The agreement gives Rio the right to earn up to an 80% interest in a single exploration license by paying Renascor A$200,000 and sole funding exploration expenditure of $3 million over five years.

Renascor will retain 100% of Marree's other two licenses.

Rio already holds licenses adjacent to the farm-in area, which also adjoins ground held by Canada's First Quantum Minerals.

Renascor's previous exploration has been focused on identifying and drilling prospects for potentially large tonnage Zambian Copper Belt-style, sedimentary copper deposits. 

Previous sampling has returned up to 27% copper and 0.4 grams per tonne gold.

Renascor managing director David Christensen said the agreement allowed the company to benefit from Rio's resources and expertise.

"This agreement is consistent with Renascor's strategy of maximising the value of our significant pipeline of exploration projects in South Australia, while dedicating our resources towards advancing core projects with near-term potential to offer significant value uplift," he said.

Renascor's flagship project is the Siviour battery anode material project, where it is in offtake negotiations.

The company is also conducting earlier stage exploration for gold at the Carnding project.

Last month, Renascor raised $3.6 million at 1.1c per share and had $5.2 million at the end of September.

Shares in Renascor jumped 10% to 1.1c, valuing the company at $18.1 million.