Minotaur Exploration has collaborated with OZ Minerals to create a farm-in joint venture (JV) for the Peake and Denison project in South Australia.
The A$10m ($7.13) JV is established to focus on Minotaur’s extensive exploration tenement group at the project.
Situated 750km NNW of Adelaide, the area is said to be a first-mover exploration opportunity to discover new base metals discoveries on the edge of the Gawler Craton.
The prospects at Peake and Denison are said to located under 100-350m of younger cover sediments, where there is a penetration of just 23 historic drill holes into basement across 2,500km².
The targeted basement rocks are expected to include iron oxide copper gold (IOCG) type mineralisation.
It is similar to the Ernest Henry deposit and magnetite-associated Broken Hill Type (BHT) zinc-lead-silver mineralisation such as the Cannington silver-lead-zinc deposit. These deposits are situated in the Cloncurry region base metals province of North West Queensland.
Minotaur has evaluated multiple magnetic anomalies and prioritised 18 targets. The company, along with OZ Minerals, has chosen three initial targets, including Mawson, Wentworth and Wills, for proof-of-concept drilling.
Minotaur managing director Andrew Wosket said: “OZ Minerals continues to be a supportive partner of Minotaur, the working relationship enduring across many years and we welcome their new involvement.
“The project is a true frontier exploration play that covers most of the prospective Peake and Denison Inliers, providing ready access to a large, poorly explored terrain. The geology provides an excellent joint venture first-mover opportunity for exploration success.”
As per terms of the deal, OZ Minerals will have to invest A$869,300 to support exploration on the project areas in the first year.
Later, the company can acquire an initial 51% tenement interest through funding A$4m ($2.85m) over the next three-year period.
By investing $6m over the subsequent three years, OZ Minerals is entitled to acquire an additional 19% interest in the project areas. Over seven years, the company has to invest A$10m ($7.13) to acquire maximum interest.
