Column: Electric dreams turn into a nightmare for battery metals
A sector that was once racing to build new supply has been closing mines and deferring projects as low prices bite into the cost curve.
EMX Royalty (NYSE: EMX) (TSXV: EMX) announced the execution of an option agreement for the Antelope gold project in Nevada to Hochschild Mining (LSE: HOCM).
Antelope is adjacent to the Illipah deposit, which produced 54,198 ounces of gold between 1987 and 1989
Hochschild is looking to earn 100% interest in the property, something the British miner can accomplish by making option payments totalling $600,000, completing $1.5 million in exploration expenditures before the fifth anniversary of the agreement, and reimbursing EMX the previous year’s holding costs. Upon earn-in, EMX will retain a 4% NSR royalty.
Antelope is comprised of 514 unpatented mining claims covering more than 3,925 hectares adjacent to the past-producing Illipah open-pit gold mine, located in the Illipah mining district of western White Pine county.
According to EMX, gold mineralization in the district is hosted in silty carbonate rocks within the lower Chainman, at or near the contact with the underlying Joanna Limestone, and is associated with decalcification and jasperoid alteration within carbonate-rich horizons and along northeast-oriented structures.
