Tertiary Minerals plc advised that its newly incorporated Zambian subsidiary, Copernicus Minerals Limited has signed a binding letter of agreement with First Quantum Minerals Limited on the Mukai Copper Project in Zambia. Copernicus is 90% owned by Tertiary Minerals (Zambia) Limited which is 96% owned by Tertiary Minerals plc. The BLA grants First Quantum an initial exploration due diligence period of 24 months during which First Quantum is committed to fund a minimum USD 1.5 million of exploration expenditure, including USD 0.5 million in Year 1 (Phase 1).

First Quantum may then enter into an earn-in and joint venture agreements to earn: an initial 51% joint venture interest in the Mukai Exploration Licence ("the Licence") by demonstrating a Mineral Resource containing at least 80,000 tonnes of contained copper metal within a further 24 months (Phase 2); and a further 29% joint venture interest (total 80%) by completing a Mining Study and delivering a Notice of Intent to Mine within a third 24-month period (Phase 3). First Quantum must continue sole funding the project until receipt of regulatory and governmental permits for the commencement of construction of a mining project. At that point, Copernicus may either participate at a 20% contributing equity level or dilute down towards a minimum of 10% at which point the participating interest automatically converts to a 1.5% Net Smelter Return Royalty (NSR).

Should First Quantum continue through all phases of the project, they will make progressive payments to Copernicus totaling up to USD 2 million over the three 24-month phases of the BLA and subsequent agreements. The BLA is subject to various conditions precedent including renewal and transfer of the licences from Mwashia Resources Limited to Copernicus which is currently in progress . The Licence lies adjacent to First Quantum's Trident Project which comprises various mining licences encompassing the producing Sentinel Copper Mine and the recently developed Enterprise Nickel Mine.

The Sentinel processing plant has a processing capacity of 55 million tonnes of copper ore per year. The objective of the joint venture is to identify copper (and/or nickel deposits) that can be rapidly developed as additional feed for the Trident plants. The Mukai Copper Project is comprised of Exploration Licence 27066-HQ-LEL (the Licence).

The Licence is held by the Company's local partner, Mwashia Resources Limited ("Mwashia"), and is currently being renewed and transferred to Copernicus Minerals Limited ("Copernicus"). Tertiary has had a technical cooperation and data sharing cooperation agreement with First Quantum since 12 September 2022. This has helped guide the Company's exploration at Mukai and has resulted in the identification of a substantial soil anomaly on the Licence.

This soil anomaly occurs along strike from copper mineralisation that has been identified in past drill programmes at First Quantum's Tirosa Prospect, on First Quantum's adjoining Trident Project, which encompasses the Sentinel Copper and Enterprise Nickel mines. The Sentinel Mine was developed from 2016 with a total investment of over US$2.1 billion and is expected to produce around 235,000 tonnes of copper metal this year. The Enterprise Nickel mine is newly opened and expects to produce around 20,000 tonnes of nickel in 2024.

Both deposits are sediment-hosted and occur in sedimentary basins formed on and around the Kabompo Dome. A similarly located basin hosts the Tirosa Prospect and continues into the Licence.