Antipa Minerals (ASX:AZY) will retain whole ownership of the Paterson Project in Western Australia following IGO’s (ASX:IGO) wholly owned subsidiary IGO Newsearch electing to withdraw from a 2020 farm-in agreement.
The Paterson Project surrounds the Minyari Dome Development Project area, which contains 2.3 million ounces of gold, 83,500 tonnes of copper, 661,000 ounces of silver and 13,000 tonnes of cobalt resource estimate.
As a result of this corporate activity, Antipa’s Paterson Province tenement package totals 4,060km2.
In July 2020, Antipa entered into a $30 million farm-in deal with IGO. In December 2021, IGO met its initial commitment of $4 million in expenditure on the project and elected to assume management of the project in 2022.
The next stage of the deal required IGO to spend an additional $26 million in expenditure to earn a 70% joint venture interest.
Managing Director Roger Mason says the retention of this project is a fantastic result for Antipa, delivering a twofold benefit.
“First, the tenement package completely surrounds our flagship Minyari Dome Project, further enhancing any future standalone development and second, while exploration has been focussed on copper discoveries several years, we have long recognised multiple gold-dominant opportunities on this ground which we are excited to be able to properly interrogate,” Mason says.
The company adds that there are multiple high-potential gold and copper prospects and greenfield targets within Paterson that are primed for follow-up or initial drill testing.
Antipa says additional project-scale interpretation and data modelling is expected to produce further targets.
An upcoming 2025 drilling program is currently in the advanced stages of planning and is set to focus on priority targets proximal to Minyari, including extensions to both GEO-01 and Rizzo, plus PP-GRAV02 and AL01.
Antipa Minerals is an Australian mineral explorer and developer focused on discoveries in the Paterson Province of Western Australia.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: Antipa Minerals
