To: Mike Gold who wrote (7620 ) 12/10/1998 7:03:00 PM From: Handshake™ Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 25548
Company Press Release Joint Venture Letter Agreement Signed, Laja Property, Chile VANCOUVER, British Columbia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 10, 1998-- Fremont Gold Corporation (''Fremont'')(NASD OTC BB:FGLD) is pleased to announce that it has signed a Letter Agreement with Southern Metals Corporation (''Southern Metals'') to jointly explore and develop the Laja Property located in the Andacollo Gold District of central Chile. On Dec. 7, 1998 Fremont announced the signing of an option agreement with the owners of the Laja Property to earn a 100% interest in the property. Southern Metals, under the terms of the joint venture Letter Agreement can earn a 60% interest in the Laja Property by paying Fremont US$30,000 on the signing of a formal agreement, assuming the terms and conditions of Fremont's underlying agreement with the owners of the property and by completing a bankable feasibility study within a four and one-half year period at a minimum cost of US$3.0 million. In addition, Southern Metals is required to spend US$1.0 million on the property within the first two-years of the agreement; a minimum of US$300,000 must be spent within the first year of which half must be spent within the first six months. Southern Metals has the right to acquire an additional 10% interest in the property (Southern Metals 70%, Fremont 30%) by arranging financing for development and construction of the mine as specified in the feasibility study. Laja Property Management of Fremont believes that the Laja property, which covers an area of 250 hectares, has the potential to host a major extension, or extensions, of the Andacollo Gold Mine. This mine is a large open-pit, heap leach mine operated by Dayton Mining Corporation (AMEX:DAY - news; ''Dayton'') with recently published reserves and resources of 2.9 million ounces of gold. The southern boundary of the Laja Property is located close to the published ultimate pit boundaries of the three open-pits of the mine. Three wide, shallow gold mineralized ''manto'' structures currently being mined by Dayton extend northwards into the Laja Property. Extensions of these gold bearing ''manto'' structures can be traced for distances of up to 2 kilometers on the Laja Property. These structures contain a large number of small-scale surface and underground mine workings including those of the Laja Property owners who have conducted mining operations on the property for over 10 years. Data obtained from a reconnaissance surface sampling completed on the Laja Property shows numerous gold values in the 1 to 2 g/t range with high values up to 6.7 g/t gold. Infrastructure The Laja Property enjoys a year-round operating climate and is easily accessible by road. The property is at an altitude of about 1,000 meters and is located 2 kilometers from the mining town of Andacollo. It can be reached with a forty-five minute drive on paved roads from the port city of Coquimbo and the resort town of La Serena. A number of scheduled airline flights occur each day between La Serena and the capital city Santiago some 450 kilometers to the south. Underlying Agreement Under the terms of the underlying option agreement Fremont can earn a 100% interest in the Laja property by paying the owners a total of US$2.5 million and completing a positive, bankable feasibility study over a four and one-half year period. A payment of US$30,000 was made to the owners on signing the Agreement, further payments to the owners occur at six-month intervals. The owners retain a royalty interest calculated on a sliding scale based on the gold price equal to 0.01% per US$1.00 of the price of gold. If the results of the feasibility study show either an ore body containing over 800,000 ounces of proven, mineable gold, and the gold price is over US$360, or if the study identifies a proven, mineable reserve of 2 million ounces of gold or greater, the owners receive a bonus of an additional $1 million in payments, spread over a 4 year period and after production commences. Work Program Southern Metals is planning an aggressive exploration program to start in the near future on the Laja Property. This will focus on identifying drill targets on the main manto structures.