Semarang established Venus to purchase the exploration tenements from Oxiana Limited of Australia and Venus became part of Atalaya Mining Ltd which IPO’d in 2005 at multiples of the original investment.  Atalaya Mining has grown to be a profitable c. £250 million market capitalisation company focused on Spain. Venus was subsequently transferred back to Semarang and is now entering a renewed growth phase.

Since 2005 Venus has spent more than €7 million exploring for copper-gold deposits in Cyprus. The Company carried out exploration focusing on targets selected by the application of Geographical Information Systems (GIS), utilising geological maps, helicopter-borne magnetic and electromagnetic data, remote sensing (Landsat, ASTER), soil and rock-chip sampling and drilling.

During this period the Venus exploration team was mostly in Spain assisting with the start-up of a major copper mine for Atalaya Mining Ltd.

In late 2015 Atalaya transferred Venus to Semarang, with Atalaya retaining a 10% free carried interest and in 2019 Semarang moved to 100%-ownership of Venus as part of the company’s rejuvenation and sourcing of growth capital.

In December 2019, Ariana Resources plc announced its intention to acquire, through an earn-in agreement, up to 50% of Venus Minerals Ltd

Ariana completed its earn-in to 50% in November 2021.