Ajax Resources (AQSE:AJAX), the AQSE-listed natural resources investment company, has entered a binding preliminary agreement with Madero Minerals to exchange its Puna Metals portfolio
This includes the Eureka gold project and the recently expanded La Escondida 1 and 2 licences, for the Rachaite Prospect in Jujuy Province and the El Salto Project in Salta Province.
The deal would replace Ajax's conditional acquisition of Rachaite announced on 22 December, which had carried a potential financial commitment of up to $850,000 in cash, shares, exploration spend and royalty buyback costs.
Under the structure currently contemplated, Madero would take all shares in Puna, though the parties are still weighing whether to instead transfer the underlying mining rights directly, with the final structure to follow due diligence.
El Salto sits immediately adjacent to Ajax's flagship Macacha copper-silver project, and historical technical reports from prior owner Alexander Mining identified surface mineralisation up to 3.53% copper and 33.2 g/t silver in rock-chip samples, results Ajax has not independently verified.
Since acquiring Eureka and the La Escondida licences for a combined $250,000, Ajax has secured environmental approvals, drilled the site for the first time in over 400 years of artisanal mining history, and begun permitting for an alluvial gold operation.
"We believe this would create a larger and more strategically coherent exploration position in north-west Argentina," said chief executive Ippolito Ingo Cattaneo.
The agreement includes a 90-day mutual due diligence period and a 120-day exclusivity window, extendable by mutual consent, with completion subject to definitive documentation and customary closing conditions.
News Intelligence what this means for the company
Ajax is swapping its Puna Metals portfolio—Eureka gold project and La Escondida licences, acquired for $250,000 and now carrying environmental approvals and first drilling in 400+ years—for two Argentine copper-silver prospects (Rachaite and El Salto) with no cash outlay. This replaces a December conditional deal for Rachaite that would have cost up to $850,000; El Salto adjoins Ajax's flagship Macacha project but carries only unverified historical assay data. The trade consolidates Ajax's north-west Argentina footprint but exchanges a project with permitting momentum for two early-stage prospects.
Ajax trades a de-risked, permitted asset (Eureka) for two exploration-stage projects, one of which (El Salto) is adjacent to Macacha but unverified. The deal eliminates $850,000 in potential cash outlay but sacrifices the near-term alluvial gold operation momentum at Eureka; value hinges on whether Rachaite and El Salto's proximity to Macacha and historical copper-silver grades justify the swap.
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