Junior explorer Kincora Copper has secured a second earn-in and joint venture agreement with gold major AngloGold Ashanti, expanding exploration efforts across the Northern Junee-Narromine Belt (NJNB) in Australia's New South Wales.

Under the amended agreement, AngloGold may earn up to an 80% interest in three additional tenements – Nyngan South, Nevertire South, and Mulla – by spending up to $50-million in two stages. The new tenements are contiguous with Kincora’s Nyngan and Nevertire projects, which are already subject to a separate earn-in agreement announced in May last year.

With the latest transaction, AngloGold has now committed up to $75-million in exploration expenditure across Kincora’s NJNB portfolio, which comprises five large-scale porphyry copper/gold targets covering a continuous strike of more than 100 km.

Kincora will continue as operator during the earn-in period and will receive a 10% management fee on all exploration expenditure.

Initial scout drilling at the Nyngan project, where 12 holes have been completed, is ongoing, with results from the first six holes described as encouraging. A ground gravity survey spanning 400 km² has outlined new drill targets, including the South West and Ace of Spades anomalies. A Stage 2 programme of step-out drilling is being considered.

Meanwhile, drilling at the Nevertire and Nevertire South projects is planned to follow up on anomalous copper/gold mineralisation intersected by previous explorers, including Newcrest. One of the standout holes, ACDNY006, returned continuous copper mineralisation from basement to end-of-hole, with alteration features similar to those seen at Cadia-Ridgeway and Goonumbla.

Kincora technical director John Holliday, who played a key role in the discovery of Cadia, supports the view that the Nevertire Magmatic Complex may host similar Tier-1 porphyry systems. The company plans to step out from the ACDNY006 hole and further test extensions of the complex.

Exploration activities across the NJNB district are expected to continue into the third quarter of 2025, delivering a steady stream of news flow for Kincora.

The NJNB lies within the Macquarie Arc, Australia’s premier porphyry copper/gold province. Despite hosting world-class operations such as Cadia, Cowal, and Northparkes, the NJNB has seen limited historical drilling owing to cover.

Kincora’s strategy is to leverage a project generator model — common in North America — and has now unlocked more than $110-million in potential funding across eight early-stage or noncore porphyry projects. Alongside AngloGold, Kincora’s partners include Fleet Space Technologies, Earth AI, and Orbminco.

The company aims to operate exploration budgets of more than $10-million a year across its porphyry portfolio, positioning itself to become self-funding through management fees.

Kincora plans to retain full ownership of its Condobolin project, a high-grade historic mining field located within trucking distance to the Mineral Hill processing facility.

“AngloGold Ashanti’s deepening commitment and recognition of the NJNB as a significant and emerging porphyry belt provides a strong endorsement for our district-scale strategy,” Kincora CEO Sam Spring said.