Lumina Gold Corp has announced the signing of a formal earn-in agreement with First Quantum Minerals Ltd (FQM) relating to Lumina’s Orquideas and Cascas concessions. The terms of the five-year agreement, which commits FQM to contributing $1.5 million to the development of exploration work in the first year and grants FQM the option of contributing up to an additional $37 million over the course of the subsequent four years of the Earn-In Agreement, were previously announced as part of a Letter of Intent. The news comes after FQM’s withdrawal from the Pebble project in Alaska in May.
Pursuant to the terms of the Earn-In Agreement, Lumina will receive US$100,000 due upon signing, and will be reimbursed approximately $840,000 (as part of the contribution commitment described above) for expenditures made on the Properties from September 2017 to mid-May 2018. Work is ongoing at Orquideas and Cascas under the supervision of FQM, with Lumina acting as operator.
At Orquideas, phase one line-cutting is complete and an Induced Polarization (IP) geophysical survey is well advanced, with approximately 95% of the 34 km survey now completed. An additional 12 kilometres of infill IP lines are planned as a follow-up. Concurrent soil auger sampling, with 100 m spacing along the geophysical lines, is also an integral component of the exploration program. The IP chargeability results continue to show good correlation with known copper-molybdenum anomalies and mineralised structures at surface. Lumina submitted an application to change Orquideas to an Advanced Exploration concession in 2017, which will allow for drill testing. The submission is pending review and approval from Government authorities.
At Cascas, Lumina plans to investigate previously discovered porphyry copper mineralisation in phases of the late Jurassic Zamora batholith. Based on 1,325 rock, soil and stream sediment samples, the coincident copper-molybdenum footprint is seen to extend over an area of 5.0 x 2.5 km. Adjacent to this anomaly to the southeast is a distinctive gold anomaly spread over an area of 3.0 x 2.5 km. A new geological map has been developed that will guide follow-up exploration efforts.
