Troy Resources Limited yesterday advised that the Earn-In Agreement with Barrick Corporation, announced by the Company on 1 July 2021 has been terminated with effect from 25 December 2022 due to exploration findings within the Potaro and Apanachi areas in Guyana which are not significant enough to warrant further exploration by Barrick nor progressing to a Feasibility Study.
A release from Troy said that under the Earn-In Agreement, Canada-headquartered Barrick’s obligations were to spend US$3 million, with any under expenditure due to the Company. Barrick’s expenditure obligations were satisfied throughout the term of the Earn-In Agreement, so there is no shortfall due to the Company.
According to the release, Barrick’s exploration objectives have been quite different to the Company’s objectives in acquiring the tenements the subject of the Earn-In Agreement only a few months before the Earn-In Agreement was finalized.
“… whereas Barrick was seeking “elephant sized” deposits, Troy’s ambitions were more modest.
As shareholders will be aware from the quarterly exploration updates released to the ASX, Barrick’s exploration efforts did not result in the identification of significant mineralisation. However, Troy has not abandoned its exploration aspirations in relation to the tenements, and indeed has gained geological information to be used going forward”.
CEO of Troy, Richard Beazley commented that: “Whilst we are obviously disappointed that Barrick has decided to terminate the Earn-in-Agreement, the targeting of “elephant” sized deposits beneath substantial sand cover in a highly underexplored region was always going to be a high-risk strategy.
He added: “Moreover, whilst the lack of exploration success in respect of these tenements to the south of the Karouni Mill represents a downgrade in their prospectivity, the bulk of these tenements were acquired by Troy only a short while before the Earn-in-Agreement was entered into.
“The fact is, Troy holds a substantial and highly underexplored ground position, with the most prospective targets located to the north (eg Upper Itaki) or east of the Karouni Mill (eg Kaburi Hills) of the Karouni Mill”, Beazley stated.
After a series of setbacks, Troy Resources is aiming to return to gold mining and production at its Smarts Underground Site in the fourth quarter of 2023 and the company is currently in the preparatory phase of its resumption timeline.
The Australian mining company is also currently revising its business model and at this time is looking at an immediate capital investment of US$10 Million for its operations at Karouni in Region Seven.
“We have given ourselves an aggressive timeline for 2023. By this time next year, we anticipate to be back in production. There are a range of defining aspects required to align with this road map, one being underpinned by financial capability and capacity amongst others which we need to set in place to move forward,” Country Manager, Sven Tegeler, said in a recent interview with Stabroek News.
