PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Copper miner Oz Minerals has inked a second agreement with explorer Minotaur Resources, this time agreeing to spend up to A$10-million over the next six years, to earn a 70% interest in the Eloise project area, in Queensland.
Oz Minerals CEO Andrew Cole said on Thursday that the Eloise tenements, owned by Minotaur, were in a very prospective area, and had similar characteristics to Cannington.
“Minotaur is a tier-one explorer that has already made significant discovery at the Eloise tenements when it discovered the Artemis prospect, and when we join forces, the expectation is that exciting opportunities will emerge,” Cole said.
Under the terms of the agreement, Oz Minerals would be required to spend a minimum of A$1.5-million on exploration over 2016.
The company could then also invest a further A$3.5-million over the subsequent two-year period, to earn a 51% interest in the project are. By spending a further A$5-million over the following three years, Oz Minerals could take its shareholding in the Eloise tenements to 70%.
“This will be Oz Minerals’ first foray into the Mt Isa copper belt. It essentially gives us accelerated access into a geological setting that is highly prospective for copper and base metals,” Cole told shareholders.
In October this year, Oz Minerals and Minotaur signed a heads of agreement which would allow Minotaur unfettered access to Oz Minerals’ database over the Mt Woods project area, in South Australia, which the explorer would use to try to identify new mineral discovery opportunities.
Oz Minerals would reimburse Minotaur for up to 80% of its time costs on the research work, which was expected to take several months.