First Quantum Minerals Ltd. executed a letter of intent with Altius Minerals Corp.'s 80%-owned Irish subsidiary to explore and develop the early-stage, 110,000-hectare Southwest Cork sediment-hosted copper project in Ireland.

Under the deal, First Quantum will make an initial cash payment of US$25,000. It will have an option until December 2017, to enter an earn-in/joint venture deal to acquire up to a 75% interest in the project by incurring US$6 million in exploration and making staged cash payments totaling US$300,000 over seven years.

The company will then have an additional option to earn up to a 90% interest by reporting a decision to mine and making a US$500,000 payment to Altius.

Altius will retain a 2% net smelter return royalty on the project, it said in an April 4 release.

Work is underway along an 85-kilometer long prospective zone to refine targets for follow-up exploration at the project.

In addition, Antler Gold Inc., formerly Northwest Arm Capital Inc., optioned six projects from Altius covering 41,325 hectares, located along the projection of the major structural corridor hosting gold mineralization at the Wilding Lake gold project in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Antler completed the deal to acquire Wilding Lake from Altius in September 2016.

Under the deal, Altius will receive an additional 980,000 Antler common shares, increasing its total shareholding in the latter to 19.9%.

Altius will also retain a 2% NSR over the new projects, while Antler will fund a minimum of C$300,000 in exploration expenditures on the additional projects within the first year.