Strategic Minerals Plc (LON:SML) will now buy the Leigh Creek copper mine in South Australia from Resilience Mining Australia outright following due diligence.
As reported in October, Strategic revealed it was to pay a total of A$5mln, mainly by way of royalties in combination with cash, shares and taking on debt.
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But now it has agreed renegotiated terms and will pay an equal mixture of cash and equity totalling A$3mln (around £1.710mln) to buy it outright.
The deal, subject to documentation, is due to take place on January 16, 2018.
"The outright acquisition, as opposed to the previous arrangement involving a substantial portion of the consideration being paid by way of royalties, provides the company with flexibility to maximise the potential from the tenements, as well as the freedom to progress the project at its own pace," said John Peters, Strategic's managing director.
"The new capital expenditure structure will allow us to minimise risks, notably extraction risk."
Peters added that the renegotiated sale terms reflected the confidence the company had after due diligence and the vendor's acceptance of payment certainty.
"We are delighted to add copper exposure to our portfolio of strategic projects. We believe that demand and supply factors for copper over the next five years will lead to price increases going forward, which in turn will add substantial shareholder value to SML."
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Leigh Creek is a near-term low-capex copper production opportunity with early cashflow generation potential.
It has three approved mining leases that cover a number of copper oxide deposits, including Lorna Doone, Lynda, Mountain of Light (Rosmann East and Paltridge South) and the Mount Coffin deposit.
A resource of 3.61mln tonnes at 0.69% copper for 24,900 of copper metal forms the base of the project.
Additional, non-JORC compliant, ore sources of 1.8mln tonnes at 0.68% copper have also been identified within existing mining leases.