(Sharecast News) - Greatland Gold announced the signing of a farm-in and joint venture arrangement with Rio Tinto on Tuesday, which it said would expedite exploration efforts across 1,884 square kilometres of highly prospective tenure within the Paterson Province of Western Australia, known as the Paterson South Project.
The AIM-traded firm said the Paterson South Project is located near its successful Havieron gold-copper project, complementing its existing portfolio.
It said the associated tenements presented several underexplored magnetic anomalies, which it believed closely resemble the Havieron deposit.
Additionally, the western group of tenements within Paterson South exhibited geological characteristics that correlate strongly with the Telfer gold and copper deposit.
Historical data indicated the presence of gold in rock chips and copper.
Greatland said it was planning to start drilling in 2023, aiming to capitalise on the promising prospects within Paterson South.
The firm said it had committed to an initial minimum spend of AUD 1.1m, and drilling of 2,000 metres, by the end of 2024.
Under the farm-in, Greatland had the opportunity to earn up to a 75% joint venture interest in the project tenements through a two-stage process.
In the first stage, the company could acquire a 51% joint venture interest by investing a minimum of AUD 7.1m in exploration expenditure, and completing 7,500 metres of drilling within four years.
On successful completion of that stage, Greatland would be eligible to earn an additional 24% joint venture interest, making for a cumulative joint venture interest of 75%.
That would require a further AUD 14m in exploration expenditure, and the completion of 17,000 metres of drilling within three years.
"The Paterson South Project tenement package is an outstanding opportunity with a number of high priority, highly prospective and heritage cleared drill targets," said Greatland managing director Shaun Day.
"We expect that some of these targets can be incorporated in our 2023 drilling campaign.
"These targets include underexplored anomalies which the company considers to be the closest to a Havieron lookalike within the Paterson Province."
Day said other opportunities included historical delineation of gold in rock chips, and copper intersected with strong correlation to a Telfer-style deposit.
"This tenure complements the Company's current ground position to provide a 105 kilometre contiguous holding.
"The addition of the Paterson South Project more than doubles our current footprint with the most prospective targets within 50 kilometres of Telfer.
"Our farm-in and joint venture with Rio Tinto is consistent with our strategy of continuing to invest in exploration success, and aligns the companies responsible for the discovery of Havieron and Winu - the two biggest and most significant orebodies found within the Paterson Province since Telfer in the 1970s."
At 1454 BST, shares in Greatland Gold were up 5.98% at 7.65p.
Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.
Greatland Gold (GGP)