PERTH (Miningweekly.com) – Gold miner Troy Resources has entered into an earn-in agreement with gold major Barrick Gold Corporation over various exploration tenements at the Karouni gold project, in Guyana.

Under the terms of the agreement, Barrick has been granted the right to earn a 51% interest in the project tenements, which do not include the Karouni mine site or the immediate mine area, by sole funding certain agreed work expenditures and completing a prefeasibility study on the tenements.

Upon the earn-in, the two companies would form a joint venture (JV), with Barrick having to sole fund the JV until the completion of a feasibility study in order to earn an additional 19% interest in the JV.

If a development decision is made, Troy has the option to require Barrick to arrange or provide for Troy’s share of the financing for the project, for a further 10% interest in the project.

In addition, Barrick has also agreed to subscribe for more than 39-million Troy shares, at a price of 3.08c each, for a $1.2-million capital investment into the Australian firm, giving Barrick a 4.9% interest in Troy.

“Ever since Troy’s acquisition of the Karouni project in 2014, we have always maintained that our ground position was highly prospective for the discovery of significant gold mineralisation,” said Troy MD Ken Nilsson.

“Unfortunately, because of financial circumstances, we have never been in a position to explore to the extent we would have liked and which was rightfully warranted.

“Of our current ground position, none is considered to be more prospective than Potaro. Having identified this opportunity approximately two years ago, we were very pleased to have recently been able to aggregate a sizeable package over this area. Situated under significant sand cover, exploration of Potaro and other targets will be significantly enhanced by the involvement of Barrick and their exploration team.”

Barrick CEO Mark Bristow on Thursday said that the gold company had capitalized on its knowledge of West African Birimian greenstone gold deposits, to identify the Karouni basin as a priority area of interest.

“The geological similarities between the West African Birimian and the Guiana Shield are well established, however, the exploration of the Guiana Shield is quite immature by comparison. We look forward to combining Barrick’s technical and financial resources with Troy’s established in-country team and knowledge, to advance exploration over the project tenements with the aim to deliver new world-class gold discoveries.”