Welcome to our roundup of some of the most prominent mining investment, exploration, and development stories on Theassay.com from the last seven days.
Financing and M&A
Finance news last week kicked off with Revival Gold (TSXV: RVG | OTCQX: RVLGF) reaching an agreement to trade its 51% non-core holding in the Diamond Mountain phosphate project to Xplore Resources Ltd. (TSXV: XPLR).
For its interest in Diamond Mountain, Revival will receive a C$250,000 cash payment on closing, a C$250,000 cash payment on the first anniversary of closing, and 19.9% of the issued and outstanding common shares of Xplore, following a consolidation and financing completed by Xplore.
“Revival Gold has arranged to vend its non-core holding in Diamond Mountain to a growing new industrial minerals business in a transaction that will provide immediate cash proceeds and ongoing indirect participation in the asset. Upon closing, proceeds will be directed towards the Company’s core focus in gold and advancing the Beartrack-Arnett gold project located in Idaho, USA,” said Revival Gold’s president and CEO Hugh Agro.
Zacapa Resources (TSXV: ZACA | OTCQB: ZACAF | DE: BH0) announced a non-brokered private placement for up to C$5M. Each Unit will be comprised of one common share and one half of one common share purchase warrant. Each Warrant will entitle the holder to purchase one common share at a price of C$0.68 for a period of 24 months following the closing date of the offering.
The company stated that net proceeds from the sale of units will be used for exploration and drilling of Zacapa’s projects, including the South Bullfrog gold project in Nevada, and for working capital and general corporate purposes.
New exploration and development
In exploration and development headlines, Barton Gold (ASX: BGD) has identified multiple large-scale gold and copper targets with initial prospectivity modelling using SensOre Limited’s (ASX:S3N) artificial intelligence and machine learning (engine.
The state-of-the-art mapping exercise was undertaken on Barton’s tenements, and across the 60,000km2 target area constituting the majority of the central Gawler Craton in South Australia.
“These are exciting preliminary results given that Phase 1 modelling has correctly predicted targets we already know to host gold mineralization. We will be looking forward to advancing the development of SensOre’s DPT module so that we can further refine these targets for drill testing and model validation,” said managing director Alexander Scanlon.
We also learnt that Candente Copper (TSX: DNT) has engaged Whittle Consulting Ltd to conduct an Enterprise Optimization (EO) of the company’s Cañariaco Norte Project in Peru.
The EO involves a rigorous analytical and computational process using WLC Strategic Mine Planning software and Integrated Strategic Planning concepts.
The analysis will be completed remotely over the course of a few months. The EO will overlap in time with trade-off studies and metallurgical test work that is planned to be completed as part of the Feasibility Study and will contribute greatly to it, Candente stated.
Drilling results
In drilling headlines, 1911 Gold (TSXV: AUMB) has received promising assay results from 20 drillholes completed in the Tinney and Bidou project areas as part of the first phase of 2022 exploration drilling at its 100%-owned Rice Lake Gold Property in Manitoba, Canada.
For 2022, the company’s exploration programme will include two phases of exploration drilling as well as the regional field programme with the goal of advancing and expanding our pipeline of projects at Rice Lake, while also advancing the Apex and Denton-Keefer (Timmins, Ontario) properties.
The company completed 5,028 metres of exploration drilling at Tinney and Bidou, including 12 drillholes (3,245 metres) to follow-up on four priority targets from the company’s previous drilling, and eight drillholes (1,783 metres) to test four new targets generated by the field exploration programme.
Roscan Gold (TSXV: ROS) has unveiled its initial, pit-constrained, interim NI 43-101 compliant Mineral Resource for the Kandiole project in Mali.
The resources are reported at a gold price of only US$1,500 per oz, of 27.4M tonnes grading 1.2 g/t Au totalling 1.02M ounces of gold in the Indicated Category and 5.2M tonnes grading 1.2 g/t Au totalling 198,000 ounces of gold in the Inferred category.
“This Mineral Resource suggests a stand-alone project status for the Kandiole Gold Project. The good metallurgical recoveries, high-grade starter pit, low strip ratios, and the high-quality resource with 84% included in the indicated resource category and 72% within saprolite, points to a potential high-margin LOM operation,” said president and CEO, Nana Sangmuah.
In northern Canada, Snowline Gold (CSE: SGD | OTCQB: SNWGF) has intersected mineralization from bedrock surface in its first hole of 2022, drilled at the Rogue project’s Valley Zone in Canada’s Yukon Territory.
Hole V-22-005 encountered thin (1-60 mm) sheeted quartz veins through to at least its present depth of 233 metres.
Scott Berdahl, CEO and director of Snowline Gold, said that Hole V-22-005 was designed to get a better sense of the width of the sheeted quartz vein arrays that constitute the Valley Zone.
“That we encountered mineralization at surface is encouraging, as this expands the known surface width of the Valley Zone by roughly 150 metres, and the width remains open.
“The true significance of the mineralization awaits assay results, but we are pleased to see this initial demonstration of scale. Subsequent holes will begin to test the strike length and depth of the mineralized system,” he said.
Also in the news
Finally, Australian gold miner Red 5 (ASX: RED) has appointed non-executive director Fiona Harris AM to its board.
“We are absolutely delighted that Fiona has accepted the offer to join the Red 5 board as a non-executive director,” said Red 5 chairman Kevin Dundo.
“Fiona is one of Australia’s most respected and accomplished independent non-executive directors, with an impressive track record of service on the boards of some of the most successful listed and private companies, spanning a range of sectors.”
The company said the appointment further strengthens the company’s board as it embarks on its next chapter of growth as a leading mid-tier Australian gold producer with the commissioning and ramp-up of its flagship King of the Hills (KOTH) gold mine in Western Australia. The first gold pour at KOTH has been achieved on schedule and within budget.
Thanks for reading, and don’t forget to subscribe to The Assay Weekly newsletter.
