Syndicated Metals Ltd. said Sept. 11 that it agreed to relinquish its royalty entitlement over the Barbara copper project in North Queensland, Australia, to its former joint venture partner, Round Oak Minerals Pty. Ltd.

Syndicated Metals sold its 50% interest in the project to Round Oak, formerly CopperChem Pty. Ltd., for A$2.3 million in June 2017. Syndicated owns the right to a production royalty payable on the first 10,000 tonnes of copper in concentrate or ore equivalent.

The royalty is payable based on a sliding scale of 1% to 2% of the net smelter return generated from the sale of concentrate or ore equivalent, determined by the copper price.

Round Oak will pay Syndicated Metals A$460,000 in cash to relinquish the royalty.

"For Syndicated, it allows us to crystallize additional significant upfront value for the asset without having to wait for it to move into development and production," Managing Director David Morgan said. "The cash proceeds ... will predominantly be used to advance ongoing gold exploration programs at the Monument gold project in [Western Australia]."