Brixton Metals options Atlin Goldfields Project to Eldorado Gold
Brixton Metals Corp. [TSXV-BBB; OTCQB-BBBXF] reported that it has entered into a definitive option agreement with Eldorado Gold Corp. [TSX-ELD; NYSE-EGO], whereby Eldorado has been granted the option to acquire 100%-ownership of the company’s Atlin Goldfields Project. The project is a road accessible, 579 km2 mineral claim group located near the town of Atlin, northern British Columbia and is located within the traditional territory of the Taku River Tlingit First Nation. All dollar figures are in Canadian dollars, unless otherwise stated.
Highlights of the Option Agreement: During the 5-year option period, Eldorado shall fund $1,000,000 in exploration expenditures per year beginning September 30, 2024, for an aggregate spend of $5,350,000; including an additional minimum commitment to fund $350,000 of exploration expenditures on or before September 30, 2024.
Eldorado shall make cash payments to Brixton of $250,000 per year for aggregate payments of $1,100,000 during the Option Period; including an additional minimum payment of $100,000 within 10 days of signing the Option Agreement.
In addition, at the end of the Option Period, Eldorado shall have the right to exercise the Option to acquire 100%-ownership of the Project by making a cash payment to Brixton in the amount of $7,000,000; where Brixton, at its election, may receive up to 50% of such payment in the form of common shares of Eldorado, subject to the prior attainment of the customary requisite regulatory approvals.
Eldorado may, in its sole discretion, elect at any time during the option period to accelerate the payments or funding timetables for any of the earn-in requirements of the Option.
Upon exercise of the Option by Eldorado, Brixton shall be granted a 1.0% net smelter return royalty (NSR), with Eldorado retaining an option to purchase half (0.5%) of Brixton’s NSR for $2,000,000 prior to the commencement of commercial production at the project.
During the Option Period, Brixton shall be the Operator of the project with Eldorado approving all work programs and budgets relating to the project. Eldorado will also work closely and support Brixton with respect to ongoing environmental monitoring and community engagement efforts.
Brixton Chairman and CEO, Gary R. Thompson, stated, “We are delighted to have attracted Eldorado Gold, a well-established miner, to the Atlin Goldfields Project. We look forward to working with Eldorado in advancing this exciting gold project.”
The Atlin Goldfields Project is road accessible near the town of Atlin, BC and about a 2-hour drive from Whitehorse, Yukon. Since 2016, and over a 3-year period, Brixton has consolidated its wholly owned 579 km2 claim group with a focus on locating the hard rock source of the placer gold within the mining camp. The Atlin Goldfields Project covers several orogenic and intrusion-related gold targets. The Atlin gold camp has been producing gold for 125 years and is the second largest placer gold producer in British Columbia with a reported 600,000 ounces of gold produced between 1898 and 1945.
An estimated additional 400,000 ounces of gold have been produced since the record keeping ceased in 1946 (Ash 2001). The two major placer producing creeks (Pine and Spruce) and many of the other productive creeks are located within the Atlin Goldfields Project. The Atlin gold camp holds the provincial record for the largest gold nugget, which weighed 2.6 kg (85 oz) and was discovered on Spruce Creek (BCGS Paper 2017-1, p.179-193).
Brixton’s rock samples of coarse-grained quartz veins have returned values of up to 293 g/t gold from the LD Showing in 2017 and 53.60 g/t gold from the Union Mountain Showing in 2020. Historical diamond drilling at the Yellowjacket Target has returned up to 509.96 g/t gold (16.39 oz/ton gold) over 5.57 metres. Brixton’s drilling in 2023 returned 35.00 metres of 0.77 g/t gold, including 19.00 metres of 1.34 g/t gold, including 0.45 metres of 38.10 g/t gold at the Yellowjacket Target. In 2019, Brixton drilled 8.53 g/t gold over 2.00 metres at the LD showing.
Over 39,500 metres of drilling has been completed across the property including 1,599 metres in 2019 at LD and Pictou (22 collars), 292m in 2022 at Yellowjacket (2 collars), and 350 metres in 2023 at Yellowjacket (1 collar)
Brixton has collected and compiled thousands of surface samples: 2,140 rock samples, 12,650 soil samples, 210 silt samples and 23 associated bulk leach extractable gold samples (BLEG) and 161 biogeochemical samples.
A total of 6,563 line-km of magnetic geophysical surveys have been completed across the project area.
Brixton wholly owns four exploration projects. Brixton’s flagship Thorn copper-gold-silver-molybdenum Project, the Hog Heaven copper-silver-gold Project in NW Montana, USA, which is optioned to Ivanhoe Electric Inc., the Langis-HudBay silver-cobalt-nickel Project in Ontario and the Atlin Goldfields Project optioned to Eldorado Gold Corp.