Canadian exploration junior Star Diamond said on Tuesday that it would take all necessary actions to ensure that its interests in the Star-Orion South project, in which Rio Tinto Exploration Canada (RTEC) is earning into, were protected.
The company said that RTEC’s purported exercise in November 2019 of its four options under the option to joint venture agreement of June 2017 did not comply with the terms of the agreement.
Exercising the four options would give RTEC a 60% interest in the Star-Orion project, in central Saskatchewan.
Star Diamond also said that RTEC’s operations and claimed expenditures in relation to the project did not comply with the agreement.
The company said that, while it had not been provided with any meaningful data from RTEC's drilling operations at the project, it still believed that RTEC had faith in the project.
RTEC has expended significant funds at the project to date, and is understood to plan to continue to do so this year.