Catalina Resources (ASX:CTN) has struck an all-scrip deal to buy the Beasley Creek Gold Project in Western Australia’s Pilbara region from North Andover Minerals.
The junior explorer, which has a market capitalisation of $12.13 million, will issue North Andover Minerals 15 million shares and 135 million performance rights that will vest once certain milestones are met.
The Beasley Creek Project is located about 80km from Black Cat Syndicate’s (ASX:BC8) Paulsens Gold Operation, which was previously owned by Northern Star Resources (ASX:NST) and produced an average of 75,000 ounces each year between 2005 and 2017.
Beasley Creek, which is Catalina’s first project in the Pilbara region, hosts structurally controlled orogenic gold and conglomerate-style gold.
Historical drilling intersected up to 4m @ 11.5 grams per tonne gold and returned multiple additional anomalous soil, stream, and rock chip results.
While historical exploration confirmed widespread anomalism and the fertility of the system, the area remains largely untested by systematic drilling since the late 1990s.
Executive director Ross Cotton says the Beasley Creek Project is an ideal fit with Catalina’s underexplored belts focus.
“The strategy behind this acquisition mirrors that of our recent Yerilgee and Evanston greenstone belt acquisitions, reinforcing an approach of consolidating prospective ground and advancing it quickly,” Cotton says.
“The Beasley Creek Project displays all the growth-centric characteristics we look for in an early-stage asset: clear geological rationale, defined anomalies, limited modern drilling; meaning plenty of scope for rapid, value-adding work.”
The project has a database comprising more than 1,300 soil, stream, and rock chip samples, 2,323 line-km of reprocessed aeromagnetic and radiometric surveys, and detailed geological mapping.
Catalina now plans to review the historical data to refine and rank targets ahead of exploration drilling.
Write to Angela East at Mining.com.au
Images: iStock
