http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/
Agnico Eagle buys shares in thousands of mining claims, says people behind project are ‘top-notch’
Yukon prospector Shawn Ryan says a deal has been struck to bring another major gold mining company into the White Gold district, south of Dawson City. Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. has bought a stake in thousands of mining claims originally owned by Ryan. A statement from the company says it bought 19.93 per cent of the shares of the soon-to-be-named White Gold Corporation, for $14.52 million.
Ryan said an associate of his formed the new Vancouver based company, which then bought all of his claims in the district — 12,300 of them, spread over 21 properties. Ryan said he received $3.5 million and 7 million shares in the new company.
Together they then offered a package deal to major mining companies that included a stake in the shares and a three-year exploration program conducted by Ground Truth Exploration (a company jointly owned by Ryan’s wife, Cathy Wood, and long-time associates Isaac Fage and Tao Henderson).
Ryan said that approach made more sense than trying to sell his properties separately, considering “there’s a high probability of at least one deposit. “If I would have done it the normal way, and sold it to 10 different juniors, it means I would have had nine losers. So I said, ‘why don’t we just roll it all into one?'” he said.
The project fits Agnico Eagle’s preference of buying in at the early stages of a potential mine, said Dale Coffin, the company’s corporate director of communications.
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