- Antipa Minerals (AZY) has received $11 million from Rio Tinto for exploration at the Citadel Project
- The companies have been in a joint venture since 2015 which includes Rio funding up to $60 million in the project to earn a 75 per cent interest
- As per the agreement, the iron ore giant has now earned 51 per cent of the project and is now the main operator
- Antipa Minerals is up 8.33 per cent with shares trading for 1.3 cents each
Antipa Minerals (AZY) has received $11 million in funding from Rio Tinto for exploration at the Citadel Project.
The Citadel Project covers a 1330 square kilometre tenement package and is located in the Paterson Province in northern Western Australia.
This area is known to be prospective as it is home to Newcrest’s Telfer gold-copper-silver mine and Rio Tinto’s Winu copper-gold-silver deposit.
The project hosts the Calibre gold-copper-silver-tungsten deposit, the Magnum gold-copper-silver deposit and several other smaller and promising prospects.
Collectively, the project hosts a global Mineral Resource of 63.8 million tonnes at 0.8 g/t gold and 0.2 per cent copper for 1.6 million ounces of gold and 127,300 tonnes of copper.
Rio Tinto entered into a farm-in and joint venture agreement with Antipa in late 2015. The agreement outlined Rio would fund up to $60 million to earn up to 75 per cent of the Citadel Project.
In accordance with this agreement, the iron ore giant has now earned a 51 per cent interest, thus assuming operatorship of the Citadel Joint Venture.
Rio now has until January 30 to choose whether to solely fund an additional $14 million within three years to increase its interest to 65 per cent.
If Rio does earn the 65 per cent interest and Antipa chooses not to contribute to expenditure, Rio can earn up to 75 per cent by funding a further $35 million within another three years.
Antipa Minerals is up 8.33 per cent with shares trading for 1.3 cents each at 12:20 pm AEDT.