Mirasol Resources Signs Exploration and Option Agreement with Cerro Vanguardia Mines for Claudia Gold Project

Mirasol Resources Ltd. (TSXV:MRZ) announced that the Company, and one if its 100% owned Argentine subsidiaries, have signed an Exploration and Option Agreement dated February 29th , 2016 with Cerro Vanguardia S.A. to explore the Company’s Claudia gold silver project in Santa Cruz province Argentina. CVSA has been granted the option to acquire, up to a 75% interest in the Claudia Project, exercisable in 3 stages over a six year or shorter earn-in period.
As quoted in the press release:

CVSA operates the multi-million ounce Cerro Vanguardia gold and silver mine which abuts Mirasol’s 127,680 ha Claudia project containing a series of large scale gold silver prospect which are within reasonable trucking distance to the Cerro Vanguardia mill and processing facilities. Cerro Vanguardia S.A. is 92.5 % owned by AngloGold Ashanti, the controlling shareholder, and 7.5 % by Fomicruz S.E., the Santa Cruz provincial mining company. The mine produced 300 thousand ounces of gold in 2015 and over 1.25Moz in the last five years, mining from a series of open pits, heap leach and underground operations. Cerro Vanguardia is one of AngloGold Ashanti’s lower cost gold producers with an all in sustaining cost, in 2015, of USD 873/oz (AngloGold Ashanti Q4-2015 report) with total district resources and past production of 8.6 Moz Au and 135 Moz Ag.
The first phase of the Claudia – CVSA Agreement entitles CVSA to earn a 51% interest in the project over a maximum 2-year period, by spending USD 5 million on exploration, making USD 1 million in payments to Mirasol and executing an exploration program that includes a minimum of 12,000 meters of drilling. The first year commitment by CVSA includes a cash payment of USD 100,000, to Mirasol, a minimum exploration expenditure of USD 2 million with an exploration commitment including 6,000 meters of drilling focused on the Curahue prospect, and USD 200,000 in geophysical surveys. CVSA can elect to proceed to a second stage of the 51% earn-in by making a second payment to Mirasol of USD300,000, spending another USD 3 million dollars on exploration including an additional 6,000 meters of drilling. Following this investment, CVSA can exercise the 51% earn-in by making a final cash payment of USD$ 600,000 to Mirasol.