AngloGold Ashanti has entered a definitive agreement with Kincora Copper to earn into the latter’s Northern Junee-Narromine Belt (NJNB) Project in New South Wales, Australia.

The deal, which includes the Nyngan and Nevertire licences, could see AngloGold acquiring up to an 80% interest through a multi-phase investment.

In the initial phase, AngloGold may secure a 70% interest by spending A$25m ($82.8m) on exploration over seven years.

This phase includes a mandatory A$2m expenditure within the first two years.

Upon completion of this phase and the formation of a joint venture, AngloGold has the option to increase its stake to 80% by either completing a pre-feasibility study (PFS) or by investing an additional A$25m over three years.

Kincora will oversee the exploration activities during the minimum obligation period, guided by an exploration management committee with equal representation from both companies. Kincora is also entitled to a 10% management fee for its operational role.

The terms of the agreement are standard for such partnerships and outline the structure of the proposed joint venture, should AngloGold fulfil its investment obligations.

This agreement allows for expedited expenditure timelines and provides AngloGold with the option to withdraw after meeting the minimum obligation or compensating for any shortfall.

Kincora Copper technical committee chair John Holliday and Kincora Copper Exploration vice-president Peter Leaman commented: “We are excited to partner with bold explorer AngloGold whose support provides the capital, technical and belt scale capacity required to aggressively drill test and begin realising the potential of Kincora’s district scale land position in the almost unexplored, under-cover NJNB extension of the Macquarie Arc.

“This is virgin exploration territory and a major opportunity with huge upside offering Cadia-scale discovery potential.

“AngloGold, a successful greenfield explorer, is already investing in the belt with drilling programmes on neighbouring projects and clearly shares our view of the NJNB having the potential to yield a new district of tier-one gold-rich copper porphyry system discoveries.”