JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Canadian midtier mining company Centerra Gold has elected to earn into zinc and gold junior Erris Resources’ Brännberg gold project, in northern Sweden, with a $1-million investment.

Erris, which was admitted to trading on the Aim at the end of last year, said on Wednesday that Centerra would invest the exploration funding over two years to earn a 51% interest in the project.

Gold mineralisation at Brännberg was first documented in the 1990s by Scanex-Mirab Exploration in a joint venture with Barrick Gold. London-listed Beowulf Mining then took up the licences when they became available in 2003.

There has been a total of 1 660 m of drilling in 21 holes and most holes have encountered mineralisation. The drilling outlined a northwest-trending mineralised zone over a distance of 800 m, which is open along strike and at depth.

"The new deal allows us to accelerate the work programme at this high priority gold project.  Historic drilling at Brännberg returned several intersections of broad gold mineralisation from surface, and we look forward to testing the open targets along strike and at depth to determine the size of the mineralised system,” commented Erris CEO Merlin Marr-Johnson.

A work programme of surface till sampling and geophysics is planned for the first half of this year, after which a new diamond drilling campaign will start in the second half of the year.

“With Centerra funding our generative gold exploration and three key projects in Sweden, Erris will see $1.85-million of exploration funding in 2018 on this portfolio and we have exposure to significant upside with no corporate dilution,” Marr-Johnson added.

Besides Brännberg, Erris also owns the Klippen and Käringberget projects. In Ireland, Erris is to explore a site in Abbeytown, which is a historic lead/silver mine situated within an active limestone quarry operated by the Harrington Group.

The company listed on the Aim in December, raising £4-million.