Cardero and International Tower Hill head “North to Alaska”

Vancouver – With $14 million in its treasury, Cardero Resource (CDU-V, CDY-X) has agreed to invest $2.24 million to acquire an approximate 12-14% interest in International Tower Hill Mines (ITH-V) and thereby gain exposure to an Alaskan gold exploration venture.

International Tower Hill recently signed a letter-of-intent agreement with the North American arm of AngloGold Ashanti (AU-N, ANG-J), an African-based gold producer that had been exploring a portfolio of gold properties in Alaska, to acquire six of the properties and related database. The junior also has an exclusive option to acquire 60% of two other Alaskan properties, LMS and Terra, through respective exploration expenditures on each property of US$3 million over four years.

To acquire the core six properties outright, International Tower Hill agreed to issue shares representing about 19.9% of its issued shares to AngloGold Ashanti, and complete an equity financing of at least US$10 million to fund ongoing exploration. Cardero will hold a 12-14% stake in International Tower Hill though its initial private placement, which can be increased to about 18% through the exercise of related warrants.

In a prepared statement, Richard Duffy, executive officer of business development, said the sale and option of the properties reflects AngloGold Ashanti’s objective of focusing on its own “greenfields exploration” elsewhere in the world. “Whilst Alaska remains highly prospective for the discovery of new gold mines, our commitments in countries such as the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo), Colombia and Australia limit our ability to optimally develop these Alaskan projects.” He added that by maintaining a position in International Tower Hill, the company will have “excellent upside exposure” to any future Alaskan discoveries made by the junior.

The six Alaskan properties Livengood, West Pogo, Coffee Dome, Gillies, Caribou and Blackshell cover about 246 square km in the Alaskan gold belt, which hosts numerous deposits and prospects, including the multi-million-oz. Donlin Creek and Pogo gold projects being operated or advanced by major mining companies.

Livengood is situated about 100 km north of Fairbanks and covers a large, near-surface zone of low-grade gold mineralization. The best hole drilled to date returned 1.1 grams gold per tonne over 138 metres. The five other core projects target intrusion-related gold systems that range in deposit style from “proximal Pogo-type high-grade vein deposits to higher level Donlin-style stockwork systems.”

AngloGold will retain back-in rights to regain a 60% interest in one or both of the LMS and Terra properties by spending another US$4 million on each project, and managing work programs over two years. LMS is situated about 15 km from Delta Junction. Previous work has identified an outcropping mineralized zone with more than 300 metres of strike length while returning high-grade values of up to 117 grams gold over 0.67 metre. Highlights of recent drilling include 3.2 metres of 13.7 grams gold, 3.38 metres of 21.5 grams gold, 2.81 metres of 29.1 grams gold, and 2.8 metres of 7.4 grams gold.

The Terra property is located about 200 km west of Anchorage, and covers a number of high-grade epithermal veins, as well as base-metal-rich intrusion breccias. The 12 holes drilled to date have returned 34 vein intersections averaging 16 grams gold.