West Australian-based explorer E79 Gold Mines Limited (ASX: E79) (‘E79 Gold’ or ‘the Company’) has secured an option to acquire the large-scale Mountain Home Copper-Gold Project located in the Northern Territory.

E79 Gold CEO, Ned Summerhayes, commented: "The Mountain Home Project emerged through our project review process as an opportunity too valuable to ignore, offering significant exposure to the prolific McArthur Basin in the Northern Territory.

"This Proterozoic-aged basin is renowned for hosting the world’s largest accumulation of shale-hosted zinc-lead-silver mineralization, including the world-class McArthur River lead-zinc mine, the Teena zinc-lead discovery, the Redbank copper deposits, and the historic Merlin Diamond Mine, all within 80km of Mountain Home.

" The project is situated in an under-explored section of Proterozoic-age McArthur Basin stratigraphy, known for hosting all significant metalliferous deposits within the basin.

" The entire 40km length of the inlier holds potential for copper mineralization, with 27km of this strike falling within the boundaries of the Mountain Home Project area. Rock chip grab sample assay results have shown up to 33% copper, highlighting the project's exceptional early-stage potential, with associated gold in the rock chip samples of up to 1.31g/t Au.

"With the dry season now upon us, E79 Gold plans to begin exploration at Mountain Home immediately, focusing on the high-grade copper-gold rock-chip results along the strike within this highly prospective mineralized province."

Nestled within the McArthur Basin, Mountain Home comprises a single extensive exploration tenement, EL32470, spanning an area of 574 square kilometers.

According to E79 Gold, the project presents "compelling early-stage potential," evidenced by recent high-grade rock chip assays yielding results such as:

•              15.69 percent copper (Cu) and 0.75 grams per tonne (g/t) gold (Au)

•              25.20 percent Cu and 0.55g/t Au

•              9.81 percent Cu and 1.31g/t Au

•              32.73 percent Cu and 0.16g/t Au

The terms of the four-year option include an initial payment of $100,000 in cash. Additionally, a further $100,000 payment is required upon exercising the option, to be completed no later than the end of the fourth year. Moreover, NT Minerals is entitled to a two percent net smelter royalty, with a maximum cap set at $3 million.

E79 Gold's projects cover approximately 1544 square kilometers of promising terrain. This includes areas within the McArthur Basin of the Northern Territory, renowned as the world's largest accumulation of zinc, lead, and silver (Zn-Pb-Ag), offering potential for copper, gold, and diamond deposits. Additionally, E79 Gold operates within the Laverton Tectonic Zone and Murchison Goldfields, both situated in the Yilgarn Craton of Western Australia. These regions boast a combined gold endowment exceeding 30 million ounces.