Orosur Mining (AIM:OMI), the TSXV and AIM-listed exploration company, announced it has completed the second and final phase of its joint venture obligations at the El Pantano project in Santa Cruz province, southern Argentina.
The move secures 100% ownership of the licence package, which spans roughly 560 square kilometres in the Deseado Massif, near AngloGold's Cerro Vanguardia mine and Newmont's Cerro Negro operation. Under the 2022 JV agreement with Deseado Dorado S.A.S, Orosur was required to spend US$3m over five years in two phases to earn full ownership.
The company completed Phase 1 (US$1m) in February 2025 and has now finished Phase 2 (US$2m) ahead of its deadline, following a maiden 24-hole, 5,533-metre diamond drilling programme that began in November.
In exchange, the original vendors retain a 2% net smelter return royalty, of which Orosur can buy back 1% for US$1m at its discretion.
Drilling at El Pantano West returned gold-bearing intervals including 18.0 metres at 0.46 g/t gold and 27.12 metres at 0.20 g/t gold, interpreted as evidence of structurally controlled vein corridors.
El Pantano East showed silica cap development and arsenic pathfinder anomalism, including 125.5 metres at 232 parts per million arsenic, pointing to a preserved, higher-level part of the same hydrothermal system.
Orosur frames the results as supporting a west-to-east zoned epithermal model and plans further exploration work over the winter recess.
"We now own the project 100%, and so have many options available to us", said chief executive Brad George.
News Intelligence what this means for the company
Orosur has secured 100% ownership of El Pantano in Argentina by completing a US$3m earn-in ahead of schedule, following maiden drilling that identified gold-bearing intervals and structural features consistent with an epithermal system. The move eliminates joint-venture coordination and gives Orosur full control of a 560 km² licence package positioned near AngloGold's Cerro Vanguardia and Newmont's Cerro Negro, removing a material constraint on the company's optionality in the district.
Orosur now holds unencumbered exploration upside at El Pantano with no further earn-in obligations, though the drilling results remain early-stage and the company retains a 2% net smelter return royalty to the vendors. The move adds a second major Argentine district to Orosur's portfolio alongside its Colombian Anzá project, but does not yet establish a mineral resource or alter the company's exploration-stage risk profile.
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