News

July 08, 2009

Cangold May Develop As A Flexible Trader In Projects and Companies, Instead Of Simply Exploring For Gold

By Charles Wyatt

When, in November, we last wrote about Cangold, the smaller member of the Great Panther stable, it was suggested that the company might have potential as a consolidator in the junior mining sector. It was in a reasonable financial state having raised C$1 million from a placing the previous March and having then sold its 51 per cent stake in the Thorn project in northern British Columbia to its partner Rimfire Minerals for a mixture of shares and cash. Nice time to be exiting in an orderly fashion, as that was a time when the mining sector appeared to be descending into total disarray. Cangold was then left with two properties in Mexico – Plomo and Los Venados - as well as a 51 per cent stake in the Argosy gold mine in the Red Lake Mining Division of Ontario. The other 49 per cent was owned by Cangold’s joint venture partner, Premier Gold Mines.

But Cangold has just announced that it has acquired Premier’s 49 per cent interest in Argosy so it now has the whole caboosh, subject to a 2.5 per cent net smelter royalty, and this will give it much more flexibility as the project progresses. The Argosy mine, which is 110 kilometres east northeast of Red Lake, closed in 1952 after producing 101,875 ounces of gold from 276,573 tons of ore at an average grade of 12.7 grammes per tonne gold. It was only mined to a depth of 270 metres. It is...