Royal Road Minerals Ltd. entered a letter of intent with Mineros SA to negotiate a joint venture over the former's gold-prospective Guintar and Niverengo concessions and its Margaritas title application in Colombia's Antioquia District.

The joint venture needs to be formed before Jan. 30, 2020, according to the Dec. 23, 2019, release.

Mineros would pay US$1 million to Royal Road on execution of the definitive agreement and fund all exploration costs up to US$2.5 million.

Mineros can acquire 25% of the project by spending at least US$1 million, and another 25% after spending the total US$2.5 million.

The project titles and title applications will be transferred to a new special purpose company.

The companies will jointly fund operations of the project company, and Royal Road will be the project operator as long as it holds at least a 50% interest.

Royal Road President and CEO Tim Coughlin said the company will focus mainly on drill testing the recently permitted Niverengo and Guintar projects and look to define an initial inferred resource in the second half of 2020.