Ivanhoe To Explore Kazakhstan For Copper Under New Joint Venture
Ivanhoe Mines (TSX: IVN) is undertaking greenfield exploration in Kazakhstan under a new joint venture with the UK-based Pallas Resources. The venture will see the duo explore the Chu-Sarysu Copper Basin, which is the third largest sediment-hosted copper district globally.
The joint venture is set to conduct exploration on a 16,000 square kilometre land package in the Chu-Sarysu Copper Basin, where Pallas has assembled a dataset of Soviet-era exploration data. A number of potential targets are said to have been highlighted after initial digitization, which are to be investigated after an airborne geophysics program is conducted on the property later this year.
Under the terms of the joint venture, Ivanhoe has committed to funding $18.7 million in exploration over a two year period. After that initial spend, Ivanhoe has the right to obtain a majority interest in the land package by spending $115 million over four years in exploration. In the event of a major discovery, Ivanhoe can obtain up to an 80% interest by funding and completing a feasibility study.
The copper basin is currently host to 27 million tonnes of known copper, including the Zhezkazgen Complex, which contains 22 million tonnes of copper and produces approximately 200,000 tonnes per year along with silver byproducts. The USGS meanwhile estimates that at least 25 million tonnes of undiscovered copper remains within the basin, along with occurrences of lead, zinc, silver, barium and strontium.
“We know how to find tier-one sedimentary copper deposits, and we know how to mine them. The landmark development of the Kamoa-Kakula Copper Complex and the expanding discoveries of the Western Forelands, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, are testament to this. We will be building on our successes over the past 28 years here, where we have discovered over 50 million tonnes of copper… and counting,” commented Robert Friedland, Co-Chairman and Founder of Ivanhoe Mines.
Ivanhoe Mines last traded at $16.27 on the TSX.
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