Placer can earn a 51% stake by paying US$500,000 in cash and spending US$4.5 million on exploration over four years. It can increase this to 60% by completing a bankable feasibility study by the sixth anniversary of the agreement, and to 70% by making a production decision.
Minefinders will act as operator for the first year; afterwards, Placer can elect to take over.
The deal is subject to an ongoing 30-day due diligence period.
Minefinders has identified seven drill-ready gold targets within and around the Malacate caldera system. The targets are defined by anomalous-to-ore-grade gold mineralization associated with volcanic calderas.
The El Ruidito, Ahumada North and West Bordo Blanco areas exhibit the strongest anomalies. Values at El Ruidito run between 1 and 9.3 grams gold per tonne. The values are derived from a high-grade, gold-bearing calcite-quartz vein up to 15 metres wide and which outcrops for more than 600 metres along strike.
Chip samples from stockwork-veined and altered conglomerates, felsic dykes and andesitic volcanic flows along the northern portion of the Ahumada prospect returned between 0.5 and 7.7 grams gold. The target stretches for more than 2 km at widths of up to 600 metres. The prospect’s southern portion has also returned encouraging values.
The 2-km-long West Bordo Blanco prospect returned between 0.5 and 5 grams gold from an altered and stockwork-veined conglomerate.
Minefinders believes that along with the outcrops, the presence of hot-spring sinters may mark the upper levels of several mineralizing systems, which could yield higher grades at depth.
Permitting for an initial 2,000-metre drill program is under way.
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