Loading ...Canadian gold miner Agnico Eagle Mines (TSX,NYSE:AGM) is grabbing a significant land position in a well-known Yukon gold play that has already yielded two purchases by major gold mining companies.
Agnico Eagle announced Dec. 5 it has bought a stake in thousands of mining claims in the White Gold district originally owned by Shawn Ryan, the Yukon prospector whose unique soil sampling method turned him into a millionaire almost overnight. A press release states that Agnico Eagle, which owns half of the Canadian Malarctic gold mining operation in Quebec and also has the Meadowbank open-pit gold mine in Nunavut, northern Canada, bought 19.3% of the shares in a company that will soon be named White Gold Corporation, for $14.52 million.
The CBC reports that an associate of Ryan “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.”
The pair then offered major mining companies a deal: buy shares in the company and sign onto a 3-year exploration program conducted by Ryan’s company Ground Truth Exploration.
CBC quotes an Agnico Eagle spokesman saying that the arrangement suited Agnico Eagle’s preference for buying early-stage projects.
cont. http://www.mining.com/agnico-eagle-buys-yukons-white-gold-district/