The exploration arm of mining major Rio Tinto will spend A$9.2-million on exploration at the Citadel copper/gold joint venture (JV), in Western Australia, during 2020.
JV partner Antipa Minerals on Friday said that the approved exploration budget for 2020 was well above the previous estimated spend of A$2-million put forth in January this year.
The new exploration programme would now encompass up to 13 000 m of combined diamond and reverse circulation resource drilling to test potential extensions and further define and improve orebody knowledge at the Caibre gold/copper deposit, some 45 km from the Winu copper/gold development project.