The agreement covers a 300-by-100-km area in which Iamgold has applied for 110 concessions totalling 3,400 sq. km. Anglogold can earn a half-interest in the project by spending US$5.5 million over the next five years.
Iamgold was attracted to Ecuador partly because a large part of the geology is similar to Peru, though steep terrain and heavy vegetation have prevented the region from being explored as extensively as its southern neighbour. In 1997, the company outlined extensional and dilational zones that have the potential to host economic epithermal and porphyry deposits.
The property package, dubbed the “Hockey Stick” project because of its shape, covers part of the southern coastal plain, the Western Cordillera and the Interandean Valley, with little in the volcanic arc of the Eastern Cordillera.
Previous work by the British Geological Survey, including age-dating, stream-sediment sampling and mapping, indicates that southern Ecuador contains rocks of similar age, lithology and alteration pattern to those of the Yanacocha district in northern Peru.
Iamgold has so far spent about $1 million exploring the properties. Henceforth, both companies will share the expenditures, though Anglogold will fund Iamgold’s share of costs on each selected target through completion of a prefeasibility study.
Anglogold’s foray into Ecuador comes on the heels of a joint-venture agreement with
Earlier this year, Anglogold bought the gold assets of Luxembourg-based Minorco. These included the Cerro Vanguardia gold-silver mine in Argentina and the Morro Velho and Serra Grande gold mines in Brazil.
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