TNR Gold looking for a Shotgun partner

TNR Gold Corp. Feb. 25 said it is continuing to seek a major gold mining company to become a joint venture partner on its Shotgun Gold project in Alaska.

Located about 110 miles south of the 39-million-ounce Donlin Gold mine project and about the same distance northeast of the Pebble copper-gold-molybdenum project, this property lies at the intersection of two trends known to host big deposits.

TNR optioned Shotgun from Novagold Resources Inc. in 2002 and gained full ownership of the property in 2010. The company subsequently granted 10 percent ownership of the Southwest Alaska gold property to a private backer of the company.

According to a resource calculation completed in 2013, Shotgun hosts 20.73 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 1.06 grams per metric ton (705,960 oz) gold.

TNR has identified unique geophysical anomalies that coincide with the known gold mineralization. These anomalies also occur in areas adjacent to the mineralization providing several targets for follow-up drill testing.

The technical report supporting the resource calculation recommends 8,000 meters of drilling which would focus on testing the newly identified targets and expanding the current resource both laterally and at depth.

"We may be at the beginning of a great discovery," said TNR Executive Chairman Kirill Klip. "There is a clear path on how to move this project forward using the geological and geophysical research currently available to target drilling to expand the resource and form the basis of a preliminary economic analysis."

The company said it is actively introducing Shotgun to interested parties.

In the meantime, TNR is continuing to shift its focus away from gold and toward building a green energy metals royalty company.

"We have the resources to concentrate our efforts on building a premier green energy metals royalty company by maximizing the value of our royalty portfolio of copper and lithium projects that are instrumental in the electric vehicle and green energy sectors," said Klip. "In addition, TNR's business plan includes investigating new strategic acquisitions and developing the Shotgun Gold project in Alaska."

In addition to Shotgun, TNR holds a 0.36 percent net smelter return royalty on the Los Azules copper project in Argentina; and holds a 1.8 percent NSR royalty on the Mariana Lithium property in Argentina.

–SHANE LASLEY