EcuaGold Resources (EGR-V, ECAUF-O) says it will acquire a 100% interest in a 31-sq.-km parcel of land from a private owner in Bolivar province, 180 km southwest of Ecuador’s capital, Quito.
Recent rock-chip sampling of outcrops in the principal target area of the Curiacu concession returned assay results of up to 3.46 grams gold, 17.7 grams silver per tonne and 3.21% copper over 3 metres.
The Curiacu project is in the 50 by 200-km Western Miocene porphyry copper belt, where several historical porphyry copper-gold projects have been explored.
The majority of EcuaGold’s concessions are in southern Ecuador, a prospective region that has attracted a number of mining companies. The area hosts Aurelian Resources’ (ARU-T, AUREF-O) Condor project, Iamgold’s (IMG-T, IAG-N) Quimsacocha project, International Minerals’ (IMZ-T, IMZLF-O) Rio Blanco and Gaby projects and Dynasty Metals & Mining’s (DMM-T, DMMIF-O) Zaruma and Jerusalem projects.
EcuaGold holds a 100% interest in a total of 13 concessions in Ecuador made up of nine different projects. Altogether, the company has landholdings of about 340 sq. km, an area that will more than double if its applications for further concessions are granted.
EcuaGold’s principal projects are the Molleturo project, a high-grade polymetallic vein system in Azuay province, and the Curiplaya project, a gold-copper porphyry system in Loja province. It also owns the San Bartolome project, about 20 km south of Ecuador’s third-largest city, Cuenca.
Under the purchase option agreement on Curiacu, EcuaGold will pay the owner of the property US$4,000 upon signing the option, as well as the 2007-08 mining concession fees of US$3,100.
The deal requires EcuaGold to make semiannual payments to the owner until and unless the option is exercised. EcuaGold can exercise the option at any time and acquire the concession by paying the owner US$125,000.
EcuaGold, which listed on the TSX Venture Exchange in January, saw its shares trade at around 23 apiece on the news.
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