Through its 100% owned Argentine subsidiary Atala Resources S.A., Magna Terra Minerals has entered into an agreement to sell its Boleadora Project in Santa Cruz Province, Argentina, to Oroplata S.A., a subsidiary of Newmont. The Boleadora Group of properties is a large greenfield exploration land package (approximately 55,000 hectares) encompassing 12 individual exploration licenses lying approximately 17 kilometers (km) southeast of Newmont’s Cerro Negro mine.
Newmont (Oroplata) will pay Magna Terra (Atala) $1 million as follows: $25,000 on signing and six installments totaling $975,000 payable within six years from the date of the agreement. In addition, Newmont (Oroplata) has granted a 2% net smelter royalty to Magna Terra (Atala) on the Boleadora package. The royalty can be reduced to 1% by payment of $2.5 million by Oroplata to Atala at any time, and the gross royalty payable is capped at $20 million.
“While it is a very large and early stage exploration package, its proximity to the Cerro Negro mine site makes it of strategic interest to Newmont from an exploration perspective,” President and CEO of Magna Terra Lew Lawrick said. “The bulk of the property package lies along trend of the NNW structural control that is an important geological feature at Cerro Negro.
“Including Boleadora into Newmont’s regional Cerro Negro exploration program, along with the application of their proven exploration technologies, will add significant value to the project and ensure that it is advanced in the near term.”
