ASX-listed Legacy Minerals Holdings on Monday announced an option and farm-in agreement with Rio Tinto Exploration (RTX), a wholly owned subsidiary of Rio Tinto, giving the major the right to earn up to an 80% joint venture interest in the Thomson project by funding up to A$25-million of staged exploration.

The Thomson project, located west of Bourke in New South Wales, represents one of the largest and least explored tenement holdings in the state, covering 5 500 km². It is considered highly prospective for intrusion-related copper/gold systems, sharing similarities with the Paterson Province in Western Australia.

Under the agreement, RTX will have the option to farm in by funding at least A$400 000 of exploration within six months and making a A$50 000 cash payment to Legacy Minerals. Upon exercising the option, RTX can earn an initial 75% interest by sole funding A$5-million of exploration over five years, including a minimum of 3 000 m of drilling. RTX may then increase its interest to 80% by sole funding a further A$20-million within an additional five years, including 7 000 m of drilling or defining a Joint Ore Reserve Commitee-compliant resource with at least 500 000 t of contained copper or copper equivalent.

“This partnership with RTX is an exciting development for both Legacy Minerals and the Thomson project,” said Legacy Minerals CEO and MD Christopher Byrne. “It further supports our belief, through the work completed by our exploration team to date, that this underexplored province has the potential to host world-class intrusion-related copper/gold systems.”

Byrne added that securing one of the world’s largest mining companies as a partner was a major milestone for the junior. “It allows Legacy Minerals to leverage Rio Tinto’s global expertise in discovery, development and its knowledge of intrusion-related copper and gold systems through its discovery of the Winu deposit in 2017,” he said.

He noted that the agreement demonstrated the company’s ability to deliver on its strategic objectives. “The option agreement with RTX has the potential to deliver a significant value accretive event for our shareholders and accelerate the pace of discovery at the Thomson project,” he said.

Legacy Minerals acquired the Thomson project for A$200 000 about a year ago and will act as the operator during the initial exploration phase, under RTX’s technical oversight.