Canadian company Energold Mining Ltd. has announced a joint venture with Irish company MinMet plc on the Longyear Property in the Dominican Republic. The property is described as highly strategic given that it lies 3.5kms southwest of the Pueblo Viejo mine, where more than 5 million ounces of gold have been extracted from oxides and a further 20 million ounces of sulphide-hosted gold awaits extraction. The Pueblo Viejo mine in Cotui is currently undergoing a feasibility study by Placer Dome.
Energold was granted the 1,090-hectare concession in 1999 (see http://www.energold.com).
The Placer Dome Pueblo Viejo deposit has been in the news recently after another Canadian company, Unigold, announced on its website that the Dominican government had signed a letter of intent, whereby an advance cash payment of US$21 million plus a US$2.5-million donation to a foundation would be made to receive the rights to future revenues from the exploitation of the mine, estimated at US$175 million.
MinMet reports that it can earn 60% of the project within three years by following a 1,000-meter drilling program to be conducted within six months of signing the agreement, and a total project expenditure of US$1.5 million. Following this, MinMet says it would have a further right to increase its ownership to 80% by taking the project to the feasibility study phase.
MinMet recently received the full title from the DR authorities to the Piedra Iman, Loma Resbalosa and Punta Larga exploration concessions, all of which are within close proximity to the Pueblo Viejo mine. The Piedra Iman concession juxtaposes the Longyear concession in the northwest and has similar geology and alteration. The assembly of these strategic landholding positions has been a key strategic objective of MinMet for the past 18 months. MinMet Operations Director David Hall said, “The acquisition of this option over the Longyear concession allows MinMet the opportunity to test its new geological model for Pueblo Viejo style mineralization, in association with ongoing work at the adjacent Piedra Iman concession. With the increased understanding of geology and geochemistry we have built up over the last two years, we believe that the Longyear property has not been fully tested and has the potential to host a significant gold resource.”
According to a report on the Mineral Industry in the Dominican Republic by Omayra Bermudez, Energold Mining Limited has been exploring in the Dominican Republic since 1995. During 1999, however, the interest of the government in attracting foreign mining investments to the country encouraged Energold to acquire optional back-in rights for the land that surrounds the Pueblo Viejo mine and other properties that extend east to west through the middle of the Dominican Republic. The report states that in early 1999, exploration of the Los Pedregones I concession, which was fully owned by Energold, led to the discovery of a new zone of high-grade gold-silver-zinc mineralization. Energold believed the zone had the potential to host a “multi-million ounce” gold-silver deposit. See http://www.minmet.ie/mimet/site/lib.asp?id=11