Euro-Nevada acquires land position at Newmont mines

Euro-Nevada Mining has completed what it hopes will be the first in a series of royalty acquisitions in the Carlin gold trend near Elko, Nev., The Northern Miner has learned.

The Toronto company has acquired a 4.9% net smelter return royalty on approximately 320 ac of land covering Newmont Gold’s Maggie Creek mine and a portion of the Gold Quarry mine.

While the terms of the agreement have not been disclosed, Euro-Nevada is betting that deep drilling on this property will uncover high grade gold zones like those at American Barrick Resources’s Goldstrike mine further north.

Euro-Nevada’s sister company, Franco Nevada Mining holds a 4% royalty and 5% net profit interest in the Goldstrike property where gold production is expected to reach 460,000 oz by 1991.

Newmont’s Gold Quarry deposit is the largest known deposit along the Carlin trend. Discovered in 1981, it contains 198 million tons grading 0.042 oz.

According to Newmont, the Maggie Creek orebody is an extension of Gold Quarry’s “Deep West” zone and they are linked to each other

“We think this property will begin to generate some cash flow for us when Newmont extends the Gold Quarry open pit,” said President Pierre Lassonde.

Additional cash flows could also come from a stockpile of 400,000 tons of carbonaceous ore grading 0.2 oz gold per ton which is currently sitting on the Maggie Creek property. That stockpile is scheduled to be treated in 1989, Lassonde says.

However, Lassonde and Chairman Seymour Schulich make no secret of their hopes for a major deep drilling success on this property. Since Newmont has yet to drill below 800 ft on the Maggie Creek mine which hosts 2.2 million tons grading 0.081 oz, Lassonde believes the chances for finding Goldstrike- style deposits are good.