- Superior Resources has signed an agreement with South32 to advance exploration of the Nicholson Project in Queensland
- Under Stage 1 of the agreement, South32 must fund $2 million or 4000 metres of drilling within the first 12 months of operations
- South32 can then elect to proceed to Stage 2 by funding a further $4 million on exploration within the following four years to earn a 70 per cent interest in the project
Superior Resources Ltd has announced a new earn-in and joint venture agreement with global mining company South32 to advance exploration of Superior’s Nicholson Project in north-west Queensland.
The Nicholson Project is located in the Carpentaria Zinc Province, which contains roughly 20 per cent of the world’s zinc.
The terms of the joint venture, named the “Hedleys Joint Venture”, come in two stages. In Stage 1, South32 must fund $2 million or 4000 metres of drilling within the first 12 months of operations, with funding to begin immediately.
Following this, South32 can then elect to proceed to Stage 2 by sole-funding a further $4 million on exploration within the following four years to earn a 70 per cent interest in the project.
This means should South32 proceed to Stage 2, it will fund up to $6 million total in exploration and drilling at the Nicholson project within the next five years. Superior Resources will be the joint venture operator during Stages 1 and 2 of operations.
Superior Managing Director Peter Hwang said he was looking forward to advancing the Nicholson Project.
“The earn-in and JV agreement with South32 is a significant milestone for Superior’s lead-zinc strategy. It validates the potential of the project to host a world-class base metals deposit and ensures that we will be fully funded to complete the substantial drilling program within the first year of the JV,” Peter said.
“We believe that there are few peer stocks on the ASX with such to entry-level Tier 1 lead-zinc-silver projects,” he said.
The Nicholson Project is located 250 kilometre south-east of the MacArthur River Mine and 100 kilometres north-north-west of the Century Mine, which was one of the largest zinc mines in the world while it was operational.
Drilling at the Nicholson Project is expected to commence shortly after the completion of an aboriginal cultural heritage survey, which is set to be conducted in early June this year.