Goldcorp options Confederation

A letter of intent paves the way for Goldcorp (G-T) to earn a majority interest in the Confederation project of Tri Origin Exploration (TOE-V).

Situated in northwestern Ontario, the property covers 35 sq. km of the Red Lake greenstone belt’s eastern flank. The belt is famous for its gold deposits to the west, including Goldcorp’s producing High Grade zone, about 35 km away, and is thus an ideal fit in Goldcorp’s regional exploration portfolio.

Tri Origin’s previous work includes airborne and surface geophysics, geochemistry and limited drilling. The work highlighted the property’s potential for gold mineralization, but base metals are numerous in the area. In fact, the South Bay mine, where 1.6 million tonnes grading 14% zinc, 2.5% copper and 120 grams silver per tonne were produced by Selco Mining between 1971 and 1981, sits tens of kilometres along the regional strike to the northeast.

Goldcorp can earn a 70% interest by spending $340,000 on exploration by March 2004.

In related news, BHP Billiton (BHP-N) has exercised 166,666 Series G Tri Origin warrants priced at 30 apiece. The major still holds 800,000 warrants and has until Dec. 31 to exercise them (at 33 each).

A portion of the proceeds is earmarked for the Kazan copper-gold project, about 70 km south of Baker’s Lake in Nunavut. There, Tri Origin is following up geophysical anomalies and copper, gold and uranium showings that are thought to reflect Olympic Dam-style mineralization. Drilling will begin shortly.