B2Gold invests in Yukon-focused explorer Prospector Metals
The gold major has taken up a 9.99% equity position in Prospector to support its exploration at the ML project in Yukon.
B2Gold Corp. (TSX: BTO) (NYSE American: BTG) has taken up a 9.99% equity position in Prospector Metals (TSXV: PPP) after purchasing approximately 5.6 million shares in the Canadian junior for a total investment of just over C$900,000.
The shares were priced at C$0.163 each, which is 16.4% higher than its market close price of C$0.14 on Friday. For the day, the market capitalization of Prospector Metals ended at C$7.1 million.
In relation to the B2Gold investment, TSX-listed Troilus Gold (TSX: TLG) has the right to purchase some 4.77 million additional shares at the same offer price to maintain a 19.9% ownership. This right will be valid for 10 business days.
Proceeds from the investment will be used for exploration and development of the company’s ML project in Yukon. The property covers 47.6 km2 of the Tintina gold belt, and is located approximately 80 km from Dawson City and 25 km northeast of the former Brewery Creek gold mine.
“We are excited to have B2Gold as a keystone shareholder in Prospector Metals and our team is looking forward to their technical input on our flagship ML project, Yukon,” Rob Carpenter, CEO of Prospector Metals, stated.
“This investment and technical partnership will allow Prospector to advance the ML project more efficiently and it represents an endorsement of our exploration philosophy and targeting methods,” he added.
According to Prospector’s website, the ML property hosts one of the few remaining Tombstone-style intrusions in the Yukon that has not been systematically explored with no significant work completed since 2008. As such, no modern intrusion-related gold (IRGS) exploration models have been applied to ML despite the presence of a diagnostic geochemical signature.
Previous exploration focused on well-exposed gold-copper-tungsten skarn mineralization proximal to syenite intrusions, but little work was completed within the intrusions. The company believes there are over two dozens of known high-grade gold surface occurrences that have never been tested.
So far, Prospector has taken hold of C$12 million worth of historical geological data that includes 6,700 metres of drilling over 117 holes, with results highlighted by 3.53 g/t gold and 0.29% copper over 56.39 metres.