The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Jonathon Naylor Editor Auriga Gold Corp. is vying for a $10-million loan to restart the long-idle Puffy Lake gold mine and mill near Sherridon. The Toronto-based junior miner said last week it has executed an indicative term sheet with Resource Income Fund for the proposed construction loan. 'We are pleased to be working with the Resource Income Fund as we advance the (project) to production,' Richard Sutcliffe, president and CEO, said in a news release. 'This proposed credit facility is significant in that it will provide a flexible, non-dilutive financing option for the project.' Repaid Auriga said it anticipates the loan would be repaid no later than May 31, 2014, with 12 monthly payments of principal and interest beginning June 30, 2013. The loan is expected to carry an annual interest rate of 14 per cent. The company plans to pay an upfront commitment fee of $100,000 along with drawdown fees anticipated this July and October. See 'Auri...' on pg. 6 Continued from pg. 1 In conjunction with the financing, it is anticipated that Resource Income Fund will be granted certain common share purchase warrants. Auriga intends to secure the loan against its assets. It plans to establish a gold put option price protection program with terms subject to market conditions. The proposed loan is subject to certain factors, including technical and legal due diligence and receipt of necessary operating permits and approvals for the project. The TSX Venture Exchange must also give its okay. Auriga owns what it calls the Maverick Gold Project, which includes the idle Puffy Lake mine and mill near Sherridon, as well as adjacent prospects. The site is about 65 kilometres northeast of Flin Flon. The company said previously that a reopened mine at the site would require roughly 100 workers, who would potentially stay at a camp. Drill results Word of the potential loan comes as Auriga unveils new drill results from the property. The company said intersections included two one-metre intersects of 13.72 and 11.64 grams gold of gold per tonne (g/t) and one with six metres of 2.79 g/t gold. Sutcliffe said the drilling 'has defined a zone of consistent near-surface high-grade mineralization.' Auriga expects to see a guideline-compliant resource estimate for the property completed between early July and the end of September. After that, the company 'plans to evaluate the deposit for open pit mining as part of a strategy of defining low-cost shallow resources on the Maverick mineralized trend,' said Sutcliffe. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its regulation services provider accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of information supplied by Auriga.
