Paterson South Farm-in
The Paterson South Project consists of seven exploration tenements which cover a combined area of 1,080km2.
The Paterson South Project is the subject of a farm-in and joint venture arrangement between Greatland Paterson South Pty Ltd and Rio Tinto Exploration Pty Limited (RTX), a subsidiary of Rio Tinto Limited (ASX/LSE:RIO), to accelerate exploration across the tenure in the Paterson region.
The tenements include E45/4807 (Strickland) which is registered in the name of Rio Tinto Exploration Pty Ltd (RTX but is subject to an NSR royalty in favour of Strickland Metals Limited and six other tenements registered in the name of RTX.
Under the terms of the farm-in agreement executed with RTX in May 2023, Greatland Paterson South Pty Ltd was required to make an up-front payment of A$350,000 which Greatland has elected to satisfy through the issue of 2,657,978 GGP Shares. Greatland Paterson South Pty Ltd can earn up to a 75% interest in the tenements under a two stage farm-in arrangement which, in aggregate, requires the completion of 24,500m of drilling as part of a A$21.1M spend on exploration at the tenements over a 7-year period.
The project is considered by Greatland to be significantly under-explored with limited work completed by RTX.
Figure: Location of Paterson South and Scallywag projects and prospects on State 500k Geology
Greatland has significantly increased the rate of exploration with drilling on Budjidowns immediately following execution of the farm in agreement in 2023 identifying weakly anomalous gold, copper, bismuth, and arsenic at Stingray, and anomalous pathfinder geochemistry at Decka.
In 2024 drilling was completed on the Strickland tenement with results including moderately anomalous copper and gold at Chilly within the Puntapunta formation on the northern limb of a doubly plunging anticline. Diamond drilling on an anticline at Teague on Triangle South identified anomalous copper, bismuth and antimony. A gravity survey at Atlantis prospect on Budjidowns identified combined magnetic and gravity anomalies. All of these targets are planned for follow up drilling in CY25.
While drilling has occurred at a number of prospects on Skylar identifying pathfinder anomalism, they have been downgraded and are not slated for follow up work in the current year.