Sentinel Metals has completed the acquisition of the Big Springs gold project, in Nevada, from fellow-listed Capricorn Metals, with planning underway for an initial 10 000 m drill campaign.
The “transformational” acquisition establishes Sentinel with a two-million-ounce North American gold resource base across two Tier 1 US mining jurisdictions.
Big Springs hosts an existing mineral resource estimate of 15.5-million tonnes grading 2 g/t gold for 1.01-million contained ounces, with exploration upside. It is located in the highly endowed Independence Trend in Elko County, which is considered a premier mining jurisdiction globally.
Historical mining at Big Springs produced about 386 000 oz of gold from seven openpits between 1987 and 1993.
Sentinel believes the project offers substantial exploration and development upside, with previous work having identified multiple high-grade ore shoots that remain open at depth and which remain largely untested by modern drilling.
Additionally, the company confirms significant exploration opportunity across the broader 93 km2 landholding.
Sentinel also owns the Columbia gold/silver project, in Montana, which hosts a mineral resource of 920 000 oz of gold and 3.1-million ounces of silver.
The acquisition consideration comprised upfront cash of A$8.5-million and the issuance of 8.6-million fully paid ordinary Sentinel shares to the vendor worth A$5-million, comprising a 6.2% shareholding.
A further A$12.5-million contingent consideration may become payable once Sentinel achieves specified resource, share price or transaction milestones.
Meanwhile, Capricorn continues to focus on its Karlawinda and Mt Gibson projects, in Western Australia.