of the Isabel project.