VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – The TSX-V-listed equity of Canadian exploration and development company Reunion Gold jumped more than 10% on Friday after announcing that the world’s largest gold producer by output, Barrick Gold, has taken a 15% stake.
NYSE- and TSX-listed Barrick has acquired 48-million Reunion shares, through a nonbrokered private placement of 48-million shares, at C$0.19 apiece.
Barrick said it acquired the shares for investment purposes.
Longueuil, Quebec-based Reunion is focused on advancing gold projects in the highly prospective and under-explored Guiana Shield gold district, located on the northern edge of the Amazon Craton of South America. The company’s portfolio includes the Dorlin project, in which it has an option to earn a 75% stake in its 100%-owned Boulanger project, and the Haute Mana project, in which it can earn up to 80% interest – all located in French Guiana.
In Guyana, Reunion has been assigned an option to acquire a 100% interest in the Aremu gold project, an early stage project covering a large 10-km-long gold system with extensive alluvial/colluvial mining centred on the Aremu river.
According to Reunion, the Guiana Shield is well-endowed with substantial gold deposits. No fewer than 15 gold mines and deposits hosting an estimated 110-million ounces of gold have been recognised from Venezuela to French Guiana. Most of the existing deposits were discovered by alluvial miners.
Reunion's shares jumped C$0.02 apiece on Friday to close at C$0.16 each.