Barrick Gold sells stake in Royal Road Minerals

Barrick Gold Corp. [ABX-TSX; GOLD-NYSE] said Tuesday September 10 that it has sold its 10.71% stake in Royal Road Minerals Ltd. [RYR-TSXV; RRDMF-OTC] for proceeds of $4.3 million.

Barrick said it sold 22.6 million shares for 19 cents per share in order to monetize its investment in the junior. The shares represented Barrick’s entire holding of common shares in Royal Road.

Royal Road shares declined on the news, falling 4.8% or $0.01 to 20 cents. The shares are currently trading in a 52-week range of $0.06 and 23 cents.

Prior to Tuesday’s announcement, Barrick was part of a shareholder group that included Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. [AEM-TSX, NYSE], which in April 2019,  increased its stake in Royal Road to 19.9% from 9.4% by participating in a private placement that raised $8 million from an offering of 40 million ordinary shares priced at 20 cents each.

Royal Road Minerals was launched in 2010 by the original founders and shareholders of Lydian International Ltd. Whilst at Lydian, the team discovered, financed and developed the 5 million-ounce Amulsar gold deposit in Armenia.

Royal Road said it is currently the largest license application owner in the highly prospective province of Narino in Colombia, which is close to Colombia’s southern border with Ecuador, and widely known for its gold and porphyry copper-gold potential. The company said it has in excess of 400,000 hectares in the application to concession contract process.

Of those applications, Royal Road said roughly 200,000 hectares have passed the initial phase of conversion to concession contracts, meaning that they have been approved by local majors and counselors.

Narino hosts numerous gold occurrences and one of the largest alluvial goldfields in Colombia. Narino is also widely considered to be one of the last remaining highly prospective and underexplored regions of the Andes.

Royal Road is also active in Nicaragua after acquiring the interests of Caza Gold Corp. [CZY-TSXV] in that country, including the Los Andes porphyry copper-gold and Piedra Iman iron-oxide copper-gold prospects.

The company has executed a 50-50 strategic exploration alliance with Hemco/Mineros, in which both companies combine exploration assets and explore in Nicaragua on a 50-50 basis. This arrangement also provides Royal Road with access to the highly prospective Golden Triangle region of Northeastern Nicaragua.

Recently, the company announced positive drill results from its Luna Roja skarn gold project in Nicaragua, where Royal Road recently completed a 17-hole scout diamond drill program.

Results have been returned for the first 13 holes, with highlights including 49 metres at 2.8 g/t, 49 metres at 2.4 g/t, and 80 metres at 1.1 g/t.

Luna Roja forms part of the company’s strategic-alliance agreement with Hemco Mineros Nicaragua, a subsidiary of Colombia’s Grupo Mineros S.A.  The project is located in the Golden Triangle area.

The region is characterized by epithermal style gold veins, skarn and porphyry-style mines that have been in operation since the early 1900s.