Vancouver – The lure of securing additional ground in the vicinity of its Cortez joint venture land package has prompted Barrick Gold (ABX-T, ABX-N) to option a couple of properties from Columbus Gold (CGT-V, CBGDF-O) in north-central Nevada’s Crescent Valley region.
Barrick will earn 60% interest in the Utah Clipper and Crestview projects, which both lie within the boundaries of its Cortez JV and are adjacent to the Pipeline-Gold Acres mining complexes, by completing staged work expenditures of US$6 million over six years.
The gold major can grab an additional 10% by completing a further US$2.5 million prior to the seventh anniversary. Another 5% (for a total of 75% interest) can be garnered by carrying Columbus to any production decision and arranging its share of development costs.
Utah Clipper and Crestview are underlain by a 200-600 metre sequence of siliciclastic sediments above the Roberts Mountain thrust fault generally forming the boundary to the deeper “Lower Plate” carbonate sequence that is the more receptive host for gold mineralization.
Lower Plate rocks are the primary host for most of the large disseminated gold deposits in north-central Nevada but can also contain high-grade, structurally-controlled vein mineralization.
Holding 60% and operator of the Cortez JV, Barrick is partnered with Rio Tinto (RTP-N, RIO-L) subsidiary Kennecott that has 40%. Cortez is expected to output roughly 500,000 oz. gold in 2007 and has proven and probable reserves of about 165 million tonnes grading 2.1 grams gold per tonne.
Be the first to comment on "Columbus inks Nevada option deal with Barrick"