PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed gold developer Gold Road Resources has signed to earn-in joint venture (JV) agreements with Cygnus Gold over exploration tenements in south-west Western Australia.

Under the terms of the agreement, Gold Road could earn a 75% interest in the Wadderin and Lake Grace greenfields exploration projects, which cover some 3 400 km² of area.

At Wadderin, Gold Road could earn an initial 51% interest by spending A$1.6-million within a 30-month period, and could earn a further 24% interest by spending an additional A$900 000 over a further 18-month period.

At Lake Grace, Gold Road could earn a 51% interest by spending A$700 000 over a 30-month period, and an additional 24% by spending a further A$500 000 over the following 18 months.

“Gold Road is looking to acquire greenfield projects with large land holdings in low risk jurisdictions, to complement our Yamarna Greenstone package,” said the company’s executive director for exploration and growth, Justin Osborne.

“The practical and well considered application of new concepts and technologies in what we consider highly prospective gold districts, in the search for a new multimillion -ounce gold discovery, is the strength of Gold Road. With the significant decline in Australian greenfields exploration over the last ten years, Gold Road is looking to fill the void and leverage its proven exploration skills and experience which led to the discovery of the 6.2-million-ounce Gruyere gold deposit.”

Osborne said that as the company’s first venture outside of the Yamarna Belt, the Wadderin and Lake Grace projects met strict target criteria.

“We are very excited by the cutting-edge work that Cygnus have conducted to identify historically overlooked areas of greenstone in Western Australia’s prolific Yilgarn Craton. We believe this a potentially new gold district in an area of Western Australia which has been neglected for many years, and is an area that offers tremendous upside potential.”