Welcome to our roundup of some of our most-read investment, exploration, and development stories on Theassay.com over the last seven days. To keep up to date with all the latest headlines, subscribe to our weekly newsletter.
Financing and M&A
Financing news kicked off with Steppe Gold Ltd. (TSX: STGO) and Anacortes Mining Corp. enteringinto a binding letter of intent pursuant to which Steppe Gold will acquire the latter and the rich Tres Cruces oxide project.
“This transaction transforms Steppe Gold into a multi asset, multi jurisdiction gold company with existing production and development projects in two of the most exciting and still untapped gold provinces in the world in both Mongolia and Peru,” Executive chairman of Steppe Gold, Matthew Wood, said.
Millennial Potash Corp. (TSXV: MLP) closeda successful private placement first announced on February 6, 2023.
The private placement was oversubscribed for a total of 7,183,000 units. Each Unit consisted of one common share and one-half share purchase warrant. Each of the 3,591,500 whole share purchase warrants are exercisable for a period of two years from the date of issuance at a price of C$0.75 per share. The warrants are subject to an accelerated expiry in the event that the common shares of the Company trade on the TSX Venture Exchange at a price of C$1.00 or higher for 10 consecutive trading days.
Astra Exploration Inc. (TSXV: ASTR) completed a non-brokered private placement for gross proceeds of C$1M.
The company confirmed the participation from Peter Marrone and Michael Gentile. Mr Marrone subscribed for 4,090,909 Units and now owns approximately 16.2% of Astra on a fully diluted basis. Mr Gentile, CFA, subscribed for 1,000,000 Units and now owns approximately 17% of Astra on a fully diluted basis.
“It is a great endorsement to have the continued support of investors who understand the potential at Pampa Paciencia, including Mr Gentile, Mr Marrone, and former management of Yamana who are familiar with El Penon and the shared similarities,” Astra CEO, Brian Miller, said.
New exploration and development
Cerrado Gold Inc. (TSXV: CERT | OTCQX: CRDOF) providedan update on the development of the gold heap leach project at its Las Calandrias deposit in Santa Cruz, Argentina.
Mark Brennan, CEO, and chairman commented “We are pleased to have been granted all the necessary approvals to commence operations at our initial heap leach facility at Las Calandrias which reflects the high quality of the work completed by the team on the ground at MDN. Construction is progressing extremely well, and we are now one step closer to delivering on our production growth strategy at MDN to exploit all available resources more fully.”
Blue Sky Uranium Corp. (TSXV: BSK) launcheda 1,200m RC exploration drilling programme at the Ivana East target, located 10km east of the Ivana deposit in the southernmost sector of the wholly owned Amarillo Grande Uranium-Vanadium Project in Rio Negro Province, Argentina (AGP).
“This target shows significant similarities to the geological environment that hosts the nearby Ivana deposit, representing a priority target for our goal of identifying a cluster of deposits in the area.” President and CEO, Nikolaos Cacos, said.
Drilling results
In drilling news, we heard that Tinka Resources Limited (TSXV: TK | OTCQB: TKRFF)announced six recent drill holes from the company’s ongoing infill and resource expansion drill programme at its Ayawilca project in Peru. All six drill holes are infill holes from the company’s South Ayawilca area.
Defense Metals Corp.’s (TSXV: DEFN) technical team completed updates to its 3D geological model for Wicheeda Rare Earth Element (REE) Deposit in British Columbia.
The geological model and resource estimation domain update, which incorporates over 10,000m of additional drilling within 47 diamond drill holes completed during 2021 and 2022 following completion of the Wicheeda Deposit preliminary economic assessment (PEA), is preparatory to updating the Wicheeda Deposit mineral resource estimate (MRE) and is an essential input to the planned pre-feasibility study (PFS).
Siren Gold Limited (ASX: SNG) hascommenced a maiden drilling programme at the promising Auld Creek Prospect in New Zealand.
Siren Gold is excited to commence its maiden drilling campaign at Auld Creek. High grade gold and stibnite mineralization is evident at Auld Creek and extends for 12km down to Siren’s Big River Project. With the recent acquisition of the Cumberland tenement, Siren has consolidated its tenement holding to follow this mineralized structure,” Managing director, Brian Roden, said.
Finally, ION Energy Limited (TSXV: ION) Mongolia’s first lithium brine explorer and developer, has resumed water well drilling at the wholly owned Urgakh Naran project, to complete the UNWH-03 programme.
Also in the news
To round up this week’s news,Eloro Resources Ltd. (TSXV: ELO) has confirmed its common shares will commence trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) at the opening of the market on 6 March 2023 under its current trading symbol ELO.
Concurrently with the listing on the TSX, the company’s shares will be delisted from the TSX Venture Exchange.
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