Australia-listed junior Cobre announced a letter of intent to negotiate exclusively an earn-in joint venture agreement with commodities major BHP over the Kitlanya West and East copper projects, located on the northern and southern basin margins of the Kalahari Copper Belt.

The proposed collaboration follows on Cobre's successful participation in the BHP Xplor programme, which provided critical funding for the recently completed seismic survey on the Kitlanya West project.

Cobre says the proposed transaction underscores its confidence in the potential for its projects to host Tier 1 copper/silver deposits.

A partnership with BHP will provide the exploration scale and expertise to maximise Cobre’s chances of making significant new discoveries on its basin margin exploration ground while retaining 100% ownership of the Ngami and Okavango copper projects, which are excluded from the proposed transaction.

The proposed transaction is subject to approval and execution of formal binding documents and the completion of BHP's due diligence investigations within the exclusivity period.

“Successful negotiation and completion of this significant transaction with BHP, one of the world’s leading mining companies, will be a major moment in time for Cobre as a company.

“Participating in the BHP 2024 Xplor cohort has provided the opportunity to do a belt scale review of the Kalahari Copper Belt, culminating with the collection of seismic data over the prospective northern margin of the belt.

“The proposed transaction with BHP would allow us to fully fund our follow-on exploration programmes and focus on discovering the Tier 1 deposits we believe may be hosted in our Kitlanya West and East projects,” says Cobre CEO Adam Wooldridge.

Independently, Cobre will continue advancing its 100%-owned in-situ copper recovery development at Ngami – with a scoping study due in early October - along with further drilling at Cobre’s 100%-owned Okavango project, Wooldridge adds.

“This combined strategy provides exposure to potential Tier 1 discoveries, a development opportunity at Ngami and short-term discoveries on our Okavango project.”