Beadell Resources has signed a Letter of Intent for a mining partnership with MACA on its Tucano gold project in Brazil.
Under the new agreement MACA will provide drill and blast, load and haul, and crusher feed services for a five year term starting next month.
Beadell's existing mining fleet will slowly be transferred to MACA under a two year staged acquisition at a cost of $40 million.
MACA has been on site since early September.
Peter Bowling, Beadell's MD, said "this strategic partnership will have many benefits for Beadell including strengthening the company's cash position; no more mobile fleet will be required to be purchased by Beadell; providing surety of meeting production forecasts; and returning All in Sustaining Costs to the lowest quartile by sharing in the benefits of an expected ~30-40 per cent productivity improvement at Tucano thanks to MACA's experience".
MACA operations director Geoff Baker added: "We are very pleased to be working with Beadell on the Tucano project in such an innovative partnership that has significant benefits for both parties."