Hammer Metals inks earn-in deal with South 32 for Isa Valley copper play

Microcap Hammer Metals (ASX:HMX) has announced its execution of an earn-in agreement with mining giant South 32 (ASX:S32) at its Isa Valley copper project.

Isa Valley also holds lead and zinc mineralisation – zinc is also having a good run this year – but South 32 are surely more interested in the copper potential.

This is evidenced in part by the fact S32 are setting the groundwork to earn up to an 80% interest in the project as a JV.

Hammer Metals’ acreage overlies the Mt Isa fault, which makes up some 320sq.km of its larger 2,800sq.km project, the company reported Monday.

South 32, so far, has only confirmed it will conduct a soil sampling program – however, it may decide to a launch a 900m drill campaign in the next 18 months, and to earn 70%, it only needs to spend $3M. For South 32, that’s not much money at all.

Should South 32 hit 70%, to get to 80%, it only needs to get Hammer Metals across the line of producing a PFS. The former “will manage and operate the exploration program,” Hammer wrote on Monday.

“This Earn-in will cover ground that Hammer applied for in 2021 along the highly prospective Mount Isa Fault. We look forward to working with South32 and leveraging their knowledge in exploring for large-scale base metal deposits,” HMX MD Daniel Thomas said.

“The ability for Hammer to attract another quality partner such as South32 supports our approach in identifying early-stage exploration targets.”

HMX last traded at 4cps.