Wrightbar, Soquem in option deal

A joint venture agreement has been reached between Wrightbar Mines (ME) and the Quebec government’s mining exploration company Soquem for exploration of Wrightbar’s Puiseaux Twp. gold property in northwestern Quebec, the company announced at its recent annual meeting.

Under the agreement, Soquem has an option to acquire a 50% undivided interest in the 54 claims for $150,000. The money has been granted under a provincial government incentive program that provides exploration funds to junior mining companies.

Wrightbar has also given Soquem, which currently does not own Wrightbar shares, an 18-month right to subscribe to 300,000 common shares of its capital stock for 25 cents per share.

Exploration work at Puiseaux Twp. should begin in mid-February, said company secretary Michel Blouin, acting on behalf of an ailing company President William Cluff, who did not attend the meeting. The property is adjacent to property owned by Golden Knight Resources Inc. and is the only property in the area that has never been drilled, Blouin said.

Wrightbar has also applied for funding to Soquem for exploration work on the southern part of its Bourlamaque Twp. property in the Val d’Or, Que., area. An answer on the application for $150,000 is expected soon, said Blouin. St. Genevieve Resources of Montreal dropped its option on the property last year. Blouin, a Montreal lawyer with the firm Lavery de Billy, also said negotiations have broken off with Belmoral Mines (TSE) over a demand that Wrightbar sell its Bourlamaque property to Belmoral.

That sale was one of the conditions of a deal that would have seen a group of Ontario physicians buy 1.5 million Wrightbar shares from Belmoral for $110,000. But Blouin said Wrightbar’s board of directors felt the Belmoral demand for Bourlamque was excessive.