Troubadour to acquire historic gold rush-era Zeballos mining camp

Troubadour Resources (TSXV: TR) announced that it signed a letter of intent with Surespan and its wholly-owned subsidiary Privateer Gold to obtain an option to acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of Privateer Gold.

Privateer Gold is the owner of the Surespan gold property, which is made up of crown granted mineral claims and mineral tenures that cover approximately 13 square kilometres on the west coast of Vancouver Island, about 180 kilometres northwest of the city of Vancouver.

Within the claims lies the historic Zeballos high-grade gold mining camp which, according to Troubadour, was the site of a major gold rush in the 1930s and early 1940s. Later on, the area experienced a forced reduction of mining activity due to the lack of miners lost in the second World War. All operations ceased in 1944.

Since then, the property saw fragmented ownership until a recent consolidation incorporated the majority of the camp's significant past producers, namely, the Privateer, Prident, White Star, Golden Peak, Gold Field, Spud Valley and Mount Zeballos mines.

Surespan gold project. Photo by Troubadour.

Historic gold resources at the Privateer and Prident Mines is of 122,470 measured tonnes grading 9.26 g/t Au and 324,772 indicated tonnes grading 15.09 g/t Au?EUR or 36,461 ounces Au measured and 157,565 ounces Au indicated.

In a press release, Troubadour said that additional surrounding grounds were also incorporated and that is what caught the eye of its management team. "The recent discovery of the 88 Vein in the first modern-day drill hole completed on the property provides evidence of this potential. Drill intercepts on the 88 Vein include 1,386.50 g/t Au over 0.30m, 1,218.75 g/t Au over 0.20m and 436.17 g/t Au over 0.50m," the miner's media statement reads.

Now that the letter of intent has been signed, the companies have to negotiate and settle the terms of a binding definitive agreement. Besides the share acquisition, Troubadour will have to incur exploration expenditures of $350,000 prior to the first anniversary of the definitive agreement and a further $650,000 prior to the second anniversary.

"We are thrilled to be acquiring this exceptional asset and working closely with Surespan to discover and develop the true potential of this property," the President of the Vancouver-based firm, Geoff Schellenberg, said in a statement. "We are confident that the market's enthusiasm for high-grade epithermal gold properties combined with the outstanding merits of the Zeballos property will firmly position Troubadour to capitalize on the growing momentum in the gold sector."