Canadians pass the baton on NZ gold

Perth, Western Australia — Vancouver-based CanAlaska Ventures (CVV-V) recently struck a joint-venture deal with New Zealand’s OceanaGold (OGD-A) on the Rise and Shine prospect on New Zealand’s South Island. At the same time, CanAlaska has decided to vend all its Kiwi properties into private Canadian Golden Fern Resources, which has aspirations for a listing on the TSX Venture Exchange.

CanAlaska, which is managed by New Zealand geologist Peter Dasler, will sell its package of prospects and a 70% earning right to Rise and Shine for a consideration of C$500,000 cash. It will also receive a convertible debenture for a similar amount to recoup expenses and cover some first-pass drilling on Rise and Shine, set to begin this summer.

The prospect is in the Macraes-Hyde shear zone, near the Macraes deposit, which OceanaGold has been mining for the past 20 years.

Meanwhile, Canadian Golden Fern is resuming mining at the Reefton goldfield, and there is also a prospect for epithermal gold at Mount Mitchell, near Whangerei in Northland.

CanAlaska wants board representation on Golden Fern and a 1% net smelter return royalty on all the prospects.

About a year ago, CanAlaska was heavily promoting New Zealand’s potential to stock brokers and fund managers in North America, stressing that only limited exploration had taken place outside of established mines and historic workings.

That picture changed when CanAlaska, like many Canadian juniors, turned its focus to uranium prospecting at home.

However, in a recent statement, Dasler said CanAlaska would continue to support the New Zealand initiative.

— The author is a freelance writer based in Perth, Western Australia.