Great Western enters copper pooling agreement with Bronco Creek

12th Aug 2024 14:31

(Sharecast News) - Great Western Mining announced on Monday that it has entered into a pooling agreement with Bronco Creek Exploration to advance copper exploration in the Eastside Mine area of Mineral County, Nevada.

The AIM-traded firm said the strategic collaboration aimed to consolidate copper prospects and develop a primary porphyry target across the combined claims of both companies.

It said the Eastside Mine group, located about 11 miles southeast of Great Western's current copper exploration activities in the Huntoon Valley, would be pooled with Bronco Creek's adjacent Tango Project.

Under the agreement, Bronco Creek would serve as the operator of the pooled project, with the goal of advancing the exploration target and potentially securing a future partner to fund further exploration and development.

The benefits and liabilities of the project would be shared between the parties, with Great Western holding a 30% interest and Bronco Creek holding 70%, reflecting their respective claim holdings.

It added that the agreement did not establish a formal joint venture, allowing each company to retain ownership of its own claims.

Significantly, the exploration had identified intense quartz-sericite-pyrite (QSP) alteration, a key indicator of a high-level porphyry copper system, across a substantial area of the pooled claims.

The potential porphyry system was believed to extend beneath post-mineral cover, offering additional exploration upside.

Bronco Creek is a division of EMX Royalty Corporation, a company with a broad portfolio of mining operations and investments across North America and globally.

"We are very pleased to be working with Bronco Creek on this project. We have long considered Eastside Mine to be a valuable asset and in recent times have conducted an IP survey over the area, resulting in the identification of drill targets," said executive chairman Brian Hall.

"By pooling acreage into a much bigger unit and working with a larger and well-resourced company, we are implementing our strategy of attracting funding at the project level without recourse to shareholders."

Hall said that within one year, the company had now therefore identified two potential porphyry deposits on its claims.

"At the Huntoon copper project we are working to establish connectivity of copper showings across the Huntoon Valley.

"Eastside Mine is some distance away from the Huntoon Valley, where field work is ongoing, and a completely separate but equally interesting porphyry prospect."

At 1508 BST, shares in Great Western Mining were down 0.54% at 0.04p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.