Ivernia Inc., a Canadaian company that owns the Paroo Station lead mine in Western Australia, has agreed to acquire Geo Zone Exploration Ltd. for an aggregate purchase price of $30 million. Geo Zone is a private mineral exploration company whose primary assets are an approximate 83.5% interest in Chief Consolidated Mining Co., an Arizona company with an interest in mineral properties in Utah, and a 100% interest in North 67 Inc., an Alaska company with interests in mineral properties in Alaska.
Ivernia placed the Paroo Station mine on care and maintenance in early 2015 due to weak LME lead prices. The mine produced 80,900 mt of lead in concentrates in 2014.
Chief Consolidated owns or has a legal interest in approximately 14,112 acres of land in the East Tintic mining district in Utah and Juab counties, Utah. The properties include patented and unpatented mining claims that hold prospective base and precious metal deposits (lead, silver, zinc, copper and gold), prospective industrial minerals deposits (silica, limestone, clays, calcium carbonate and iron ore), and aggregates deposits (sand and gravel).
Chief has no currently active mining operations. The company’s near-term commercial focus is to develop the at-surface industrial minerals and aggregates potential of its properties.
North 67 currently owns 230 contiguous mining claims covering approximately 36,800 acres in a remote area at the eastern end of the Ambler mineral belt in the Brooks Range, Alaska, and also owns 57 mining claims covering approximately 9,100 acres in the northwest region of the Ambler belt.
The Ambler belt has been explored for decades, but development of the mineral resources has been limited due to a lack of transportation infrastructure for mine construction and operation. North 67 currently has no active exploration or mining operations on its properties.
