VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – TSX-V-listed Barkerville Gold Mines has sold another 0.75% net smelter return (NSR) royalty on its flagship Cariboo gold project, in central British Columbia, to TSX-listed Osisko Gold Royalties for C$12.5-million in cash.
This will take Osisko’s total NSR royalty on the Cariboo project to 2.25%, the company said on Monday.
Barkerville stated that the additional royalty will eliminate the company’s current obligation to negotiate a gold stream agreement with Osisko after completing a feasibility study on its Cariboo project, which was granted as part of the investment agreement between Osisko and Barkerville, dated February 5, 2016.
Barkerville is expecting to start underground production for four years from the Bonanza Ledge and BC vein from the second quarter onwards. It is also working to define an economic resource and reserve base that will allow production to grow with the addition of a near-site processing facility from 2021 onwards.
According to the company, which has the backing of major shareholders Eric Sprott, Osisko Mining and Osisko Gold Royalties, seven drill rigs are currently operating on the Cariboo project’s Island Mountain deposit, with an eighth rig testing for additional mineralisation below the former Aurum and Cariboo gold quartz mines, which have not been explored since mining operations ceased in about 1960.