U.S. REPORT Placer drops Talapoosa

After completing a first-stage exploration program on the Talapoosa property owned by Athena Gold (VSE), a unit of Placer Dome (TSE) opted to drop the Nevada gold property.

Placer had the right to earn a 51% interest by completing payments and property expenditures totalling close to US$40 million. The stage-one program included about 21,000 ft. of drilling and cost in the order of US$1.1 million.

Prior to Placer’s drilling, preliminary reserves were estimated at about 19.6 million tons grading 0.054 oz. gold per ton (after converting silver values to a gold equivalent).

Kenneth Wright, president of Athena, noted that although Placer stated the property has a very large mineralized system, it was not large enough to meet the company’s development criteria.

Wright said Athena has received expressions of interest from a number of parties interested in earning an interest in the project.