BHP Group (ASX:BHP) - CEO, Mike Henry
CEO, Mike Henry
Source: Carla Gottgens [Bloomberg]
The Market Online - At The Bell

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  • BHP Group (BHP) will push ahead with a farm-in agreement for Encounter Resources’ (ENR) Elliot Copper Project
  • The mining giant can earn a 75-per-cent stake in the Northern Territory-based asset by spending $22 million on exploration work over 10 years
  • The farm-in and joint venture agreement follows a successful validation program at Elliot, which was design by BHP and Encounter
  • Commenting on the agreement, ENR has labelled it “delightful” while also stating it will continue to expand its copper tenements in the NT
  • Encounter’s share price spiked in early morning trade following the farm-in and JV announcement, trading up over 25 per cent
  • After paring back some of its early morning gains, shares in ENR are currently trading at 17 cents each, while BHP shares are trading at $47.65 per share

BHP Group (BHP) will push ahead with a farm-in agreement for Encounter Resources’ (ENR) Elliot Copper Project.

The mining giant can earn a 75-per-cent stake in ENR’s Northern Territory-based asset by spending $22 million on exploration work over 10 years.

The farm-in and joint venture agreement follows a successful validation program at Elliot, which was design by both BHP and Encounter.

Commenting on the agreement, ENR Managing Director Will Robinson said it was a delightful opportunity.

He also explained Elliot was a compelling exploration opportunity in a basin that contains key ingredients for the formation of large sedimentary copper deposits.

“Copper sourced from sedimentary-hosted deposits is one of the fastest-growing sources of high-grade copper in the world. Encounter controls an extensive first-mover portfolio of copper projects in the Greater McArthur Superbasin in the NT,” he said.

“The potential for this region to host large sedimentary-hosted copper
deposits are rapidly emerging and we are delighted to be teaming up with BHP to apply leading edge technologies in the search for Tier 1 copper deposits at Elliott,” the MD added.

Following Friday’s announcement, Encounter’s share price spiked by over 25 per cent in early morning trade.

After paring back some of its early morning gains, shares in ENR are currently trading at 17 cents each, up while BHP shares are trading at $47.65 per share, down 1.3 per cent, at 12:38 pm AEDT.

ENR by the numbers
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