It is barely three weeks since shares in Raiden Resources, previously known as Subzero Group, resumed trading on the ASX and already they are close to a deal with Rio Tinto.
Rio is expected to be announced as Raiden's new partner in a Serbian exploration venture, which could be formalised as early as Wednesday.
Rio has growing interest in Serbia, given the nation is home to its Jadar borates project, which in recent times has created more excitement for its potential by-product lithium.
But it's neither lithium nor borates that have attracted Rio to Raiden, rather it is the potential to find copper and gold in Raiden's Serbian tenements.
If the deal is taken to its full extent, Rio would fund $US31.5 million worth of exploration on Raiden's acreage to assume 75 per cent ownership of the tenements.
But first things first, and Rio is initially expected to spend $US2.5 million to acquire 51 per cent of the acreage, under the first of the deal's three stages.
RIO RIO TINTO FPO (RIO)
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volume 3069711value 227185353.4
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Should the deal deliver Raiden to greatness, former Fremantle Dockers goalsneak Byron Schammer will be among the beneficiaries, given companies linked to him rank as the 18th and 19th biggest shareholders in Raiden with about 5 million shares.
Rio has prefeasibility studies underway at Jadar, and struck a memorandum of understanding with the Serbian government last year to progress the permitting phase of the project.
If imitation is the greatest form of flattery, Rio will have been flattered to notice that ASX-listed South East Asia Resources (SXI) recently changed its name to Jadar Lithium Limited to reflect the fact its exploration focus has relocated a long way north-west to Serbia.
Some of the company's acreage is within 10 kilometres of Rio's Jadar project.
