Great Western Exploration (ASX:GTE) has entered an agreement to earn up to 100% of the McKinlay Copper-Gold and Silver Project in Cloncurry, Queensland.
The company can earn a 51% interest by spending $500,000 on exploration within 12 months, then acquire a further 29% by spending an additional $2 million over 24 months.
Great Western can achieve 100% ownership by paying between $1 million and $2 million in cash or shares.
Located 80km southeast of Cloncurry, McKinlay sits within the Mt Isa Eastern Succession, which hosts major deposits, including Ernest Henry, Eloise, Osborne, and Cannington. The project comprises two tenements covering 180km2.
Great Western has identified multiple Ernest Henry-style iron oxide copper-gold targets, including Deere, Ventura, and Dylans, plus several Cannington-style silver-lead targets in the southern zone.
At Deere, 1990s drilling returned 28m @ 0.78 grams per tonne gold and 632 parts per million (ppm) copper (Cu) from 78m. The company interprets this as the southern edge of a potentially large-scale system, with no drilling within 1km north of the intercept.
The Dylans target returned copper results including 66m @ 514ppm Cu from 50m, incorporating 14m @ 1,130ppm Cu from 72m. No follow-up exploration has occurred since the mid-1990s.
The project benefits from minimal exploration over the past 25 years, despite historical work by BHP (ASX:BHP), Aberfoyle, Ivanhoe Australia, Sandfire Resources (ASX:SFR), and Newmont (ASX:NEM) identifying multiple coincident magnetic and gravity anomalies.
Great Western plans ground gravity surveys at Deere, aircore drilling at Ventura, and reverse circulation drilling at Stellantis and Dylans once permitting is complete.
The agreement requires shareholder approval under ASX Listing Rule 10.1, as Moffat Resources is 50% owned by Managing Director Shane Pike. Independent directors negotiated the transaction, with Pike abstaining from board discussions. A general meeting is scheduled for late September 2026.
Great Western Exploration also holds the Juggernaut copper-gold targets within the Yerrida North Project in Western Australia.
Write to JC Villarba at Mining.com.au
Images: Great Western Exploration
