AngloGold Ashanti Australia (AngloGold) has signed a farm-in agreement with Saracen Mineral Holdings that allows AngloGold to earn up to a 70% interest in Saracen’s Butcher Well and Lake Carey tenements in Western Australia. The tenements are located along the western side of Lake Carey, west of AngloGold’s 100% owned Sunrise Dam gold mine, and are complementary to AngloGold’s existing large tenement package.
Under the terms of the agreement, AngloGold can earn a 51% participating interest in the tenements by funding project expenditure of not less than A$15 million, of which at least A$6 million must be spent on the Lake Carey tenements, within four years. The company can earn an additional 19% participating interest by spending a further A$10 million within 24 months of the first farm-in period expiring. AngloGold may withdraw from the project and the agreement at any time during the farm-in period, and before satisfying the first earn-in requirement.
AngloGold Ashanti Senior Vice President of Greenfields Exploration Rex Brommecker said, “This package, when combined with our own package of tenements on and around Lake Carey, gives us an opportunity to build on and integrate our extensive knowledge of the geology of the district to be uniquely positioned to make the next big discovery in the area.” www.saracen.com.au
Nevsun Resources has initiated major drilling programs at its Timok copper-gold project in eastern Serbia. The project is divided into an Upper Zone, owned 100% by Nevsun, and a Lower Zone, currently owned 60.4% by Nevsun and 39.6% by Freeport-McMoRan.
Work in progress on the Upper Zone includes a 30,000-m mineral resource drilling program and a 20,000-m drilling program to support technical work for a prefeasibility study, including geotechnical studies for underground mine design; tailings management facility investigations, including condemnation drilling; and hydrology and metallurgical studies. The drilling programs are scheduled for completion in the second quarter of 2017. Subject to successful submissions and approvals, an exploration decline to access the Upper Zone could begin in the fourth quarter of 2017.
Spending for Upper Zone development work is budgeted at $35 million to $40 million through 2017.
Plans for Lower Zone exploration include 67,000 m of drilling over the next 18 months to 22 months to further define higher-grade areas and further expand the mineralization. The budget for the drilling is estimated at $20 million. Two drills were active on the Lower Zone as of early October, and, two additional drills were scheduled to begin drilling over the next few weeks. www.nevsun.com
Gold Standard Ventures reported that drilling on its recently discovered North Dark Star deposit on the Carlin Trend in Nevada continues to increase the size, width, continuity and down-dip extent of the deposit. The primary objective of this year’s drilling was to expand the high-grade gold zone discovered at the end of the 2015 drill program.
In the most recent core holes, one intercept of 97.3 m assayed 3.16 g/mt gold, including two higher-grade intervals of 10.1 m of 4.02 g/mt and 49.1 m of 4.62 g/mt.
The north-striking Ridgeline fault has emerged as an important control on mineralization, with the gold system focused in the eastern, hanging-wall side of the fault. A new and evolving interpretation suggests that the North Dark Star gold zone occurs in a syncline within the hanging wall of the fault.
Gold Standard CEO Jonathan Awde said, “Drilling at North Dark Star continues to find unusually high grades in oxide material. I think we can now safely say that this deposit represents an important new discovery in the Carlin Trend, and we have yet to establish its limits. Our technical team has noted that key geological characteristics of the North Dark Star occurrence are present in untested areas within the Dark Star Corridor. Drilling continues.” www.goldstandardv.com
