JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Mining giant Rio Tinto, through its Rio Tinto Exploration subsidiary, has elected to proceed to the second stage of a farm-in agreement for ASX-listed Antipa’s Citadel project, in Western Australia.
The second stage of the farm-in will see the miner invest $8-million of exploration expenditure in the next three years, to earn a 51% joint venture interest in the project.
Rio Tinto has already invested $3-million in the first stage of the farm-in agreement.
The Citadel project hosts the Calibre gold/copper/silver/tungsten deposit and the Magnum gold/copper/silver deposit with combined mineral resources of 1.2-million ounces of gold, 139 000 t of copper and 1.4-million ounces of silver.
Rio Tinto has also elected to become operator of the project, with further stages of the agreement including ongoing investment by Rio Tinto of up to a total of $60-million for a 75% interest.
“The decision by Rio Tinto to proceed with the agreement is a ringing endorsement of Citadel’s quality and its exploration upside in the Paterson province,” said Antipa MD Roger Mason.
He added that Rio Tinto’s commitment to take over the operations would bring valuable technical expertise and insights to the project, providing further endorsement of Antipa’s exploration achievements.