Titan Minerals partners with Hancock Prospecting in major earn-in deal for Linderos copper project
Titan Minerals (ASX: TTM) has executed a binding joint venture (JV) and earn-in agreement with Hancock Prospecting subsidiary Hanrine Ecuadorian Exploration and Mining to acquire up to 80% ownership interest in Titan’s Linderos copper project in Ecuador.
The Linderos project comprises four contiguous mineral concessions totalling an area of 143 square kilometres in southern Ecuador that have highlighted strong potential for substantial extensions, with preliminary work suggesting the presence of multiple porphyry targets and evidence of shallow epithermal gold systems also observed.
Most exploration to date has been completed at the Copper Ridge porphyry prospect, including an induced polarisation (IP) geophysical survey that unveiled a much larger porphyry system.
‘Project endorsement’
“We are very pleased to have entered into formal binding arrangements with Hanrine for the Linderos copper project,” Titan chief executive officer Melanie Leighton said.
“The JV and earn-in agreement represents an endorsement of what we believe is an exciting early-stage porphyry copper-gold discovery.”
“We are well advanced in our technical discussions with Hanrine, who are ready to commence exploration activities at Linderos with expansion of the camp being the first task on the priority list to ensure seamless and efficient operations once drilling commences.”
Staggered payment
Under the agreement, Hanrine will make a stage 1 aggregate payment of around $2.95 million, comprising the upfront payment of around $369,000 that was paid following the execution of the term sheet and an additional payment of around $2.58m to earn a 5% interest in the project.
It can then earn a further 25% by completing 20km of new drilling or spending around $11.8 million within three years of execution of the JV agreement.
A further 21% interest can be obtained upon completion of an additional 15km of new drilling or spending approximately $17.7 million within seven years.
It can move to 80% with a decision to mine or total aggregate expenditure of around $177 million within 15 years.