Vior Acquires The Tonya Gold Project In The Rye Patch Mineral Trend, Pershing County, Nevada
QUÉBEC, CANADA, March 5, 2018 – SOCIÉTÉ D’EXPLORATION MINIÈRE VIOR INC. (TSX VENTURE (VIO), FRANKFURT (VL51) (“Vior” or the “Company”), is pleased to announce that it has acquired through its wholly owned subsidiary, Vior Gold (USA) LLC (“Vior USA”), the Tonya Gold Project (“Tonya” or the “Property”) from Gold Range Company LLC (“Gold Range”). The agreement grants Vior the exclusive mineral rights to the Tonya Property, located 65 kilometers northeast of the town of Lovelock, in Pershing County, Nevada, USA. Vior has also just finalized an agreement to acquire all surface rights on the Property which will allow complete access for all future exploration, drilling and development work.
The Tonya Project is comprised of 71 claims for 501 hectares located in western Nevada at the north end of the Humboldt Range. The Humboldt mountain range forms the core of the Rye Patch Mineral Belt and is host to numerous gold deposits, mines and prospects, including the Florida Canyon Mine, 2.3 M oz. gold produced, the Coeur Rochester Mine, 1.65 M oz. gold and 148 M oz. silver produced, the Relief Canyon Mine and the recently discovered and developed Spring Valley Deposit.
The Tonya Project is in the early stages of exploration. Work completed to date includes some outcrop sampling, a local detailed soil survey and limited rotary drilling. The property has geological similarities to the nearby Florida Canyon and Standard mines, as it is also covered by the limestones of the Natchez Pass Formation and the argillites of the Grass Valley Formation, which host the mineralization in both deposits. The geochemical pathfinders in soils show clustered anomalies in gold, antimony and arsenic. Interpretation of the work to date indicates the Tonya Project represents the upper levels of an epithermal gold system similar to other gold deposits in the Belt. Some historical rotary drilling results suggest the potential for gold values to increase at depth.
Modern exploration work has been limited on the Tonya Project due to private ownership. Vior’s plan is to evaluate previous data, conduct mapping, including rock chip sampling and soil analysis with the objective of identifying the best drill targets for its initial drilling program. The exploration program is planned to begin in early spring 2018.
Under the terms of the agreement, Vior USA will acquire from Gold Range the exclusive rights to exploration and development of the Tonya Project. Vior USA will pay an Advance Royalty in US dollars to Gold Range according to the following schedule:
- US $10,000 has been paid on execution of the lease on August 9, 2017
On or before each of the following:
- US $10,000 First Anniversary
- US $10,000 Second Anniversary
- US $15,000 Third Anniversary
- US $15,000 Fourth Anniversary
- US $25,000 Fifth Anniversary and on each Anniversary thereafter increasing by US $10,000 per year until commencement of commercial production, at which time the Advance Royalty will terminate.
Gold Range shall also retain a Production Royalty of 3% NSR. Vior USA will have the right to buy back up to 2% of the Production Royalty by paying Gold Range the sum of US $1,000,000 for each 1%.
Other news
A director of the Company participated in the private placement that closed on December 22, 2017 (see press release dated December 22, 2017) and subscribed for an amount of 100,000 Units representing an amount of $10,000. Participation of an insider of the Company in the private placement constitutes a “related party transaction” as defined under Regulation 61-101 – Respecting Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions (“Regulation 61- 101”). The private placement is exempt from the formal valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements of Regulation 61-101 as neither the fair market value of securities being issued to the insider nor the consideration being paid by the insider exceeds 25% of the Company’s market capitalization. The Company did not file a material change report 21 days prior to the closing of the private placement as the details of the participation of the insider of the Company had not been confirmed at that time.