Thor Mining PLC said Aug. 2 that it will acquire an interest in the past-producing Kapunda copper project, which forms part of Terramin Australia Ltd.'s Adelaide Hills gold property in South Australia.

The company will be able to acquire up to a 60% equity interest in Environmental Copper Recovery SA Pty. Ltd., or ECR, a new private Australian company which in turn has agreed with Terramin to earn up to 75% of the rights over metals recoverable from the Kapunda deposit by in situ recovery methods.

Thor Mining will provide funding through convertible loan notes in ECR of up to A$1.8 million, with funds earmarked for field and feasibility work at Kapunda over the next three years.

Upon an initial A$200,000 investment in loan notes, Thor Mining will be able to nominate two of the four directors of the new company and will also nominate the chairman. Thor Mining must spend at least A$300,000 during each year of the agreement.

ECR can earn an initial 50% interest in the relevant mineral rights by spending A$2 million on field, metallurgical, environmental and feasibility work. The company can then earn a further 25% by spending another A$4 million.

Thor Mining noted that hydrogeological pump testing will be required to validate the extraction of copper mineralization using in situ methods. The company is planning to complete a resource estimate shortly.

ECR plans to test the extraction method for copper, and possibly for gold, followed by either solvent extraction-electrowinning or ion exchange-electrowinning methods. If the field recovery tests are favorable, a pre-feasibility study will be commissioned.