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Explorer Surge Copper has entered into a definitive option agreement with Centerra Gold to hold the right to acquire a 70% interest in the Berg porphyry deposit in central B.C.
Under the terms of the agreement, Surge can earn a 70% stake in the copper-molybdenum-silver project by issuing C$5-million worth of its common shares and spending C$8 million on the property over a five-year period. The main deposit at the Berg property, within a 348-sq.-km land package, is approximately 28 km from Surges’s flagship Ootsa project. The two properties are contiguous.
“The acquisition of Berg is highly strategic to Surge, as it solidifies the Company’s position in the district, and adds both significant, high quality historical resources, and a large, prospective land package,” Shane Ebert, Surge’s CEO, said in a release.
Ebert added that this transaction is part of Surge’s strategy of copper district consolidation in B.C.
Berg includes a historic resource estimate of 397 million measured and indicated tonnes grading 0.44% copper-equivalent and 14 million inferred tonnes at 0.34 copper-equivalent. The mineralization appears to be close to surface, with ‘excellent’ vertical continuity and remains open. The deposit also features a supergene enrichment zone.
Berg lies immediately northwest of Ootsa and is directly northwest of Imperial Metals’ Huckleberry mine, which is now on care and maintenance.
The combined Berg and Ootsa properties cover the majority of the Seel-Huckleberry-Berg porphyry trend and cover a total area of 1,202 sq. km.
The Berg land holding features 16 magnetic anomalies. With several metallurgical test programs completed at the site, Berg mineralization appears to produce marketable copper and molybdenum concentrates after conventional flotation.
Next year, Surge plans to complete a drill program focused on confirming and extending the Berg deposit, and better defining the high-grade portions of the system. Additional metallurgical work and evaluation of the possible transport corridors to Ootsa is also planned.
Once Surge meets the share issue and property spend commitments for Berg, Surge and Centerra will form a 70-30 joint venture, and enter into a joint venture agreement.
Surge wholly owns the 727.1-sq.-km Ootsa property, which includes three copper-gold-molybdenum-silver porphyry deposits.
(This article first appeared in the Canadian Mining Journal)
