Gold Fields through its subsidiary G Ex Australia has entered into a binding option and joint venture agreement to invest in Great Southern Mining’s Edinburgh Park gold-silver project in Queensland, Australia.

As a part of the agreement, Gold Fields will invest $9.5m (A$15m) in exploration over a six-year period.

Located 130km south-east of Townsville, the Edinburgh Park project covers a total area of 1,750km², with nine granted exploration licences and two exploration licence applications.

The project is prospective of several large-scale mineralisation types such as gold-copper porphyries, high and low sulphidation epithermal gold-silver-copper systems and intrusive related gold (IRG).

It also includes five high-priority targets: Molongle, Mt Dillon, Red Rocks, Leichhardt Creek and Sledgehammer.

Great Southern claims that the project has nearly 1.7 million ounces of gold equivalent.

As part of the investment, Gold Fields will receive around 38.5 million shares in Great Southern valued at $63,801.5, equating to around 5.4% of its share capital. Each of the shares is priced at $0.01659.

After investing A$15m, Gold Fields will earn an option to acquire a 75% stake in the project, while the remaining 25% will be held by Great Southern.

If the company decides to exit from the agreement before spending the amount, Great Southern will retain a 100% stake in the project.

Great Southern Mining managing director Matthew Keane said: “Great Southern is extremely pleased to have the expertise and funding of Gold Fields to accelerate discoveries at Edinburgh Park. This earn-in validates our belief that the project has potential to host Tier 1 mineral deposits.

“We regard Gold Fields as an ideal partner having a track record of discovering and operating large-scale porphyry, epithermal and IRG deposits. The company is also pleased to welcome Gold Fields as a substantial shareholder. The funds received from the subscription will help to accelerate exploration of GSN’s WA [Western Australia] projects.”