First Mining Gold closes $24 million Duparquet deal

First Mining Gold Corp. [FF-TSX, FFMGF-OTCQX, FMG-Frankfurt] said Friday it owns 100% of the Duparquet gold project in Quebec after completing the acquisition of shares in Beattie Gold Mines which it did not already own as well as shares of two numbered companies.

The total consideration for the Beattie offer and concurrent transactions was $8.7 million in cash and the issuance of 69.1 million common share, bringing the total value of the transaction to $24 million.

First Mining shares were unchanged on the news, trading at 21.5 cents in a 52-week range of . The shares are currently trading in a 52-week range of 20 cents and 36 cents.

“We are very pleased to announce the completion of this transformational of the Duparquet Gold Project,’’ said First Mining CEO Dan Wilton. “Since the announcement, First Mining has been very active at the project as demonstrated by the recent updated Duparquet mineral resource estimate.”

“We look forward to working together with local municipality and Indigenous communities and the Province to advance this top tier mining project in Quebec.’’

First Mining Gold is an emerging development company with a diversified portfolio of gold projects in North America. Prior to the Duparquet acquisition, it had previously assembled a resource base of 7.3 million ounces of gold in the measured and indicated categories and 3.6 million ounces of gold in the inferred category in eastern Canada.

They include the Goldlund project, which covers 28,572 hectares and is located 60 kilometres northeast of Dryden Ontario. The property has been extensively explored and hosted an underground and open pit mine between 1982 and 1985.

The Duparquet Gold Project is a multi-million-ounce advanced exploration and mining development asset located in the Abitibi region of Quebec, approximately 50 kilometres north of the city of Rouyn-Noranda. The Duparquet deposit contains an updated gold resource of 3.4 million ounces of gold in the measured and indicated category, plus an additional 1.6 million ounces of inferred material.

Existing infrastructure at the project site includes paved provincial highways, from Rouyn-Noranda to the south and LaSarre to the north, plus direct access to Quebec’s hydroelectric power grid. The project is located in an area with a strong history of sustainable mining practises.

The Goldlund project contains an indicated resource of 12.86 million tonnes of grade 1.96 g/t gold, containing 809,000 ounces. On top of that is an inferred resource of 18.4 million tonnes, grading 1.49 g/t, or 876,954 ounces.

First mining acquired the asset in June, 2016 via an amalgamation with Tamaka Gold Corp., a privately-held exploration company that owned the Goldlund project.

Wilton has previously said that work will continue to advance First Mining’s understanding of Goldlund’s significant exploration upside, with a focus on unlocking the project’s size and district scale potential.