Helix Resources (ASX:HLX) has struck a conditional binding deal to earn up to a 40% stake in the Gold Basin Oxide Gold Project, which abuts the recently acquired White Hills Copper-Gold Project.
The agreement is with Gold Basin Resources (TSX-V:GXX) and allows for Helix to earn its interest by spending up to $3 million on exploration over two years.
The first $1 million spent will earn the company a 20% stake and each subsequent $1 million spent will earn an additional 10%, up to a maximum of 40%.
Helix also has the option to acquire a 1% net smelter royalty by issuing 150 million shares to Gold Basin Resources.
The project — which was fully permitted in 1997 as an open-pit, heap-leach gold mine — hosts six advanced targets that outcrop at surface and has an inferred resource of 8.35 million tonnes @ 1.12 grams per tonne for 299,800 contained gold ounces.
The 42km2 tenure is located in the Walker Lane Gold Trend, which extends across Nevada into Arizona and has recorded production and reserves of 50 million ounces of gold and is home to several major gold deposits.
First on the agenda for Helix is a planned resource update in June that will incorporate 35,157m of extensional drilling across 335 holes that has been completed since the 2019 resource was estimated.
Helix also sees potential for further gold-bearing structures with known gold mineralisation not closed off by drilling.
The resources estimated in 2019 were for two separate deposits, Cyclopic and Stealth, which sit about 1.5km apart.
Chairman Mike Povey says he is intimately familiar with the Gold Basin Project and believes it has “tremendous potential”.
“The long strike length of the major structures and the extensive gold mineralised system bodes well for a very significant resource upgrade as drilling expands along these structures,” he says.
“The oxide gold mineralisation at Gold Basin occurs at surface or near surface and is remarkably ‘clean’ of any contaminants, with metallurgical test work undertaken by GXX in 2022 confirming it is highly amenable to heap leaching with excellent recoveries and low cyanide consumption.
“Both factors enhancing its prospects for future development.”
Golden Basin Resources have the first right of refusal over Helix’s 40% interest in the first two years.
Helix Resources is a copper-focused explorer that also has a 3,000km2 ground position in the Cobar region of New South Wales.
Write to Angela East at Mining.com.au
Images: Gold Basin Resources & Helix Resources
