Jul 5 2017
Dundee Precious Metals Inc. is pleased to announce that it has entered into an option agreement with Khalkos Exploration Inc. to earn up to a 71% interest in their Malartic gold property located in the Archean Abitibi greenstone belt in the Malartic mining camp in Quebec, as set out on the map included as Figure 1 (to view Figure 1 please click on the following link: http://www.marketwire.com/library/20170629-1098405.png). The transaction has been approved by the TSX Venture Exchange and all consents have been received.
The Malartic property consists of 91 contiguous claims covering 35 square kilometers of prospective Abitibi geology. The full length of the property is transected by several regional shear zones, including the Parfouru and La Pause faults, which run subparallel to the prolific Cadillac Larder Lake fault zone. Within the property several quartz carbonate vein gold occurrences are hosted by these regional shear zones and related fracture systems. In addition, the presence of upper felsic volcanic stratigraphy of the Blake River Group on the property indicates the potential for gold-rich VMS lenses and related sulphide stockworks similar to deposits in the Doyon-Bousquet-LaRonde gold camp located 10-15 kilometers west of the property.
Over the past 70 years only a few parts of the property were systematically explored and drill tested due to the numerous claims and smaller claim blocks held by different owners. The successful consolidation of these claims by Khalkos allows for a systematic exploration approach that will integrate geology with new geochemical and geophysical datasets to develop drill targets on a wider scale.
Under the terms of the option agreement, DPM can earn an initial 51% interest in Malartic in exchange for certain cash payments totalling Cdn$412,500, the issuance of an aggregate of 70,000 common shares of the Company and making expenditures on the property aggregating Cdn$2,500,000 within three (3) years of the effective date of the option agreement. Thereafter, DPM will have a further option to increase its interest to 71% by incurring an additional Cdn$3,500,000 in expenditures on the property within three (3) years. During the option period, DPM will be the operator of the project.
"We are very pleased to be partnering with Khalkos to advance the very exciting Malartic property in Quebec, a province with a strong heritage in exploration and mining. This initiative is in line with our corporate strategy to build a diversified pipeline of assets," commented Rick Howes, President and CEO of DPM.