Newcrest Mining is pulling out of a joint venture opportunity with gold explorer Alice Queen.
Under the terms of the March 2017 agreement, Newcrest had the option to earn up to 80 per cent of Alice Queen’s 300 square kilometre Mendooran copper-gold project through a $10 million farm in.
Newcrest, however, had the option of withdrawing from the project after a minimum $1 million exploration spend.
The company has decided not to enter a JV; its withdrawal will be effective on November 14.
Alice Queen first discovered the Mendooran tenement (also referred to as EL8469) in the Molong Volcanic Belt in November 2016 and recently renewed its licence until September 2020.
The Mendooran target was selected by John Holliday, the same person who was the principal discoverer of Newcrest’s Cadia Valley deposits.
Alice Queen managing director Andrew Buxton said the company remained “very excited” about the project’s prospects, with several targets still undrilled. He added the company would be looking into other options.
“The company intends to explore and assess the options now available to it for the project’s continued exploration, which may include exploration drilling undertaken directly by the company or the procurement [of] an alternative joint venture or farm-in arrangement,” Buxton said.
