It has taken longer than expected, but Athena Gold (VSE) finally has a definitive joint venture agreement with a unit of Placer Dome (TSE) for further exploration and development of its 19-square-mile Talapoosa gold property in Nevada. The terms of the agreement allow Placer Dome to be operator and earn a 51% in the property by spending about US$25.5 million to fund exploration, engineering, project capital along with certain advances and other payments to Athena Gold. The major also committed to an additional $8.5-million exploration expense (conditional upon results) and agreed to make about US$5 million in open market purchases of Athena shares at the prefeasibility stage.
If a decision is made to place the property into production, and other commitments are met, Placer Dome will have earned a 51% interest. If a decision is made not to go into production after a feasibility study is completed, Placer Dome would retain a 20% undivided interest. It would retain no interest if it withdrew before a final feasibility study is completed.
The Talapoosa property is reported to contain a mineral inventory of 19.6 million tons at a gold equivalent grade of 0.054 oz. gold per ton (gold and silver values combined) based on a 1989 preliminary resource estimate by Mine Development Associates.
Some 82,517 ft. of drilling has been completed on the property, about 45 miles southeast of Reno, Nev. The deposit is still open in two directions and to depth. Five targets, which have been identified, remain to be explored.
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