Antipa Minerals (ASX:AZY) will retain complete ownership of the Paterson Project in Western Australia after IGO Newsearch (ASX:IGO) elected to withdraw from a 2020 farm-in agreement. The Paterson Project surrounds the Minyari Dome Development Project, which contains a resource estimate of 2.3 million ounces of gold and 83,500 tonnes of copper.
The corporate decision expands Antipa’s Paterson Province tenement package to 4,060km². IGO initially entered into a $30 million farm-in deal with Antipa in July 2020, fulfilling its initial $4 million expenditure commitment by December 2021. The subsequent stage of the agreement required IGO to invest an additional $26 million to secure a 70% joint venture interest, a step IGO declined to take.
Roger Mason, Managing Director of Antipa, stated that retaining the project delivers a dual advantage. He highlights that the tenement package completely encompasses Antipa’s Minyari Dome Project, enhancing its future standalone development potential. He also notes the presence of multiple gold-dominant opportunities, which the company plans to explore. Antipa anticipates further project-scale interpretation and data modelling to generate additional targets. A drilling program is planned for 2025, concentrating on priority targets proximal to Minyari, including extensions to GEO-01, Rizzo, PP-GRAV02, and AL01.
