JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – US gold major Barrick Gold has elected to continue funding the Arakaka gold project, in Guyana, in which it could earn up to 65% by spending $10-million.
ASX-listed junior Alicanto Minerals, which is the operator of the Arakaka project, said on Monday that Barrick had agreed to fund the third contract year of the earn-in, initially announced in 2016.
The approved 2018 exploration budget includes 3 500 m of diamond core drilling on the project’s Xenopsaris target area, to follow up on the 2017 exploration programme that had identified primary gold mineralisation.
Results from 2017’s trenching include 6 m at 8.33 g/t gold; 22 m at 2.02 g/t gold, including rock chips up to 162.23 g/t; and 33.68 g/t gold peak rock chips in 17 m at 0.7 g/t gold.
Xenopsaris is the southern extension of the 15 km long zone of gold anomalism located in the Gomes-Ianna corridor and is host to the Gomes Hill prospect.