Gold major AngloGold Ashanti is expanding its interests in the Macquarie Arc, New South Wales, with another earn-in and joint venture (JV) agreement.

The Macquarie Arc is considered a premier porphyry gold/copper province and hosts several major mines, including the country’s biggest gold mine Cadia.

AngloGold has executed a definitive multiple-phase agreement to earn into TSX-V- and ASX-listed Kincora Copper’s Northern Junee-Narromine Belt (NJNB) project, comprising the Nyngan and Nevertire licences.

AngloGold has the right to spend up to A$50-million to earn an 80% interest in the NJNB project.

“We are excited to partner with bold explorer AngloGold whose support provides the capital, technical and belt-scale capacity required to aggressively drill test and begin realising the potential of Kincora’s district scale land position in the almost unexplored, under cover NJNB extension of the Macquarie Arc,” said technical committee chair John Hollliday and VP of exploration Peter Leaman in a statement.

“This is virgin exploration territory and a major opportunity with huge upside offering Cadia-scale discovery potential,” the executives added.

AngloGold is already investing in the belt with drilling programmes on neighbouring projects. Holliday and Leaman said AngloGold shared Karora’s view that NJNB had the potential to yield new tier-one, gold-rich porphyry system discoveries.

Kincora was the early mover into the NJNB, securing a district-scale portfolio of the interpreted most prospective and shallow to moderate covered part of the northwards extension of the Macquarie Arc under post mineral cover.

The NJNB is largely pegged by Kincora, Fortescue Metals Group and Inflection Resources. More recently Kincora has also led pegging activities in the northern extension of the Molong belt having secured the Wongarbon project.

Following a new technical discovery of an inferred altered Macquarie Arc volcanic and intrusive system at the Duck Creek prospect, located as close as 2.5 km from the licence boundary to Kincora’s Nyngan project, in the last 12 months Inflection secured AngloGold as an earn-in and JV partner via a multiple project and phase agreement covering more than 7 000 km².

Since, Inflection has completed extensive regional scout drilling and follow-up geophysics at Duck Creek, with AngloGold having funded over A$6-million in expenditure.

In May, AngloGold designated Duck Creek as a Stage 2 project with Inflection (requiring a further A$7-million expenditure hurdle to earn a 51% interest). Duck Creek is situated immediately to the east of Kincora’s Nyngan licence, with deeper drilling scheduled to shortly commence and AngloGold also recently included ground immediately west of Nyngan, the Moonagee licence, in ongoing drill plans.