Ormonde Mining has signed a deal with Chilean company Antofagasta Minerals on an exploration joint venture on its La Zarza ground holdings in the Huelva province of southern Spain.
In a statement today, Ormonde said work programmes would commence immediately.
The company said Antofagasta would extend the previous exploration by Ormonde to cover the entire extent of the three-kilometre La Zarza sulphide deposit, “to evaluate the potential for this major body to host much larger resources of copper mineralisation”.
Ormonde has agreed to give Antofagasta a 51 per cent interest in La Zarza over a three- year period in return for the Chilean company spending $7 million on expanding the exploration potential of the site.
Ormonde’s managing director Kerr Anderson said the company had previously “concentrated its endeavours on the area of higher grade copper-gold mineralisation located within the eastern end of the much larger La Zarza massive sulphide deposit.”
“However, there are several exploration targets with significant potential for additional copper mineralisation within this massive sulphie body, and we very much look forward to seeing exploration drilling resuming at La Zarza,” Mr Anderson said.