VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – Project consolidator GoldMining has signed an option agreement with Viking Gold Exploration to indirectly acquire the RG1, RG2 and RG3 claims that border the western boundary of the company's Nicholas Lake-Ormsby property – one of the four properties that comprise the Yellowknife gold project (YGP), in Canada’s Northwest Territories.
The TSX-V-listed explorer will acquire 1 797.6 ha of land to enlarge the YGP to 11 502 ha, adding to the prospectivity of the entire land package. The company first acquired the YGP in July last year, and the new properties cover portions of the Yellowknife Greenstone Belt, from 17 km to 100 km north of the town of Yellowknife.
The Yellowknife Greenstone Belt is reported to have historically produced over 15-million ounces of gold from the Con, Giant and Discovery mines. The Discovery mine, located on the Ormsby property, operated from 1950 to 1969 and is reported to have historically produced one-million ounces of gold with an average grade of 28 g/t gold.
The YGP has seen substantial drilling, underground development and historic gold production from the high-grade Discovery mine.
Under the terms of the option agreement, GoldMining will issue 60 000 common shares as payment. Subject to customary closing conditions, including, among other things, receipt of requisite approvals, the deal will close by the end of January.
GoldMining said that the property is located about 2 km west of the historic Discovery mine. The Discovery mine mineralisation comprises gold bearing "saddle-reef"-type quartz veins, hosted in the fold hinges of isoclinal folded meta-sedimentary rocks of the Burwash Formation, one of several units that comprise the Archean age Yellowknife Supergroup.
Future exploration programmes would be designed to examine the potential for this style of mineralisation on the YGP, including the new property, the company advised.
Headed by founder and chairperson Amir Adnani, GoldMining has been on an aggressive acquisition spree in the Americas, with its seven asset portfolio projects in Brazil, two in Colombia, one in the US, two in Canada and one of its most recent and most significant acquisitions being the 4 600 ha Crucero gold project, in Peru.