These licences are contiguous to the Company’s Bea Mountain Mining Licence and are located close to the New Liberty Gold Mine. Following the completion of the acquisition, Aureus will have 100% ownership of the licences and the Company’s total land portfolio will increase to 1,683 Km2 from 1,402Km2.
Consolidation of highly prospective ground located contiguous to the Company’s Bea Mountain Mining Licence. Following the acquisition of the three exploration licences totalling 281 km2, the Company’s total landholding will stand at 1,683 km2.
Exploration work undertaken by Sarama defined a 15 kilometre long gold corridor highlighted by gold in soil anomalies and extensive artisanal mining, which on average are within a 15 kilometre radius of the New Liberty Gold Mine.
Sarama completed airborne geophysics, ground geochemistry and reconnaissance drilling (15 holes for 1,600 metres) on the licences and expended a total of US$ 1.8 million.
Gold mineralisation intersected by drilling includes intercepts of 3.9 g/t over 7.5m from 9.3m and 2.3 g/t over 5m from 28m.
The Company is purchasing Sarama Investments Liberia Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sarama Resources, for a total consideration of 2,600,000 Aureus common shares. Sarama will retain an uncapped 1% net smelter return royalty on gold produced from the Cape Mount Permit. The acquisition is subject to a number of conditions precedent, including receipt of all required governmental and regulatory approvals.
The acquired gold corridor will be the focus of follow up exploration programmes once the Company achieves a cash flow positive position, with the objective of defining new gold deposits.
Commenting on the acquisition, David Reading , President and Chief Executive Officer of Aureus Mining, said:
"The acquisition of Sarama’s licences corresponds with Aureus’ strategy of building a long term and sustainable gold district in Liberia. This consolidates our ownership of quality ground, adding further exploration potential and allowing New Liberty to become the hub to accelerate our regional development. We look forward to continuing the exploration programme, which to date has produced some promising results."
A map showing the to be acquired licences (Cape Mount, Cape Mount West and Cape Mount East) with the soil corridor and its position relative to the New Liberty Gold Mine can be found at the link below:
Sarama conducted a US$ 1.8 million exploration programme over the licence areas starting with an airborne magnetic survey followed by regional soil sampling. This programme lead to the identification of the 15 km gold in soil anomaly that straddles the Cape Mount and Cape Mount East licences and that corresponds to the westerly extension of the Bea Mountain Greenstone Belt.
This Belt is interpreted as being folded over the licence areas with the southern limb corresponding to the Silver Hills target, located in the Company’s Bea Mountain Mining Licence. Subsequent trenching was undertaken in several locations along the gold corridor and demonstrated in situ mineralisation with best intercepts of 16m grading 1.7 g/t Au and 6m grading 2.3 g/t Au.
The Cape Mount, Cape Mount West and Cape Mount East licences are held by Sarama Resources Liberia Ltd. The Company has agreed to acquire Sarama Investments Liberia Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sarama, a company registered in the British Virgin Islands , for a total of 2,600,000 common shares of Aureus Mining Inc. Sarama will also retain an uncapped 1% net smelter return royalty ("Royalty") on gold produced from the Cape Mount Permit.
The acquisition is subject to a number of conditions precedent, including receipt of all required governmental and regulatory approvals, including the approval of the Toronto Stock Exchange to the issue of the common Aureus shares. The shares issued to Sarama will be subject to the statutory four month hold period from the date of issue.
