JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed junior Venturex Resources has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with TSX-V-listed lithium-focused explorer Macarthur Minerals to enter into a farm-in and joint-venture agreement (FJVA) for the lithium rights at Venturex’s 100%-owned Sulphur Springs copper-zinc project, in Western Australia’s East Pilbara region.

The MoU, which established the framework for the FJVA, was subject to satisfactory completion of due diligence by both parties over the next two months. Following completion of the due diligence, Venturex and Macarthur would renegotiate the final terms of the joint venture to reflect comparable transactions.

Macarthur would have the right to earn up to 51% of the lithium rights by meeting various spending milestones that would be negotiated.

The FJVA would only cover the lithium rights at Sulphur Springs and would be subject to a split commodities agreement that maintained priority development of the Sulphur Springs and Kangaroo Caves copper-zinc resources.

“We are pleased to have attracted Macarthur as a potential partner to explore and potentially develop any lithium mineralisation on our . . . tenements,” said Venturex MD John Nitschke.

He added that Macarthur’s growing portfolio of lithium exploration and development projects, as well as its “high-quality” team, which included an internationally accredited advisory board, would benefit Venturex in terms of any discovery of lithium on the Sulphur Springs tenements.

Venturex would also be able to focus on increasing existing cash flow from the Whim Creek copper heap leach, identifying near-term production opportunities to produce copper and zinc, and optimising the value of the greenfield Sulphur Springs copper-zinc project.

“With our granted mining leases, native title agreements and extensive environmental baseline monitoring over our tenements, any lithium resources that are identified can be expeditiously developed, allowing us to jump to the front of the queue of the many people seeking to produce lithium to supply the burgeoning demand for this highly sought-after metal,” concluded Nitschke.

Sulphur Springs was located in the heart of the Shaw river tin-tantalum pegmatite district, which is one of the world’s most prospective emerging districts for lithium explorations.