PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed Midwinter Resources has signed a farm-in agreement with dual-listed Southern Hemisphere Mining to earn a 65% interest in the Mantos Grandes copper/gold project, in Chile.

Under the terms of the transaction, Midwinter can earn its interest by spending some A$2.85-million, by sole funding A$1.5-million on exploration and providing a A$1.35-million cash payment to Southern Hemisphere.

The Mantos Grandes project is some 400 km north-east of the capital, Santiago, and forms part of ASX- and TSX-listed Southern Hemisphere’s portfolio of Chilean copper/gold projects.

The company said on Monday that the earn-in agreement was consistent with its strategy of securing partners to progress exploration at key projects within this portfolio.

It was the third farm-in secured by Southern Hemisphere in the past seven months, following farm-in deals with Lundin Mining at the Llahuin project, and Anglo America at the Chitigua project.

“We are pleased to have signed this option deal with Midwinter, and we look forward to working with them at Mantos Grandes,” said Southern Hemisphere MD Trevor Tennant.

“Southern Hemisphere holds many prospective project areas in Chile and with three of our projects now being sole funded by third parties, this puts us in a strong position in the current challenging equity market environment,” Tennant added.

Midwinter told shareholders that its initial work at the site would make use of existing geological and mining databases to target known mineralisation and potential extensions in and around the mine area.

Surface and underground drilling would be used to establish a Joint Ore Reserves Committee-compliant resource.

Midwinter noted that there was the potential for both porphyry and skarn mineralisation within the greater project area, adding that the company would carry out geophysical and geochemical surveys to further evaluate existing prospects and bring new prospects to a drill-ready stage.