Linear takes on MIM projects (November 10, 2003)

Linear Resources (LRR-V) has closed its acquisition of Australian miner MIM’s Central American exploration projects, giving the Halifax-based explorer a presence in Mexico, Panama and the Dominican Republic.

Linear closed the deal with Swiss mining house Xstrata, which took over MIM in June. As a result of the deal, Linear takes over Minera Mount Isa Panama, which holds properties in Panama and the Dominican Republic, and M.I.M. Mexico, which holds 10 exploration concessions in the state of Chiapas.

In exchange, Xstrata will receive a cash payment (which Linear has not yet disclosed), 1 million shares valued at 76, and warrants on a further 500,000 shares; the warrants are exercisable at $1 for two years. There is also a finder’s fee payable to Minera Cascabel, a Mexican company based in Sonora state.

The Chiapas properties include the Ixhuatan exploration concession, where zones of gold concentration in soils and coincident induced-polarization anomalies were detected by MIM exploration crews in the past two years. Ixhuatan has not yet been drilled.

A second property, Motozintla, near the Guatemalan border, is 65 km west of the Marlin deposit of Glamis Gold (GLG-T). Motozintla hosts Tertiary-aged volcanic rocks of the same belt as Marlin. Stream-sediment samples at the property have returned gold values, and initial rock sampling has been positive.

The properties in the Dominican Republic include two exploration concessions adjoining the Pueblo Viejo gold deposit, where Placer Dome (PDG-T) is doing feasibility studies. A third concession covers strata of the Los Ranchos volcanic suite, the host of the Pueblo Viejo deposit.