Newrange names Archer as CEO

Newrange Gold Corp. [NRG-TSXV] said Wednesday January 2 that it has named Robert Archer as its new Chief Executive Officer. The company said Archer has more than 35 years of experience in the mining industry, working throughout North America and Peru.

After spending more than 15 years with major mining companies, he held several management positions in the junior mining sector and co-founded Great Panther Silver Ltd. [GPR-TSX; GPL-NYSE], an emerging mid-tier precious metals producer. A professional geologist, Archer has been a shareholder of Newrange for many years and took a more active role by joining the board of directors in March 2018.

“We welcome Bob to the management team,” said Robert Carrington, who will maintain in the role of President and Chairman.

Newrange is an exploration and development company with a focus on near-to-intermediate-term production opportunities in favourable jurisdictions, including Nevada and Colombia.

The shares were unchanged at 22.5 cents on Wednesday and trade in a 52-week range of $0.07 and 38 cents.

Newrange was focused on exploration in Colombia until the opportunity came up in 2016 to acquire the Pamlico property, which is located near the famous Comstock District in Nevada. Newrange acquired the project in the belief that it offers the company the chance to explore and develop a district scale, near surface, potentially high-grade gold deposit.

It should be noted that exploration to date has been insufficient to define a mineral resource that would meet NI 43-101 standards of disclosure.

However, optimism is based on Pamlico’s location and history.

Situated along the Walker Lane, one of Nevada’s largest and most productive gold trends, it is comprised of 116 unpatented mining lodge claims, covering the historic Pamlico Group of underground mines, as well as the surrounding Good Hope, Central, Gold Bar and Sunset Mines.

Drilling by previous operators and owners intersected very high-grade mineralization. Records show that one historic drill hole intersected 4.6 metres grading 239.7 g/t gold, and included 0.8 metres assaying 702.5 g/t in an area called the Merritt Zone.

But due to the fact that the property been in private hands since 1898, it remains underexplored and relatively untested by modern exploration techniques.

Still, hopes that Newrange will outline an economic resource are based on the extent and grade of the gold mineralization in historic surface and underground samples, the high-grade nature of historic gold production, and available drill results.

Under the July 2016 agreement, Newrange obtained the option to purchase a 100% interest in the Pamlico property, either by (1) paying the owner $4 million in cash, including advance minimum royalties and production royalties (4% NSR) within four years; or (2) pay $7.5 million in cash, including advance minimum royalties and production royalties so long as annual payments are equal to or exceed $250,000.

Upon signing, the company committed to pay $50,000 with a second payment of $150,000 due within six months. Payments of $250,000 are due on each anniversary of the signing date thereafter until the total purchase price, as per option (1) or (2), has been paid.  The 4% NSR can be bought down to 1% by paying the owner $1 million per percentage point.

The payment schedule was altered slightly in December 2016 to reflect prevailing market conditions. Under the amended agreement, Newrange consented to pay the owners US$25,000 on December 15, 2016, and another US$125,000 by March 1, 2017.