OK2 Minerals (TSXV: OK) entered into an arms-length definitive agreement with EMX Royalty (TSXV: EMX) to acquire the past-producing Bleikvassli Cu-Zn-Ag-Pb-Au Mine, and the Sagvoll and Mer??ker Zn-Cu projects, all located in Norway, as well as the advanced-stage Bastutr??sk Zn-Cu-Au project in Sweden.
In a press release, the Vancouver-based miner said that together with the acquisition, it will undergo a corporate restructuring by share consolidation and change its name to Norra Metals Corp.
"We are excited to announce the creation of a European Business Unit with well-developed assets in Norway and Sweden. We are now positioned to conduct year-round exploration on a number of prospective deposits, projects with substantial historic production, and district-scale exploration targets," said Mike Devji, OK2 president and CEO, in the release.
Devji also provided details of each of the projects the firm is acquiring.
Bleikvassli, for example, is a 6,000-hectare site located in north-central Norway and it was the country's last operating sulphide metal mine which saw lead, zinc and silver production from 1914-1997. The mine produced five million tonnes grading 4.0% Zn, 2% Pb, 0.15% Cu, and 25g/t Ag.
According to the Norwegian Geological Survey, historical resources remaining at the time of mine closure were 720,000 tonnes grading 5.17% Zn, 2.72% Pb, 0.27% Cu, 45g/t Ag, 0.2g/t Au. However, OK2 says it has not performed sufficient work to verify these published resource numbers and is not treating the historical estimate as current mineral resources.
Subject to regulatory approval, at closing, EMX will transfer 100% of its Bleikvassli, Bastutrask, Sagvoll and Mer??ker exploration licences to OK2.Also in Norway, the 11,000-hectare Sagvoll project and the 18,600-hectare Mer??ker project are mature exploration assets that have both seen a variety of resource development and small-scale mining.
Mer??ker is the most advanced, and it hosts the Lillefjell and Mannifjell deposits which were the sites of small-scale mining completed intermittently between 1760-1918. Site visits conducted by OK2 revealed massive, high-grade sphalerite-chalcopyrite dumps on zones outside of the main developed area.
The Sagvoll Licence area, on the other hand, represents a "walk-up" drill targets, previously never drilled, on historical mines.
Sagvoll hosts the old Malsa and Gaulstad small-scale mines which were in limited production between 1865-1891. The Canadian miner reports that the licence area also contains high-grade outcrops of massive sulphide lenses over several kilometres. Zinc-rich mineralization was present during the historic mining but was not the focus of historic mining recovery activities. The Sagvoll project also contains the historic Skjardalen nickel-copper-cobalt mine that operated between 1876-1891.
The 4,700-hectare Bastutr??sk project is located in the Skellefte?? mining district in northern Sweden. It sits within 60 kilometres of six operating mines and of the Ronnskar copper smelter.
Bastutrask is an advanced-stage Cu-Zn VMS project with over 70 known drill holes completed to date. OK2's brief states that the project was drilled intermittently by Boliden and from the available public data, drill defined zones of mineralization are developed over an area of several kilometres near the apparent nose of a prominent fold hinge. Historical drilling was focused on both infills and step out drilling, including a 400m step out returning 18.5m of 7.03% Zn, 0.49% Cu and 0.35 g/t Au as well as minor Pb and Ag credits.