Flagship Minerals (ASX:FLG) has entered into a binding agreement with Anglo American (LSE:AAL) to acquire a historical exploration and evaluation dataset for the Pantanillo Gold Project in Chile.
As part of the transaction, Flagship will pay US$100,000 ($154,073) within 45 days of signing the deal, as well as an additional US$250,000 on the one-year anniversary and US$500,000 payable on the two-year anniversary.
A further US$1 million is payable upon Flagship exercising its option to purchase Pantanillo, which is on or before 9 April 2030.
The acquisition is expected to fast-track the company to convert the current 1.05 million ounces gold foreign estimate into a mineral resource. The resource will be increased without immediate drilling, leveraging the newly acquired data and updated economics.
Managing Director Paul Lock says the Anglo dataset gives the company access to historical drilling at Pantanillo – almost 33,000m across 148 holes – of which over 12,000m was previously unavailable.
“With this data, including nearly 14,000m of diamond core now available for re-sampling, we can accelerate the transition to a JORC-compliant mineral resource and potentially grow the existing gold inventory significantly – without drilling,” Lock says.
“This also allows Flagship to fast-track metallurgy, feasibility work, and the evaluation of seven high-priority exploration targets across the project area. Importantly, we estimate the dataset would cost up to $31 million and take four-five years to recreate.”
The Pantanillo Project is located in the prolific Maricunga Gold Belt in northern Chile.
Flagship Minerals is a gold and copper-focused explorer with a project portfolio in Chile.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: Flagship Minerals
