Tarsis Resources Ltd. ("Tarsis" and the "Company") is pleased to announce it has optioned its Erika property, located in southern Mexico, to Osisko Mining Corporation ("Osisko"). The Option and Joint Venture Letter Agreement (the "Agreement") grants Osisko the right to earn up to a 75% interest by funding exploration and development of the property and making cash payments to Tarsis.
Key terms of the Agreement are as follows:
Initial 51% Interest
- $1,000,000 in cash payments to Tarsis over four years; and
- $4,000,000 in expenditures on the property over four years,
including a firm first year commitment of $500,000
Additional 24% Interest
- Fund and deliver a Feasibility Study on the property within two years of the 51% earn in.
"We are very pleased to have attracted a well-financed and experienced mid-tier Canadian gold producer such as Osisko to our Erika project," stated Tarsis President & CEO, Marc Blythe. "Completion of this option and joint venture agreement demonstrates the quality of the project and Tarsis' commitment to the 'prospect generator' business model supported by our shareholders."
The Erika Gold Project
The Erika property located in Guerrero State, Mexico covers approximately 16,000 hectares. The property is accessed by paved road via Federal Highway 95, which crosses the eastern boundary of the claims. Acapulco is 150 km south and Iguala is 47 km north of Erika.
Drilling in 2011 by Tarsis identified Carlin-style gold mineralization hosted in Cretaceous carbonate and shelf sequence stratigraphy. Elevated gold response occurs in zones of decarbonisation often accompanied by multi-phase calcite veining and the presence of arsenic sulphides, orpiment and realgar. Detailed petrography confirmed the presence of arsenian rimmed pyrite in a number of the gold bearing zones. Diamond drill hole ER 11-14 returned 10.28 meters grading 1.14 g/t gold (further details can be found on the Tarsis website www.tarsis.ca). Tarsis also identified several new and untested Carlin-style gold-in-soil anomalies in prospective stratigraphic and structural settings up to eight kilometres from the 2011 drill sites.
Elsewhere on the property, extensive clay alteration and argillization, combined with favourable pathfinder elements suggest the potential for epithermal-style gold mineralization.
Erika's immediate neighbours in the Guerrero Gold Belt are Torex Gold Resources Inc. and Newstrike Capital Inc., both of which are exploring skarn and/or breccia-style gold mineralization. Goldcorp Inc.'s operating Los Filos gold mine lies 12 km south of the Erika property and is mining skarn-style gold mineralization. Los Filos is currently Mexico's largest gold mine by output.
The Agreement
Osisko can earn an initial 51% interest in the Erika property by making the following cash payments to Tarsis:
- $50,000 after execution of the Agreement;
- $100,000 on or before the first anniversary of the Agreement;
- $150,000 on or before the second anniversary of the Agreement;
- $300,000 on or before the third anniversary of the Agreement; and
- $400,000 on or before the fourth anniversary of the Agreement;
and incur expenditures of:
- $500,000 before the first anniversary of the agreement (firm commitment);
- an additional $750,000 before the second anniversary of the agreement;
- an additional $1,000,000 before the third anniversary of the agreement; and
- an additional $1,750,000 before the fourth anniversary of the agreement.
After the initial 51% interest has been earned, Osisko can elect to earn an additional 24% interest (total 75%) by funding and delivering a Feasibility Study. Osisko can also accelerate these payments at its option in order to earn in sooner. Osisko is the operator of the project during the initial earn in phase and during the joint venture as long as it has at least 50% interest in the project.
The technical information contained in this press release was prepared by Mr. Marc G. Blythe, P.Eng., the President and CEO of Tarsis Resources Ltd. Mr. Blythe is a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101.
Source: http://www.tarsis.ca/