Seabridge goes shopping

Flush with a fresh $800,000 in its coffers, Seabridge Resources‘s (SEA-V) has signed a heads-of-agreement for the joint acquisition of gold assets with Toronto-based FCMI Financial’s Barbados-based Pan Atlantic Bank and Trust. FCMI is an affiliate of Friedberg Mercantile Group.

Seabridge says the deal will allow it to expand its program of acquiring non-producing gold resources in North America without significant equity dilution.

Rudi Fronk, Seabridge’s president, said, "We are very pleased to have Friedberg’s support for our strategy and to have access to their considerable resources for cash payments required to purchase some of the highly prospective gold properties which are now coming onto the market."

Seabridge’s plan is to maximize leverage to the price of gold by acquiring deposits, which might not be economic at current prices, but provide, "a perpetual call option on gold for our shareholders.”

So far, the company has entered into agreements covering 4.8 million oz. of gold resources in North America, 3.4 million of those ounces are classified as measured and indicated.

In mid-June, Seabridge acquired the Kerr-Sulphside copper-gold project, in the Iskut-Stikine region of northwestern British Columbia, from Placer Dome (PDG-T). The project comprises two distinct deposits. Placer estimated that the project’s Sulphurets gold zone hosts a total resource of 1.8 million ounces of gold contained in 54.8 million tonnes grading 1.02 grams of gold per tonne, at a 0.5 gram per tonne cut-off. The Kerr deposit’s total resource is pegged at 140.8 million tonnes grading 0.75% copper and 0.36 grams of gold at a 0.4% copper grade cut-off, for 1.6 million contained ounces of gold.

Fronk said that the deposits fit the company’s objectives of acquiring advanced-stage gold projects with existing resources, low-holding costs and additional exploration potential, though the deposits are not currently economic.

In Oregon, the company has an option to acquire the Grassy Mountain project, which contains measured and indicated resources of 1 million oz. It also owns the Castle-Black Rock project in Nevada, where the existing gold resource exceeds 300,000 oz.

With holders recently exercising more than 1.3 million warrants and options on Seabridge’s shares, the company has raised $800,000. Proceeds will be used to cover holding costs on its gold projects and to fund new acquisitions.