Colt Resources Inc. has announced that it has received formal notification from the Direcção-Geral de Energia e Geologia (DGEG), a division of the Portuguese Ministry of Economy and Innovation, that the Colt-AIOC Joint Venture application and contract for an Experimental Mining License on its 47 Km2 Boa Fé gold project has been approved by order of the Secretary of State for Energy and Mining of the Government of Portugal.
Colt has also received a similar notice of approval for an exploration license on its 728 km2 Montemor gold concession which completely surrounds the Boa Fé concession.
As a result, the Company will proceed immediately, after an official signing ceremony with the payment of €125,000 and the issuance of 3 million shares to be escrowed over 2 years to Iberian Resources Portugal Recursos Minerais Unipessoal Lda, a Portuguese subsidiary of Australian Iron Ore PLC (AIOC). This will satisfy the requirements of the August 2010 transaction and will increase Colt's control and ownership of the project from 51% to 100%.
"We are now able to commence the development of this exceptional gold property. We have equipment and experienced personnel on site and are ready to begin operations immediately. We look forward to enjoying the benefits of this transaction which was agreed when gold was selling at approximately three quarters of its present price", said Nikolas Perrault, Colt Resources President and CEO.
Perrault went on to say "The Boa Fé property has been explored intermittently during the last 20 years during which time significant funds have been spent on geochemistry, trenching and drilling. This has resulted in an extensive historical database which we acquired as part of the transaction. At current gold prices, the asset represents a remarkable opportunity to rapidly advance a significant gold bearing shear zone."
Boa Fé / Montemor
The Boa Fé Shear zone is located approximately 95km east of Lisbon and is known to extend over 30Kms. Gold mineralization was identified during the 1950's but remained largely overlooked until the 1980's when several exploration companies including RTZ and Riofinex began to test the potential of the property. Low gold prices during the 1990's forced those companies to abandon the property and the significant amount of data that had been collected. During the 2000's, several junior companies recommenced near surface exploration for gold. The application process to commence mining of several high grade, near surface gold deposits was stalled in 2008 as a result of the bankruptcy of Tamaya Resources, the most recent explorer of the project. It should be noted that the most recent work done at Boa Fé was in the mid 2000's, a period during which gold was trading under $700 per ounce.
Over the next month, Colt will commence an aggressive resource definition and mine development program at Boa Fé as well as an extensive regional exploration program (Montemor Concession) over the remaining parts of the shear zone which historically have received very little attention.