Renegade Exploration Ltd (ASX:RNX) has completed the divestment of its approximately 22% interest in the Carpentaria Joint Venture (CJV) to True North Copper Ltd (ASX:TNC), in a transaction valued at $2.88 million.
The sale follows Mount Isa Mines Ltd’s decision not to exercise its right of first refusal over the interests.
The transaction allows Renegade to realise value from its Australian portfolio while retaining exposure to the future development of the Mongoose-Taipan copper-gold corridor and wider exploration upside within the CJV permits.
Chairman Robert Kirtlan said the deal represented an important step in the company’s strategy to concentrate resources on its highest-priority growth opportunities.
“This transaction represents an important step in Renegade’s strategy to realise value from its Australian portfolio and concentrate the Company’s resources on its highest-priority growth opportunities,” Kirtlan said.
“Importantly for Renegade shareholders, the structure delivers immediate value while retaining exposure to future production, resource growth and exploration success through our TNC shareholding and performance rights.”
Transaction terms
Under the transaction, True North Copper will acquire Renegade’s roughly 22% interest in the CJV and its approximately 35% interest in EPM 8588, with an option for further spend and earn into that tenement.
Consideration comprises $300,000 in cash, 3 million fully paid ordinary TNC shares issued at a deemed price of $0.50 per share and valued at $1.5 million, the transfer of TNC’s 91% interest in the Prairie Creek Project valued at $200,000, and 2 million TNC performance rights with an agreed value of $880,000.
Half of the TNC shares will be subject to voluntary escrow for 6 months, with the remaining 50% escrowed for 12 months.
The performance rights include 500,000 rights that vest on first Mongoose-Taipan production or at 36 months, whichever occurs earlier, and 1.5 million rights that vest if a new copper discovery is made within the JV area, subject to agreed location and resource hurdles.
The rights have a 5-year expiry period and include customary change-of-control provisions.
Mongoose-Taipan exposure retained
The structure preserves Renegade's exposure to Mongoose-Taipan without requiring the company to contribute further funding to CJV exploration or development.
The Mongoose deposit hosts an inferred mineral resource of 3.1 million tonnes at 0.55% copper and 0.07 g/t gold, containing around 17,000 tonnes of copper and 7,300 ounces of gold.
Mongoose sits directly beside True North Copper’s Taipan mineral resource, which stands at 5.2 million tonnes at 0.57% copper and 0.13 g/t gold.
True North Copper intends to assess the deposits within a consolidated development framework as part of its ongoing Cloncurry Copper Project pre-feasibility study.
Kirtlan said consolidation with True North’s adjoining Taipan deposit provided “a logical pathway” for the assets to be assessed as part of a larger development opportunity.
Prairie Creek adds Queensland gold asset
As part of the deal, Renegade has acquired True North Copper’s 91% interest in EPM 26852, known as the Prairie Creek Project.
Prairie Creek is a prospective gold exploration project near Rockhampton in Queensland.
Renegade plans to consolidate and review available geological, geophysical and historical exploration data before determining the most appropriate pathway for the asset.
The company said this review would consider the project’s exploration potential, prospective work programs and alternative commercial options, including partnership or divestment opportunities.
Funds to support core portfolio
Completion of the transaction removes Renegade’s future funding commitments across the CJV and gives the company greater flexibility to direct capital and management resources towards its North American gold and silver portfolio.
Renegade is advancing gold, silver and copper opportunities in Nevada and the Yukon, including projects with established mineralised systems, historical workings and targets being progressed towards drill definition.
“The transaction also removes Renegade’s future funding commitments across the joint venture, strengthening our ability to direct capital towards our North American gold and silver portfolio, where several advanced targets are being progressed towards drilling,” Kirtlan said.
The company also retains exposure to True North Copper’s broader Mt Isa-Cloncurry copper portfolio through its shareholding.
About Renegade Exploration
Renegade Exploration is an Australian minerals exploration and development company with assets in North America and Australia.
The company owns 100% of 4 projects across Nevada in the US and has 2 projects under option in Nevada and Wyoming. Its Nevada permits are within the Walker Lane Trend, a major gold-silver and base metals province close to operating and historical mines.
In Canada, Renegade’s Yukon Base Metal Project hosts the Andrew Group Zinc Lead Deposit, where a 2025 historical data review identified significant concentrations of germanium and gallium. Field work at the Myschka Prospect also identified high-grade gold, silver and antimony mineralisation within a reduced intrusive-related gold system.
In Australia, following the sale of its CJV interest, Renegade retains permits in the North West Queensland copper province and Central West Queensland, where it holds permits containing shale with potential critical mineral components.