Mining Technology

Northstar partners Hunan Nonferrous for gold exploration in Canada

The agreement allows Hunan to conduct diamond drilling, potentially earning a negotiated interest in the resulting resource.

Northstar Gold has signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Hunan Nonferrous Geological Exploration Institution (Hunan Nonferrous) to develop gold resources at the Miller copper-gold property in Canada.

Hunan Nonferrous is a subsidiary of the Remote Sensing Geological Survey and Monitor Institute of Hunan Province.

The MOU is a significant step towards the exploration and development of a near-surface NI43-101 gold mineral resource at Northstar's 100%-owned Miller property, located 18km south-east of Kirkland Lake, Ontario.

This agreement allows Hunan Nonferrous to conduct diamond drilling of up to 10,000m, potentially earning a negotiated interest in the resulting NI43-101 gold resource.

Earlier this month, Hunan Nonferrous secured access to the Miller Property gold exploration database under a confidentiality agreement for due diligence purposes.

Following a formal acceptance of an invitation letter from Northstar, Hunan Nonferrous has committed to mobilise a team of specialists to Canada.

The team will conduct due diligence site inspections of Northstar's New Liskeard and Earlton, Ontario, offices, core shack facilities and the nearby Miller Copper Gold Property in early October.

After these site visits, Northstar and Hunan Nonferrous intend to enter good faith negotiations to finalise the project's earn-in terms, scope and timeline.

The goal is to formalise a binding Cooperative Agreement for the development of the gold mineral resource at the Miller Copper-Gold Property.

Northstar president and CEO Brian Fowler said: “Hunan Nonferrous' intentions are to earn an interest in Northstar's Miller Alkalic Intrusive Complex, bulk tonnage gold-telluride mineralising system centred over the near-surface Allied Gold Zone, by undertaking a substantial expansion diamond drill programme.

“This drilling will provide for an inaugural NI43-101 mineral resource estimate, supplementing SRK Canada's 2022 Exploration Target Study that defined an upper range exceeding 500,000oz of near-surface gold averaging 2.04 g/t [grams per tonne] gold at the Allied Gold Zone.”