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RANDGOLD, NEWCREST
ODDS ‘N’ SODS
Miners plan to explore Côte d’Ivoire together / 3
1950s field life in Quebec / 4
AURA MINERALS
Tables study for EPP in Brazil / 13
DECEMBER 5-11, 2016 / VOL. 102 ISSUE 43 / GLOBAL MINING NEWS · SINCE 1915 / $3.99 / WWW.NORTHERNMINER.COM
Sandspring drills Sona Hill anomaly near Toroparu
G4G Capital’s stock surges with option on Shawn Ryan’s claims INTERVIEW
| Prospector teams with junior to explore 2,490 sq. km in the Yukon
GOLD |
CEO Munson convinced deposit in Guyana’s northwest can become a mine BY TRISH SAYWELL tsaywell@northernminer.com
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year ago, Sandspring Resources (TSXV: SSP; USOTC: SSPXF) “couldn’t beg, buy or steal money,” CEO Richard Munson says, “and there was a period of time when I was lending money to the company from my home line of credit.” But in April this year, a multimillion-dollar private placement was oversubscribed “ten minutes after we announced it was available.” The $6.5 million raised will finance the junior well into 2017, Munson says, including a moderate exploration program in 2016 at its 6.9 million oz. Toroparu gold deposit in Guyana, 225 km west of Georgetown, the country’s capital city. “We believe in the property,” he says in a telephone interview from Guyana. “It’s hard to walk away when you see one that you’re convinced is going to be in production.” Sandspring’s Toroparu deposit is located within its 626 sq. km concession in the Upper Puruni River region of western Guyana and Munson describes the project as “the fourth-largest undeveloped, multimillion oz. gold deposit owned by an independent junior company in South America.” A prefeasibility study completed on Toroparu in May 2013 by SRK Consulting envisioned an openpit mining operation from two pits producing 200,000 oz. gold a year over an initial 16-year initial mine life. See SANDSPRING / 2
The Yukon River in the White Gold district in the Yukon. PHOTO COURTESY OF SHAWN RYAN BY TRISH SAYWELL
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tsaywell@northernminer.com
enowned Klondike prospector Shawn Ryan and his wife and business partner Cathy Wood require little introduction. The Yukon-based couple made it big finding two large gold deposits near Dawson City, and launching the largest staking rush the Yukon has seen in 100 years. They optioned their first discovery — the White Gold project, 95 km south of Dawson City — to Underworld Resources in 2007. Three years later, Underworld was acquired by Kinross Gold (TSX: K; NYSE: KGC) in a cash and stock deal worth $139 million. Ryan and Wood optioned their
second discovery, the Coffee gold project, 130 km south of Dawson City, to Kaminak Gold Corp. in mid-2009. Goldcorp (TSX: G; NYSE: GG) acquired Kaminak earlier this year for $520 million. (Ryan and Wood were named The Northern Miner’s “Mining Persons of the Year” in 2010 for their groundbreaking work.) With a track record like that — and Ryan’s belief that he can find a third, if not a fourth gold deposit elsewhere on his claims — it’s no surprise that in September, when he agreed to option all of his remaining properties in the White Gold district (that were not in current joint ventures with third parties) to G4G Capital (TSXV: GGC), the junior exploration com-
pany’s shares surged 178% to 50¢. When the deal was finalized on Oct. 28, G4G Capital’s shares rose 30% to 92¢. Today its shares trade in the $1.11 range. The option agreement covers Ryan and Wood’s 12,301 quartz claims spanning 2,490 sq. km in the White Gold district. The properties range from grassroots targets where ridge and spur soil geochemical sampling could be used for follow-up exploration, to more advanced targets where grid soil geochemical sampling, mapping, geophysical surveys and limited drill campaigns have been conducted, all to the tune of $25 million.
PM40069240
See G4G / 14
January 23-26, 2017 | amebc.ca/roundup
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RICHMONT MINES: ISLAND GOLD A STAR PERFORMER / 11
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