US-based gold major Newmont has entered an exploration alliance with Ariana Resources, which owns gold mining interests in Europe.

The alliance will focus on copper and gold exploration within Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Serbia, using teams established by Ariana’s 75%-owned Western Tethyan Resources (WTR).

WTR MD Mentor Demi commented on Thursday that south-eastern Europe remained one of the last underexplored and prospective area plays in the world.

“With our extensive expertise in the region and Newmont’s significant capabilities, database and exploration technologies, we are confident that we will make several new copper/gold discoveries,” he said.

Newmont would invest $2.5-million in Ariana, based on a 10% premium to a 30-day volume-weighted average price to enable the funding of the alliance’s activities, in addition to providing access to Newmont’s regional database.

The alliance between Newmont, Ariana and WTR would run for an initial five years and would be mutually extendable with future funding requirements of the alliance to be met by Newmont, through an option to further invest in Ariana.

"We are exceptionally pleased to partner with Newmont on the exploration for large-scale copper/gold deposits across south-eastern Europe, via Western Tethyan Resources. This is an area that was previously explored primarily in the 1980s and 1990s by entities since absorbed into the Newmont group, such as Normandy Mining. Accordingly, the partnership is benefitting from substantial data historically collected by Newmont upon which we are undertaking a comprehensive targeting exercise. Newmont is also providing significant exploration expertise including the potential deployment of several proprietary exploration technologies,” said Ariana MD Kerim Sener.

In addition, Newmont, Ariana and Galata Mineral Madencilik Sanayi ve Ticaret have agreed to the amendment and extension of an existing nonexclusive database licence agreement primarily comprising Newmont's Turkish exploration database to account for Ariana holding its Turkish interests through Zenit Madencilik San.

This agreement is due to expire in 2023, but will be extended to March 2031 under slightly revised terms, to reflect the decreased ownership of Arian’s interests in Turkey through Zenit Madencilik. 

“We are continuing to look out for prospective exploration opportunities across this region and having access to Newmont's data and resources enables us to target exploration more effectively."