EXPLORATION – Tri Origin homes in on Cobar camp

A 1,650-sq.-km land package in Australia’s Cobar mining camp is providing a new exploration focus for Tri Origin Exploration (TOE-T). The newly optioned holdings are also a natural fit with the company’s existing property interests in New South Wales.

An agreement with Delta Gold, a mid-tier Australian gold producer, sets the stage for Tri Origin to earn 100% of the Cobar gold and base metal properties by spending $5 million on exploration over five years.

Delta has already spent more than $4 million on exploration at Cobar, resulting in the identification and delineation of numerous gold and base metal occurrences. The properties are in a camp boasting five operating mines and historical production valued at more than $6 billion at today’s prices.

As a first step, Tri Origin is reviewing past work as well as Delta’s extensive database for the region. A multi-stage exploration program is being designed for targets selected during the review.

When the deal was signed in September, Tri Origin issued 2.5 million shares to Delta for proceeds of $226,000. The Australian company has the option of buying an additional 5 million shares for $500,000 and of increasing to 12.5% its interest in Tri Origin’s Australian unit by subscribing to any public offering within the next 30 months.

Delta retains a 1.5% net smelter return royalty on any production from the properties. It also has the option, under certain conditions, to earn back up to a 51% interest and develop and mine any discoveries made by the joint venture.

Elsewhere in New South Wales, Tri Origin and Delta are equally funding work at Calarie, which hosts a near-surface resource of 514,000 tonnes grading 2.16 grams gold per tonne that is open at depth. A drill program testing extensions of known mineralization was interrupted by heavy rains but is scheduled to resume shortly. Calarie is one of four projects in the Lachlan fold belt being explored by a 50-50 joint venture between Tri Origin and Delta.

At the English property near Timmins, Ont., Tri Origin has commissioned geological and geophysical surveys to define gold occurrences and a zone of disseminated and semi-massive sulphides intersected during drilling.

At the Confederation property, near Ontario’s Red Lake camp, Tri Origin and partner Savage Resources have completed geophysical surveys in preparation for a second phase of drilling. The target here is copper and zinc massive sulphide deposits.