Key Highlights

  • Flagship Minerals updated the terms of its option to acquire the Rosario Copper Project in Chile, with the option term extended by one year to October 2028.
  • The option exercise payment was reduced from US$2 million to US$1 million, due in October 2028.
  • The updated agreement adds a 1 per cent net smelter royalty, which Flagship may buy back for US$1 million.

Flagship Minerals Limited (ASX:FLG) has announced updated terms for its option to acquire the Rosario Copper Project in Chile from Sociedad Minera Rajo SpA. The company is the purchaser through relevant subsidiaries. The announcement was released on 23 October 2026.

The option term has been extended by one year to October 2028. The updated agreement runs for two years from October 2026, whereas the original ran for three years from September 2024 to September 2027, with a further year available by mutual agreement. The earn-in remains 100 per cent, Flagship continues to manage the project, and it must meet all obligations, including annual licensing payments, to keep the titles in good standing. There is no minimum spend or activity requirement and no milestones, in either the original or the updated agreement.

The option exercise payment has been reduced from US$2 million, previously due in September 2027, to US$1 million, due in October 2028. A payment of US$100,000 is marked as paid for October 2026. The company says the original September 2026 payment of US$100,000 was cancelled and transferred into the updated agreement. The original schedule also listed US$100,000 for October 2027, and the announcement does not state whether that payment remains due.

Flagship may make option and exercise payments in cash or in its own shares, at its election, and it can exercise the US$1 million option early, after which outstanding annual payments would no longer be payable.

Royalty and cost of control

The updated agreement adds a 1 per cent net smelter royalty, which the original did not include. Flagship may buy back all of the Royalty at a pre-agreed price, which the announcement states as US$1 million.

The Rosario project

Rosario covers about 63 square kilometres and is described by the company as a copper-silver project in an active Mining district, adjacent to Codelco's El Salvador copper mine.

Flagship identifies three prospective trends with a combined strike length of about 15 kilometres, with zones interpreted to be 20 to 200 metres wide and assays of up to more than 8.9 per cent copper. From rock chip sampling reported on 6 December 2024, half of samples above 0.10 per cent copper averaged 2.06 per cent copper and 12 parts per million silver, while a third of samples above 0.75 per cent copper averaged 3.15 per cent copper and 18 parts per million silver.

Planned work is trenching across the Rosario East Trend, then, depending on results, drill testing for oxide mineralisation and metallurgical test work. The company says timing depends on progress at its Isidora gold project.

The wider portfolio

Isidora, in Chile's Atacama region east of Copiapó, covers about 120 square kilometres. Its Isidora Norte JORC 2012 mineral resource, first reported on 14 May 2026, totals 115.2 million tonnes at 0.56 grams per tonne gold for 2.093 million ounces, comprising 1.505 million ounces measured, 399,000 indicated and 190,000 inferred.

In British Columbia, Canada, the Whipsaw copper project covers about 66 square kilometres. Its JORC 2012 exploration target, reported on 18 June 2026, is 0.51 to 1.02 billion tonnes at 0.14 to 0.23 per cent copper. The company states the target is conceptual, that there has been insufficient exploration to estimate a mineral resource, and that it is uncertain whether further exploration will define one.

Next steps

The option remains an option, and Flagship Minerals (ASX:FLG) has no obligation to spend on Rosario or to exercise. The company has not given dates for trenching or drilling, saying timing depends on Isidora. The dates in the announcement are the October 2028 option expiry and the US$1 million exercise payment due then, unless exercised earlier.