Titan (ASX:TTM) shakes hands on Hancock buy-in to Ecuador copper

Titan Minerals has agreed to terms with Hancock Prospecting’s fully owned Ecuadorian focused subsidiary to acquire up to 80 per cent ownership of its Linderos Copper Project in the South American nation.

Hanrine Ecuadorian Exploration and Mining will pay US$2 million ($3.1 million) up front to Titan for a 5% stake and can claim 80% by putting US$120 million into the asset or reaching mining decision.

The Subiaco-based junior is confident its portfolio held a potential world-class asset in Linderos, and the pact with a mining titan like Hancock will do little to dissuade.

Titan Chief Executive Melanie Leighton said the joint venture was an excellent outcome for shareholders and the company was very pleased to partner with a group with the balance sheet and capability to fully explore and develop the copper asset.

“The agreement represents a fantastic endorsement of our belief in the Linderos project’s potential to host a large-scale copper porphyry system,” Leighton said.

“Hanrine clearly see the opportunity for large-scale copper, both at the Linderos Copper Project, and in Ecuador, an emerging mining jurisdiction, having made considerable investment into exploration in Ecuador over recent years.”

Previously fully held by Titan, the 143 square kilometre Linderos project is still in its infancy and currently lacks a maiden resource but stands fully permitted for exploration and small-scale mining.

Surface geochemistry and geophysics have shown the presence of multiple porphyry centres running through the project alongside evidence for the presence of shallow epithermal gold systems.

A maiden campaign about two years ago confirmed broad porphyry zones at shallow depths, with six out of eight diamond drill holes ending in mineralisation and returning strikes as strong as 308 metres at 0.4 per cent copper-equivalent.

Like the Hancock subsidiary, Titan has put an emphasis on red metal-rich Ecuador and remains the full bearer of three more projects in the country of four worlds.

Titan considers its Dynasty project and the contained 3.1 million ounces of gold and 22 millions of silver within to be development ready, but copper is increasingly the apple in the eye of global miners.

The copper price has broken through a US$8000-9000 per tonne purgatory, and Tribeca’s Ben Cleary has told Fairfax outlet The Australian Financial Review his tip the metal will break out at US$15,000 a tonne in the coming years.

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