The company said Independence Gold NL would earn the right to 51% equity in its tenements provided it funded exploration expenditure worth twice the statutory annual expenditure required by law. Its current commitments over the next two years total more than $6.7 million.

Independence is a private company formed by a group of exploration geoscientists whose principal objective is to discover economic mineral deposits. The group has contributed to the discovery of more than 30 gold and base metal deposits in recent years including Plutonic, Redeemer, Chalice and Challenger.

Independence must spend $2 million before it earns any equity in any licence area. To this end it is being helped by listed miner Ranger Minerals, which has guaranteed the minimum financial contribution for a period of three years.

Ranger has also agreed to subscribe $200,250 for a placement of 2,225,000 ordinary shares at a cost of 9c per share.

Goldsearch holds exploration licences and applications covering more than 21,000sq.km and can earn an interest in an additional 16,500sq.km in the Musgrave Block which is located near the South Australian, Western Australian and Northern Territory border.

It also has ground in the Tanami region of the Northern Territory and the Mt Ogilvie area of South Australia.

Recent exploration by WMC Resource in the Western Australian portion of the Musgrave Block has confirmed the potential of the Giles Complex to host significant nickel-copper sulphide mineralisation.

Drilling results have also highlighted the potential for vanadium and titanium in the area as well as associated platinum group elements in magnetite-ilmenite horizons.

According to Goldsearch both the South Australian Government and the Anangu Pitjantjatjara owners are currently investigating what procedures can be put in place to accelerate the processing of exploration licence applications within the Pitjantjatjara Lands.

The excitement of the WMC discovery has caused a pegging rush in the district.