NEWS ROUNDUP — Noranda options Keltic ground

The Rio Veraguas and Guayabal concessions in Panama have piqued the interest of Noranda (TSE).

The major signed an agreement to earn a 51% interest in the properties from Western Keltic Mines (VSE) which holds them through 60%-owned subsidiary Minera Keltic.

To earn the interest, Noranda will fund the next $2 million in exploration, as well as pay Minera Keltic $300,000 over three years. The interest can be boosted to 70% if Noranada funds a further $2 million in exploration and pays another $300,000 over two years.

Work on the property will follow up the previous program of silt sampling, which outlined a 13-sq-km copper geochemical anomaly. The sampling returned values of up to 2,230 parts per billion gold, 18 parts per million (ppm) arsenic, 232 parts ppm zinc and 36 ppm lead. Copper-bearing float sampled over the area returned up to 3,870 ppm copper.