PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Metals developer Minotaur Exploration on Monday announced a A$6-million spend at the Eloise copper joint venture (JV), in Queensland, with partner Golden Fields Resources, to bring the JV programme forward by about 24 months.
The new exploration work, which would include ground geophysics and deep drilling, would focus on the Artemis copper/gold/zinc prospect. A 20 000 m drill programme is planned over 50 holes.
Under the terms of the JV transaction, Golden Fields would earn a 50% interest in the project area by spending A$6-million on exploration, over a four-year period.
Minotaur said on Monday that the approval of the A$6-million spend at Eloise represented a major scaling-up of Golden Fields’ exploration spend rate, allowing the JV partner to earn its 50% share about 33 months earlier than previously anticipated.
The ASX-listed explorer said that the JV partner’s commitment to ramp up the investment rate was a significant endorsement of the copper/gold prospectivity at the Eloise tenements.