Explorers team up in British Columbia

Canadian junior Rimfire Minerals is expanding its horizons yet again, this time by clinching a deal with one of the world's largest gold mining companies. In December Mining News reported on Vancouver-based Rimfire's promising results at the Tide property in British Columbia. In January the company announced a partnership with Barrick Gold to explore another British Columbia gold-silver property called Kizmet.

Under a memorandum of understanding between the two companies, Barrick has agreed to make a $60,500 cash payment to Rimfire and to add claims totaling 263 square miles to the property, to form a 50/50 joint venture. Toronto-based Barrick can increase its interest in the Kizmet project to 65 percent by funding exploration expenditures totaling $1.2 million over three years, including a commitment of $400,000 in the first year. An additional 10 percent can be earned by funding exploration at no less than $500,000 per year, through to a positive decision to mine.

Kizmet is about 60 miles southeast of Atlin in northwestern British Columbia. Rimfire acquired its core holdings in 2003 and early 2004. Recent mapping and age-dating identified a Cretaceous-aged belt of volcanic and associated intrusive rocks distinct in age with coincident strong gold-silver-arsenic geochemical signature. Reconnaissance silt and soil geochemistry, mapping and prospecting was completed on four target areas of Kizmet last year, with positive results.

"We feel the newly recognized belt has excellent potential to host high sulfidation epithermal gold systems like the Thorn, and Barrick are acknowledged world experts on these types of deposits," said David Caulfield, Rimfire's president and CEO. Rimfire's Thorn property, also in British Columbia, is considered similar to the El Indio deposit in Chile. Production and reserves at El Indio total 23.2 million tonnes averaging 4 percent copper, 6.6 grams per tonne gold and 50 grams per tonne silver.

"Barrick can afford to take a big land package and explore it effectively," Rimfire's corporate communications manager, Jason Weber, told Mining News. The excitement about exploration in Canada was obvious at the Mineral Exploration Roundup 2005 conference in Vancouver in January, Weber added. He was on the organizing committee for the conference. "It exceeded my expectations by far: 4,000 people was a realistic target and we got over 5,000 - it was fantastic."

"Kizmet is genuinely promising and in terms of geology we're familiar with the type," Barrick's vice president for corporate communications, Vincent Borg, told Mining News. "Barrick is interested in joint ventures and partnerships with juniors that have properties such as Rimfire's, either in areas where we're established and operating or where we don't have local expertise. It's a big, important thrust for us. Regardless of the gold price we've maintained consistent investment in exploration, directly and indirectly."

Barrick is exploring on more than 100 properties in 16 different countries, according to Borg. It owns an operating underground mine in British Columbia, Eskay Creek, which produced 352,070 ounces of gold and 17 million ounces of silver in 2003. "Governments such as B.C.'s are actively encouraging the mining industry, which is an appealing and attractive factor," Borg said. "It's an added bonus. They recently allocated $25 million for geoscience, so they're showing their commitment to the sector."

Rimfire has partnered with Barrick twice before in the past, on the RDN property in British Columbia and the California-Surf properties in Alaska. Barrick is no longer involved with those projects. In addition to Barrick, Rimfire is currently partnered with AngloGold (USA) Exploration, Newmont Mining, Northgate Minerals, Cangold and Serengeti Resources.