TSX-V-listed Sirios Resources has signed a property option agreement with Sumitomo Metal Mining Canada, granting Sumitomo an option to acquire up to 80% of the Aquilon gold property, in James Bay, Quebec.
The property comprises 140 mineral claims covering an area of 68 km2. To date, 32 gold showings have been discovered on the property.
Pursuant to the agreement, Sumitomo can earn an initial 51% interest in the project by paying $200 000 at signing to Sirios and incurring an aggregate $4.6-million in mineral exploration expenditures on or before the third anniversary of the option agreement.
Sirios will remain the operator of the project during the earn-in period and will be entitled to a 10% management fee.
Sumitomo can earn an additional 29% interest in the project, taking its ownership to 80%, by spending another $10-million on exploration, on or before the sixth anniversary of the option agreement.
If Sumitomo earns the 80% interest, the companies will form a joint venture (JV) in respect of the project. Should a JV participant’s interest be diluted to below 10%, the party will convert its joint venture interest to a net smelter return royalty of 2%.
Sirios CEO Dominique Doucet says the company is honoured and pleased to start working with Sumitomo to kick off a rigorous and systematic exploration programme on the Aquilon property.
“We believe this property is very prospective and remains underexplored considering the variety of favourable geological contexts in which numerous high-grade gold showings have been discovered.
“We rank Aquilon as a high-priority project for Sirios and we look forward to advancing the project with our partner having the financial and technical capacities to develop the numerous discoveries into an important mining project."