Summit Minerals has agreed to acquire a new tenement within the Borborema Pegmatitic Province, expanding its Equador Niobium and Tantalum Project in north-east Brazil.

The company has signed a binding heads of agreement with RTB Geologia and Mineracao, stipulating the acquisition of all rights, title and interest in tenement 848158/2010.

Under the agreed terms, Summit will pay $50,000 (A$72,837) in cash and issue 800,000 fully paid ordinary shares to RTB. Half of these shares will be escrowed for six months post-completion.

This acquisition is subject to the granting of the application by 31 December 2024, a condition precedent that, if unmet, allows either party to scrap the agreement.

The newly acquired 2km² tenement is located east and north of the existing Equador Project area.

It features outcropping pegmatites with niobium and tantalum indications and several small-scale artisanal mines.

The area, known as Equador North, includes a granted mining lease with a history of feldspar mining, a mineral associated with niobium and tantalum deposits.

Summit managing director Gower He said: “Summit continues to add strategic holdings to our premier Equador Niobium and Tantalum Project. This is another exceptional acquisition for the company to add areas of geological significance, which has proven results. This project just continues to amaze us on its potential and areas of growth.”

The acquisition is part of Summit’s broader development plan for the Equador Project, which has seen the completion of a bulk sampling programme.

This programme aims to provide a representative sample for the metallurgical test programme, designed to evaluate the economic viability of producing niobium and tantalum concentrate.