Antler Gold Corp. [ANTL-TSXV; ALRGF-OTC] shares were up by almost 32% on Monday February 3 after the company said it has signed a deal to sell its Newfoundland exploration properties to Altius Minerals Corp. [ALS-TSX; ATUSF-OTCQX].
Antler said it has entered into a binding letter of agreement with Altius Resources Inc., a subsidiary of Altius Minerals Corp., to sell the Newfoundland properties in exchange for 8.22 million common shares of Antler held by Altius.
Altius directly and indirectly holds diversified royalties and streams that generate revenue from 15 operating mines, located in Canada and Brazil. These operations produce copper, zinc, nickel, cobalt, iron ore, potash and thermal (electrical) and metallurgical coal.
Altius has previously been linked to gold exploration in central Newfoundland through a 19.9% stake in Antler and its ownership of 9.2 million common shares of Sokoman Minerals Corp. [SIC-TSXV; SICNF-OTCQBV] plus 1,800,000 warrants and a 1.5% NSR royalty on Sokoman’s Moosehead gold project.
On Monday, Antler said the Newfoundland property consists of 373 claims and represents 230 claims that make up the entire Wilding Lake Project, together with 141 claims of the Noel Paul Project, seven claims of the Intersection Project and one claim of the Crystal Lake Project.
The property was originally acquired by Antler from Altius under option agreements entered into in 2016 and 2017. In exchange for the transfer of the property to Altius, Altius will transfer 8.22 million common shares of Antler (which represent a 14.4% stake in Antler) to Antler for cancellation.
Antler shares rallied on the news, rising 31.6% or $0.03 to 12.5 cents. The shares are currently trading in a 52-week range of $0.04 and 19 cents.
Altius shares eased 1.2% or 13 cents to $10.58. The shares are trading in a 52-week range of $10.41 and $13.77.
The Wilding Lake Project is located adjacent to Marathon Gold Corp.’s [MOZ-TSX; OTC-MGDPF] Valentine gold project in central Newfoundland. Marathon Gold recently released an updated mineral resource estimate for Valentine Lake, which is based on infill drilling last year at the Leprechaun and Marathon deposits.
Marathon said Measured and Indicated resources now stand at 3.09 million ounces (54.9 million tonnes at 1.75 g/t gold), an increase of 400,000 ounces, or 15% in comparison with a previous estimate announced in October, 2018.
On top of that is an Inferred Resource of 960,000 ounces (16.8 million tonnes at 1.78 g/t gold), a decrease of 570,000 ounces, or 37%, compared with the previous estimate. This represents a conversion of 26% of the project’s Inferred Mineral Mesources to higher confidence Measured and Indicated categories and a loss of 11%, with 63% remaining.
The Wilding Lake Project is located approximately 40 km south of Buchans and is accessed by a well-maintained gravel road and subsidiary forest access roads. Antler said the mineralized system along this trend, as demonstrated on the Wilding Lake Project, is capable of producing both high-grade gold and significant widths that include channel sample gold results of 6.0 g/t over 8.5 metres, 8.7 g/t over 6.7 metres, 49.3 g/t over 4.6 metres and 28.8 g/t over 1.0 metre from the Alder/Taz Zone.
Highlights from drilling include gold intercepts of 10.01 g/t over 5.35 metres, including 49.9 g/t over 0.98 metres (Elm Zone) and 1.51 g/t over 11 metres (Red Ochre Complex).