TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – A claims standoff has led to Newmont Ventures, a subsidiary of NYSE-listed Newmont Mining, terminating a strategic alliance and venture agreement signed in February 2008 with Newfoundland and Labrador-based partner Cornerstone Capital Resources to develop the Macara project, in southern Ecuador.

Cornerstone on Friday explained that it was unable to acquire further prospects in the area of interest of the Macara strategic alliance, owing to the Ecuadorean government not yet accepting applications for mineral rights there.

The Macara project comprised four concessions which had already been granted and 17 concessions for which the company had applied.

Earlier this year, Newmont and Cornerstone decided to relinquish the Bella Vista property, which was the only surviving property in the strategic alliance since the 2008 mining mandate (moratorium), which halted mining projects.

Between 2007 and 2009, Cornerstone had completed $1-million of reconnaissance exploration within the 2 500 km² area of influence. Regional prospecting and sampling, consisting of more than 3 000 samples, had defined 16 prospective gold/copper targets to be followed up once mineral properties were made available by the Mining Ministry.

CHILE UPDATE
Cornerstone on May 19 reported that during 2014, it sought a judicial declaration of its better right to disputed mineral rights over 300 ha of highly prospective ground strategically located next to its Miocene project, in Chile, along a well defined epithermal mineralisation trend.

It had obtained a decision confirming its rights, but after an appeal of the trial judge's decision by an interested third party, the company had lost the appeal and abandoned its claim to the mineral rights. Cornerstone advised that it still retained, however, priority rights over about 10 200 ha of highly prospective ground at the Miocene project.

The Miocene project was targeting epithermal gold/silver and porphyry gold/copper deposits along the interpreted northern extension of the Maricunga magmatic belt, which hosted several world-class gold deposits.