Mining’s old guard needs strong medicine
A new report details subpar investor returns in the mining industry over the last decade, particularly big cap diversified companies which have not adapted to new realities.
Shares in NioGold Mining (TSX-V:NOX) are up 3.28% today on brisk mid-day trading, after the company announced promising drill results from its Marban Block property, located in the Abitibi region of Quebec, Canada.
Highlights from 10 new drill holes at the Marban deposit include an intersection at depth of 7.0 grams of gold per tonne (g/t Au) over 10.9 metres (MB-08-053ext) and shallow intersections obtained at the west end of the deposit of 5.9 g/t Au over 15.7 metres (MB-11-195) and 906.2 g/t Au over 2.6 metres (MB-11-198).
Drilling was conducted under terms of the Aurizon Mines Ltd. (“Aurizon”) earn-in option agreement, whereby Aurizon can earn up to a 65% interest in the property if certain conditions are met. The initial 50% interest can be earned by incurring expenditures of C$20 million over three years, completing an updated NI 43-101 compliant mineral resource estimate, and by making a resource payment for 50% of the total gold ounces defined by the mineral resource estimate. NioGold is the project operator during the initial earn-in period.
The initial program under the terms of the Aurizon option agreement commenced on August 30, 2010, and was completed on August 9, 2011. A total of 170 diamond drill holes and eight extensions of previous holes were completed for a total of 50,253 metres. Results for 115 holes have been previously released, results from 10 holes are included in this release, and results are pending for 53 drill holes.
Highlights of the program include:
