Mirasol Resources (TSXV: MRZ) announced that Newcrest Mining (TSX: NCM) has exercised its option to enter the farm-in phase of its joint venture to develop the Gorbea gold project in Chile by making a $500,000 payment to Mirasol.
To date, Newcrest has completed 5,426 metres of drilling and spent more than US$9 million on the project, exceeding the minimums required under the option phase. The drilling highlights included 0.52 gram gold per tonne and 6.81 grams silver per tonne over 164 metres starting from 372 metres in drillhole ATL-DDH-001A and 0.54 gram gold and 2.65 grams silver over 129 metres starting from 363 metres in hole ATL-DDH-010.
In order to complete the first phase of the farm-in and vest an initial 51% in the Gorbea project, Newcrest is now required to complete at least US$15 million in exploration expenditure over 4.5 years and drill a minimum of 8,000 metres. The first 2,000 metres of drilling is to be completed before the end of 2021 and the additional 6,000 metres must be completed before the end of 2022.
The Gorbea package in northern Chile was optioned to Yamana Gold (TSX: YRI; NYSE: AUY; LSE: AUY) from 2015 to 2018. During this period, Yamana spent more than C$10 million on exploration and drilled more than 11,000 metres on the project. In early 2019, Mirasol entered into a new agreement with Newcrest to further advance exploration.
This article first appeared in MINING.com, part of Glacier Resource Innovation Group.