Chase option deal on T’Boli property

Under an option agreement, Chase Resource (TSE) can acquire an interest in the T’Boli gold exploration project on the Philippine island of Mindanao.

Chase can acquire up to a 75% interest in Lemura Mineral Resource, a Philippine company with extensive mineral rights in the T’Boli area. Lemura has assembled a property package through agreements with three companies.

The ground, accessible by highway, is 40 km northwest of General Santos, the regional capital of South Calabato Province in Mindanao.

The combined exploration leases total 12,385 hectares and cover a large epithermal mineralized system with high-grade gold, currently being extracted on one of the properties at shallow depths by small-scale miners. Average grades are 44 grams gold per tonne while values of more than 300 grams have been encountered.

Chase can acquire a 40% stake in the project by paying US$25,000 on the signing of a formal agreement, US$50,000 on receipt of regulatory acceptance, and issuing 625,000 shares over 36 months from the date of signing. The company can also acquire a separate 35% interest by paying US$10,000 on signing, US$25,000 on receipt

of regulatory approval, US$50,000 a year from signing, plus a further payment on exercising the option.

If the option is exercised in the first 24 months, Chase can pay either US$250,000 or 50,000 shares. After 24 months, the price increases to US$500,000 or 100,000 shares.

This agreement follows the recent acquisition of an interest in another gold exploration project.

Chase can earn an indirect half interest in the Kokong project, an assemblage of 10 precious and base metal prospecting licences in southwest Botswana. The project covers about 12,000 sq. km and is at the centre of a major gold exploration effort by leading South African producers, including Anglo American and Gold Fields.

The target in the area is a conglomerate-hosted gold deposit similar to those being mined within the Witwaters-rand ridge in northeast South Africa. Chase will pay an option fee of US$450,000 and can buy the half interest by funding all exploration through to a bankable feasibility study. To keep the option in good standing, it must also meet minimum yearly exploration costs and issue three million treasury shares through to 1997.