Rio Tinto and Chinese state-owned China Minmetals Corp. struck a heads of agreement, or HOA, to explore opportunities for potential collaboration in mineral exploration.

The HOA follows a memorandum of understanding signed in March, under which the parties committed to review opportunities for future cooperation.

It outlines the principles and framework for a potential exploration collaboration, both inside and outside China, according to a June 6 release.

The companies will now work toward formalizing written agreements detailing the principles and other matters, as well as establish joint teams to start the process of identifying potential exploration targets.