VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – TSX-V-listed Angkor Gold has, together with its joint venture partner Renaissance Minerals, received approval from the Cambodian Ministry of Mines and Energy to proceed with their joint exploration plans of Koan Nheak under a definitive earn-in agreement signed in July.

Renaissance is a Cambodian subsidiary of ASX-listed Emerald Resources, which is currently working through the final permitting process on their Okvau fold deposit, located about 60 km from the southern edge of Angkor’s Koan Nheak licence.

With Cambodian government approval, Angkor and Renaissance will immediately start planning the next stage of intensive exploration at Koan Nheak.

Under the terms of the agreement between Angkor and Renaissance, Renaissance will have to spend $2-million on exploration and development, and make a $200 000 cash payment to Angkor over a two-year term, for Renaissance to acquire a 51% participating interest in the Koan Nheak licence.

Upon completion of the initial earn-in option, Renaissance has the right to acquire a further 29% participating interest in the licence with the commissioning, and completion, of a definitive feasibility study. After that, Angkor will maintain a 20% participating interest in the property or, at Angkor’s discretion, can convert to a 3.5% net smelter return (NSR) on all metals.

Renaissance will be the operator on the project throughout.

Angkor’s Koan Nheak licence covers three prospects of interest: Peacock, East Ring and Straddle. The company has observed zones of abundant sulphide-rich quartz vein float on Peacock, which previously reported a field grab sample assay value of greater than 33.2 g/t gold.

The company cautioned that grab samples are selective samples and are not necessarily representative of the mineralisation hosted on the property. No drilling has been previously undertaken at Koan Nheak.