New Frontier Minerals have announced a strategic alliance with Austral Resources to process copper ore across the Mt Isa copper belt in north-west Queensland, Australia.
New Frontier Minerals Ltd (NFM) has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Austral Resources Ltd (AR1) to es-tablish a strategic framework to leverage their combined strengths to demonstrate integrated scale across the Mt Isa copper belt.
Working collaboratively on a best endeavours basis, NFM and AR1 have an excellent opportunity to maximise the exploration and mining potential from their enlarged asset base.
Highlights:
- The combined footprint, complemented by AR1’s copper processing plant, provides a compelling integrated scalable asset base that delivers significant exploration and mining potential.
- NFM’s initial objective is to provide copper ore from the Big One Deposit (MRE: 2.1 million t @ 1.1% Cu), potentially expanding this to other satellite prospects within the NWQ Copper Project.
- AR1 will process copper ore supplied by NFM at its Mt Kelly facility, provided metallurgical test-work confirms it passes necessary input grade criteria.
- This is a win-win alliance as it provides NFM impetus to expedite developing the NWQ Copper Project with a clear path to production, while AR1 potentially secures a new source of copper ore to process.
Ged Hall, Chairman, commented: “This is an excellent outcome for both groups that has the potential to create significant value for stakeholders. For NFM, it provides a potential path to production for copper ore from satellite deposits across the NWQ Copper Pro-ject, while AR1 secures a new source of feedstock for its Mt Kelly processing facility. The NFM team looks forward to working closely with counterparts at AR1 to maximise the exploration and mining potential from this strategic alliance.”