NGEx Resources Inc. said Dec. 12 that it plans to spin out its Josemaria copper-gold project in Argentina's San Juan province into a standalone public company.

President and CEO Wojtek Wodzicki said the explorer's shareholders would benefit from the separate listing of the asset, which can be fast-tracked toward a feasibility study and further development through fundraisings that would not dilute its interest in other assets, including the Los Helados copper project in Chile.

Wodzicki cited its spin out of the Filo del Sol copper project in 2016, and that he hopes to replicate the same result with the Josemaria project.

In November, a pre-feasibility study for the Josemaria project pegged a posttax net present value, discounted at 8%, of US$2.0 billion, an 18.6% internal rate of return and a 3.4-year payback period from the start of processing.