Premier Gold Mines Ltd. has entered into two separate agreements with Goldcorp and Kinross Gold to acquire highly prospective exploration projects in Nevada and Mexico.
An option agreement with Kinross Gold USA grants Premier the right to earn a 50% interest in the Goldbanks project, located in Pershing County, Nevada, 50 kilometers (km) south of Winnemucca. Goldbanks is comprised of 875 claims totaling approximately 16,000 acres with several significant targets on the property including the high-grade Golden Devil discovery.
Premier believes the geologic model at Goldbanks could be similar to the Midas and Sleeper mines in Nevada that both produced gold early in their production history from ore in excess of 1 ounce per ton. It is believed that the Kinross drilling intersected “splay” veins proximal to a primary ore bearing structure and drilling will focus on stepping out along the high grade Golden Devil trend, as well as testing the projected location of a highly prospective basin-bounding fault zone.
The high grade epithermal vein targets at depth are geologically connected to the property’s near-surface deposits (90% oxide and 10% sulphide) that host an inferred mineral resource estimate of 556,700 ounces of gold contained within 25.7 million metric tons (mt) with a grade of 0.7 g/mt of gold. To earn a 50% interest in the project, Premier is required to spend $20 million in exploration on the property over five years including a firm commitment of $3.5 million during the first 18 months.
The other project is the Alto-Cristina project, located in southwest part of Chihuahua State, Mexico. Premier has secured an option agreement with Minas de la Alta Pimeria, S.A. de C.V., a subsidiary of Goldcorp, to acquire up to a 100% interest by making payments of $1.5 million on each of the date of execution of the agreement; on the 12 month anniversary date; and on completion of a resource estimate on the property. A final payment of $2.5 million is required at commercial production. Goldcorp will retain a 2% net-smelter return royalty, half of which can be purchased by Premier for the sum of $1.5 million for a period of three years from the acquisition date.
Between 2013 and 2015, 60 holes were drilled at Alto-Cristina that resulted in the two high-grade polymetallic vein discoveries: Alto and Guadalupe. Quartz veins and quartz stockwork occur within an area of approximately 8 km2 where individual vein zones have been traced over a distance of up to 2 km. The epithermal to mesothermal vein mineralization contains gold, silver and base metals similar in nature to the Tayoltita/San Dimas district (located to the south) where 3.5 million gold equivalent ounces have been produced. The drilling was completed on wide-spaced intervals, typically 100-200 m and Premier hopes that tighter drilling may define multiple high-grade shoots or lenses.
