Copper Ridge gains ground from Kinross

Copper Ridge Explorations (KRX-T) has entered into an agreement to acquire from Kinross Gold (K-T) five mineral properties in the Yukon, Alaska and Arizona.

The Vancouver-based junior will lay claim to the Scheelite dome property in the Yukon’s Mayo mining district, the Discovery Gulch property in the Circle mining district of Alaska, the Ogopogo property in that state’s Goodpaster district, the Little Salmon property in the Yukon, and the Margarita property in Arizona.

Kinross will transfer the properties to Copper Ridge once it completes its merger with La Teko Resources (LAO-T). In return, Copper Ridge will issue 1 million shares to Kinross and 100,000 shares to privately owned KGE Management.

• Scheelite Dome — This property comprises 11,600 ha and represents a large bulk-tonnage gold target. La Teko had an option to acquire it from Kennecott Canada Exploration, a division of London-based Rio Tinto (RTP-N), in return for spending $800,000 on exploration by 2001. In addition, the property owners held a 2% net smelter return royalty (NSR) and Kennecott reserved a 49% back-in right or a 2% NSR for itself. La Teko had already incurred about half of its required dues when it was acquired by Kinross.

  Copper Ridge will now assume La Teko’s interests. The junior is negotiating an agreement with Kennecott that would see the major wave its right of first refusal for the property in return for 90,000 shares of Copper Ridge.

  The property hosts an east-west, structurally controlled zone of mineralization that covers a 4-by-1.5-km area. Kennecott performed mechanized trenching and put down 13 reverse-circulation (RC) drill holes to define the target. La Teko completed an induced-polarization (IP) geophysical survey and drilled seven widely spaced holes in the target area last year. The best of these, hole 12, cut 7.7 metres averaging 3.67 grams gold.

  In 1999, Copper Ridge will continue exploring Scheelite Dome by means of stepout drilling and an IP survey. The junior will also investigate geochemically anomalous areas outside of the drill-tested area.

• Discovery Gulch — Copper Ridge’s acquisition of this gold property is subject to a 2% NSR in favour of the property owners. Prior to the Kinross takeover, La Teko optioned the property to Camnor Resources (CMB-V), which is still the operator. Also, Camnor can earn a 51% interest from Copper Ridge in return for US$215,000 in cash, 400,000 shares and a 4-year commitment to spend US$800,000 on exploration.

  Discovery Gulch comprises 1,200 ha and lies 125 miles northeast of Fairbanks, up-slope from several active placer operations.

  Camnor plans to drill four RC holes to test a strong gold-arsenic-bismuth soil anomaly with associated bedrock gold mineralization. Previous trenching results cut 45.7 metres averaging 0.55 gram gold per tonne, including 6.1 metres of 1.1 grams gold.

• Ogopogo — Copper Ridge’s acquisition of this property is subject to an NSR of 0.5%. Comprising 15,600 ha, Ogopogo is contiguous with Teck and Sumitomo’s Pogo gold property and is host to intrusive and schist rock types, both of which are believed to be key components in the Pogo deposit. Sampling results reported by the U.S. Geological Survey indicate that sediments in creeks draining the property are enriched in bismuth and tungsten. No gold analyses were performed.

  In June, the junior will launch a program of prospecting, geological mapping and stream sediment-sampling. In the meantime, joint-venture partners are being sought for portions of the property.

• Little Salmon — This prospective volcanogenic massive sulphide target features anomalous copper mineralization in an iron formation. A reconnaissance program of sampling and mapping is planned.
• Margarita — Copper Ridge will acquire this property subject to a 3% NSR. Prior drilling revealed limited gold mineralization, and the company plans to seek prospective buyers.

In related news, Copper Ridge has entered into a debt-settlement agreement with a creditor. To settle its $60,000 debt, the junior will issue 400,000 shares at 15 cents each, with an additional 413,201 escrow shares to be issued to directors and officers upon acquisition of the Kinross properties.

Meanwhile, the company is raising $405,000 in proceeds through a private placement of 2.7 million special warrants priced at 15 cents each.

A special warrant can be converted into one share and one non-transferable share purchase warrant. The warrants will entitle the holders to buy one additional share at 15 cents in the first year and at 20 cents in the second. Up to 675,000 special warrants will be exercisable into flow-through shares.

Copper Ridge will use a portion of the proceeds to explore the Scheelite Dome and Ogopogo properties.