Copper producer Austral Resources has signed a series of earn-in agreements with Glencore's Mount Isa Mines.
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Under the deals, MIM can earn an interest of up to 65 per cent in Austral's 330sqkm exploration permits surrounding MIM's Lady Loretta zinc, lead, silver mine and Austral's Lady Annie copper mine by spending $6.3 million in the area over four years.
Austral can earn a 65 per cent interest in MIM's neighbouring 116sqkm Russel Fault exploration permits, 120km north of Mount Isa by spending $2 million in four years and will retain the rights to explore and exploit oxide copper ore within its Queensland tenements.
The deal see Austral retaining 100% rights to its Mt Kelly processing plant, associated processing infrastructure and the remaining 1800sqkm of its exploration tenure.
Austral CEO Steve Tambanis said the agreement was a win-win transaction with the potential to discover new orebodies that could extend operations of both companies in the region.
"Glencore is focused on discovering new base/precious metal orebodies in this metal-rich area, and Austral believes there is excellent potential to define additional oxide copper resources to be processed at its nearby Mt Kelly SXEW (solvent extraction-electrowinning) plant," Mr Tambanis said.
"The prospectivity of the area has been significantly enhanced by two new geophysical datasets flown by Glencore in late 2021 and processed earlier this year.
"This new data has generated a number of priority targets for the JV, and drilling is expected to commence within months."
Austral recently commenced processing ore from its Anthill Copper Mine - building to rate of 10,000tpa of copper cathode from mid-2022 for a four-year period. This will now allow Austral to increase the pace of its exploration and development activities.
Both Austral and MIM are working towards completing binding agreements in Q3 2022.
Austral's exploration budget will double to $10 million a year.
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