NEWS ROUNDUP — Altai options project to Barrick

Toronto-based Altai Resources (ATI-T) has optioned its Rodeo gold project in Peru’s Ancash province to a unit of Barrick Gold (ABX-T).

The companies agreed to hold the property in a joint-stock company that will be owned 85% by Barrick and 15% by Altai’s Peruvian subsidiary. To maintain its interest, the major must spend US$1.5 million on the property before July 1, 2003; thereafter, expenditures will be made by Barrick, and Altai’s 15% stake cannot be diluted. The Rodeo property is 25 km south of Barrick’s newly constructed Pierina gold mine, where cash costs of production will be about US$49 per oz.