Company Interview / Hancock's "Titan" investment

Key points:

Hanrine invests $120M for an 80% stake in Linderoth Copper project.Titan Minerals starts drilling 10,000m by late October.The prospect of significant copper and gold fuels excitement.

Titan Minerals (ASX: TTM) enters a joint venture with Hanrahan, a Hancock Prospecting subsidiary, for the Linderoth Copper project in Ecuador. Hanrahan commits up to $120M to earn an 80% stake. Matthew Carr highlights that after 18 months of preliminary drilling, they discovered significant copper presence close to the surface, encouraging positive momentum for the project.

Matthew states that both Titan Minerals and Hanrahan are ready to mobilise three rigs within six weeks to start drilling 10,000m from late October. Carr notes the project's high potential, coupling copper with promising gold prospects, drawing interest from major players.

Titan Mining’s Dynasty Gold project hosts 3.1M ounces of gold and 22M ounces of silver. Matthew remarks that with simultaneous drilling programs at Linderoth and Dynasty, the coming 6-12 months are expected to be exciting and pivotal for Titan Minerals.

Full unedited transcript below:

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Titan Minerals has entered a joint venture agreement with Hanrahan, a subsidiary of Hancock Prospecting, for the Linderoth Copper project in Ecuador. Hanrahan will spend up to $120 million to earn an 80% stake in the project. Let's get the details on the deal with Titan Minerals Executive Director Matthew Carr, who joins me now. Matthew, this is exciting. Tell us about the deal. Yeah. Look, it's a fabulous result for the company. It's been something that we've been working on for the last, um, four months with, uh, with Hancock. So to finally, uh, complete the agreement, um, and now preparing for the first real campaign at Linda Ross, our copper porphyry project in Ecuador. It's pretty exciting for order. And, uh, Melanie Leighton, who's he's currently in Ecuador and, uh, and importantly, our shareholders. So, as we mentioned, um, 120 million USD to earn 80% in this project. Tell us where you're at with regards to, I guess, the momentum in the Linderoth

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project.

1:01

Look, we initially drilled 8000m into the project going back about 18 months ago. And, you know, we discovered that we're on the, um, the heat source or the big pull through was a lot closer to the surface than initially anticipated. And in fact, we're starting to see copper through, you know, within 30m of that surface area. So that was really encouraging for a group like Hancock, uh, and Hanrahan, who are in Ecuador and have been drilling, you know, different projects over the last five years to come down and take a look. And they were really excited about the opportunity and the, you know, significant potential. Um, for this particular project, um, it's drill ready, um, drill programs ready to go. Those guys have endorsed the program that had been prepared by our group. Um, and they're looking to mobilize three rigs in the coming six weeks and starting drilling, you know, end of October, early November, um, with the intent of doing the, you know, the first 10,000m of drilling as quick as possible. So for us as a company to be drilling that project, you know, real skin

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in the game, this part of the world, you know, you have massive discoveries all the way up that that coastal path through South America. And you've seen some huge discoveries along that stretch. And, uh, and Ecuador, we think, is the next frontier for all of that. And that that coupled with our dynasty Gold project, which is 3.1 million ounces of gold at 2.2g and 22,000,000oz of silver, um, we would look to, you know, start drilling there in the coming six weeks or so. So we'll have, you know, two drill programs going, one run by Hanrahan, one run by us. Um, so lots of news and excitement. And we're really looking forward to the 6 to 12 months ahead. I was going to say, what is this sort of timeline for this? Because I think initially Hanrahan takes around 5%. Is that right?

2:48

Yeah. The $2 million US cash is is given upfront and it gives, um, Hanrahan a 5% interest in the project. They will then embark on the next 10,000m. And that will take give them an additional 25%, take them up to a 30% ownership, um, upon which they, um, will embark on the next phase, which is another 15,000m of drilling to go up to 51. And then it's to fund all, um, all exploration, um, studies and, uh, work it up to a decision to mine or spend $120 million, which is circa $180 million to go up to that 80%. So we're very happy sitting there with 20% of a project, um, when it gets to that level and then, um, you know, have some decisions to be made when it's ready to turn into a, you know, a mine. So look, we think there's, you know, this is just the first port of drilling, um, 14,000 hectares, extremely prospective ground

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and Hancock know it. Um, we we we're certainly on to it first. And, uh, it's fantastic to give this project an opportunity, um, with that type of balance sheet coming in behind it. So, uh, we're looking forward to that first drill rig on site, uh, end of October. How important is it that it looks like you've got not only copper but also gold in this, um, project?

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Yeah. Look, um, you know, if you've seen the plough project, which is a, you know, huge copper discovery down in on the border of Argentina and Chile, um, you have these high sulphur Dacian gold systems that sit on the edge, and then you've got these big offerings. That's exactly what you see at Linder. I see you've got this high sulfur Dacian gold prospect, and you could see in some of the results that we've put out, they were, you know, really good grades. And that sits right on the edge of what we think is a huge engine that's driving it underneath. And and through that initial drilling of 8000m to, um, discover that we're seeing, um, you know, strong presence of copper and grades of up to half of the cent copper. Um, these type of systems, you know, aren't like what you see in Australia, the huge, the massive and so on. On a global scale, this is what groups like Hancock and others are looking for. These things, uh, 20, 30, 40, in my life. So big open pits, um, massive system. We know that Hancock has been steadily building stakes in critical minerals

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projects, and we're talking about this potentially being an 80% stake. Would you be open to a complete takeover or what are the talks like with Titan and Hancock? Look where we're a junior company. So we we obviously welcome some of the bigger players to come on our register. We think it's a you know, potentially it's an opportunity at some point. Um, certainly you know we've got the gold project cannot be underestimated. You know that that is a serious system. You know, could be 5,000,000oz. Plus, do we think we'll attract the type of partners that, you know, potentially you could have, you know, some of the bigger gold players looking to take a position, and then you've got the groups that are more interested in

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looking at our copper project. So we've got Lyndon Johnson, we've got Copper Duke, um, which is also exciting early stage prospect. We think there's real opportunity, um, hopefully at some point we get some competitive pension and you see, uh, see two, two major groups enter,

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um, your share price took quite a bit of a dive earlier in the year. Matthew, I know as a CEO you can't control the market, but I'm sure you'd like to see it more at fair value. Do you think that this sort of agreement is going to help push it there? And I guess as well, just to my earlier question, how important the gold aspect is given that the commodity is at these records.

6:28

Yeah. Look, I think that's the opportunity that exists at the moment in the juniors. You've got this asymmetric bet. Um, the juniors like us had been beaten down and not a lot of love. Um, that was shown in that, in that sector of the market. Uh, you're starting to see the emergence of, you know, people looking back down the chain and, uh, and taking and building some positions. Um, look, I think even just going back to a reasonable value, you know, you're going to see us move significantly higher than than where we are now. Um, 3.1 million ounces, a tall, compliant resource. And and that's real. And it's big and it's and it's going to get bigger. So look, I think for those that like exposure to gold, there's a there's a real opportunity. And importantly you've got skin in the game with huge copper. Um, and sure. Um, so it's a it's a pretty attractive bet for someone that's looking to, you know, take a position and I want exposure to those commodity.