IGO, Encounter Resources enter copper JV

IGO (ASX: IGO) has entered a joint venture (JV) with Encounter Resources (ASX: ENR), following the sole funding of $15m of exploration expenditure on the company’s Yeneena project in WA.

The exploration expenditure earned IGO a 70% interest in Yeneena.

Yeneena comprises a major land position in the highly prospective Paterson Province in northern WA, targeting copper-cobalt mineralization.

The project is located 60km south-west of the major gold-copper mine at Telfer, owned by Greatland Gold — which the company recently acquired from Newmont Mining (ASX: NEM) — and south of the Nifty copper mine, owned by Cyprium Metals (ASX: CYP) in commercial strategic partnership with Glencore.

The Paterson Province also contains multiple large-scale copper-gold deposits such as Greatland Gold’s Havieron (7.0moz gold, 275kt copper), Rio Tinto’s (ASX: RIO) Winu deposit (7.9moz gold, 288kt copper) and Antipa Minerals’ (ASX: AZY) Minyari Dome (2.3moz gold, 84kt copper).

Encounter Resources executive chairman Will Robinson says the company is delighted to be working in joint venture with IGO to unlock the significant copper potential at Yeneena.

“The Paterson Province is located in a Tier 1 mining jurisdiction and represents a globally significant opportunity for new copper discoveries under shallow cover using leading edge exploration techniques,” he said.

“We look forward to continuing to work closely with IGO to advance the copper potential at Yeneena in what is an exciting time for the Paterson Province.”

Encounter and IGO entered into an earn-in and JV agreement covering Yeneena in March 2020 following the discovery of the BM1 copper oxide prospect (10m @ 6.8% copper from 32m, 20m @ 2.0% copper from 22m and 16m @ 3.2% copper from 26m).

Subsequently, IGO has completed diamond and aircore drilling, seismic and MT geophysical surveys and acquired belt scale geological, geochemical and geophysical data for integration into 3D modelling.