Ajax Resources (AQSE:AJAX), the natural resources investment company, has extended its exclusivity and binding option agreement with Western Metallica Resources to 30 October.
The agreement, first announced on 27 July, gives Ajax an exclusive and irrevocable option to acquire 100% of Western Metallica's Spanish subsidiary, which owns the historic Nueva Celti underground copper mine near Seville in Andalusia.
All other terms of the proposed acquisition remain unchanged, with completion still subject to the option agreement's conditions.
Nueva Celti produced ore grading above 5% copper between 1902 and 1918, and more than 9,000 metres of historic and recent drilling, including work by Glencore's Asturiana de Zinc predecessor, point to a geological target of 8 to 10 million tonnes at 1.2% to 1.5% copper, with potential gold, silver, lead and zinc credits. No resource has yet been estimated under an internationally recognised standard.
Ajax plans an initial 3,000 metre diamond drilling programme costing roughly €500,000 once the deal completes, aimed at delivering a maiden JORC-compliant resource estimate, with drilling expected to start in November. The company said roughly €90,000 of prior drilling spend could be credited toward the new programme, subject to due diligence.
The Spanish project sits alongside Ajax's core focus on its South American portfolio: the Macacha copper-silver project in Argentina, the Pereira Velho gold project in Brazil, and the Paguanta copper-zinc-silver project in Chile, where drilling is expected to begin shortly with resource definitions targeted by year-end.