Equitas Resources Corp. Completes Acquisition of Alta Floresta Gold Ltd.
Equitas Resources Corp. Completes Acquisition of Alta Floresta Gold Ltd.; Acquires 100{92d3d6fd85a76c012ea375328005e518e768e12ace6b1722b71965c2a02ea7ce} Interest in Brazilian Gold Assets
– Momentum Public Relations – April 27, 2016
Equitas Resources Corp. (“Equitas” or the “Company”) (TSXV: EQT) (US:EQTRF) (Frankfurt: T6UN) is pleased to announce that it has received final TSX Venture Exchange approval and has finalized the acquisition of Alta Floresta Gold Ltd. (“Alta Floresta Gold”) as announced on January 15, 2016. Alta Floresta Gold has also increased its working interest in all of the Brazilian gold properties from 60{92d3d6fd85a76c012ea375328005e518e768e12ace6b1722b71965c2a02ea7ce} to 100{92d3d6fd85a76c012ea375328005e518e768e12ace6b1722b71965c2a02ea7ce}.
Equitas through Alta Floresta Gold indirectly owns a 100{92d3d6fd85a76c012ea375328005e518e768e12ace6b1722b71965c2a02ea7ce} interest in six gold properties with four production licenses, and over 184,410 hectares of landholdings in Mato Grosso and Para states of central Brazil. The flagship Cajueiro gold project (the “Cajueiro Project”) encompasses 39,053 hectares and is located 95 kilometers north of the city of Alta Floresta, which will be the location of the Company’s operations base in Brazil.
Alta Floresta Gold was successful in increasing its equity share in Alta Floresta Gold Mineracao S.A., (Alta Floresta Mineracao) its Brazilian operating subsidiary, from 60{92d3d6fd85a76c012ea375328005e518e768e12ace6b1722b71965c2a02ea7ce} to 100{92d3d6fd85a76c012ea375328005e518e768e12ace6b1722b71965c2a02ea7ce} by further investment and agreed acquisition from the minority stake holder ECI Exploration & Mining Ltd.
The immediate focus for Equitas will be to increase current gold production at the Cajuiero Project and to identify additional resources in the known mineralized areas. Currently Alta Floresta Gold is realizing small-scale sluice-box production from the mineralized alluvium and saprolite. As part of the expansion plan Equitas plans to acquire, and put into production, a gravity processing plant that is located near the Cajueiro Project.
An exploration program is currently being planned with the intention to further define and expand the resources at the Cajuiero Project. It is expected that the program will consist of bulk sampling, trenching and diamond and rotary air blast (RAB) drilling.
In connection with the transaction, Equitas issued 103,653,283 common shares to former shareholders of Alta Floresta Gold and 5,282,324 stock options to former optionholders of Alta Floresta Gold exercisable for a period of three years at a price of $0.15 per share. All securities issued in connection with the transaction are subject to a four moth hold period.
The following are brief biographies on Equitas’ new directors, officers and technical operators:
Kyler Hardy as Chairman, Director – 16 years in the resource sector as an entrepreneur & executive. Experience in operating remote & logistically complex exploration projects. Successful in building early stage businesses.
Chris Harris as President & CEO, Director – 30 years in energy, commodity trading & mining finance (Ernst & Young, CIBC, Enron UK, BHP Billiton, GMI Resources UK). Multiple principal investments & director roles.
Alan Carter as Director – 30 years in minerals exploration (Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton, ECI). Founder & CEO Magellan Minerals. Director: Cuprum Resources, Peregrine Diamonds.
David Hodge as Director – Extensive experience in management and financing of publicly traded companies. President of Zimtu Capital, a company focused on the mineral exploration sector through prospect generation and company creation/building. Has been involved with raising over $250M for public resource companies.
Everett Makela as VP of Exploration – Over 30 years of exploration experience as a geologist. Spent career with INCO & Vale. Held increased roles ranging from grassroots evaluations to near mine resource definition. Extensive experience with joint ventures and alliances. Retired as Principal Geologist, Vale North America.
Mike Bennett a Director and Officer of Alta Floresta Mineração – 30 years of exploration experience (23 in South America). VP Exploration of ECI (since 2009). 3 gold discoveries: Brazil – Coringa & Cajueiro and in Bolivia – Puquio North
Richard Crew as Consultant to Alta Floresta Mineração (operations) – 30 years of mining experience as an Operations Manager and Chief Operating Officer for numerous of companies & projects worldwide. Excellent knowledge of the international mining sector and technical developments. Fluent in English & Portuguese.
Elvis Alves as Project Manager and Exploration Geologist to Alta Floresta Mineração (operations) – Locally based experienced field geologist focused on mineral exploration and mining.
Equitas would like to thank Mr. Raymond Goldie, Mr. Qianjie Wang and Mr. Tim Fernback for their service while on the Equitas board of directors and we wish them well in their future endeavours.
- Published in Equitas Resources, Mining, News Home
Equitas Resources Corp. Oversubscribes Financing; Raises $1.5M
Equitas Resources Corp. Oversubscribes Financing; Raises $1.5M
– Momentum Public Relations – April 4th, 2016
Equitas Resources Corp. (TSXV: EQT) (US: EQTRF) (FSE: T6UN) (“Equitas” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that it has closed the second and final tranche of the private placement that was announced on March 4, 2016. This closing included gross proceeds raised of $1,100,000.
The Company has issued 22,000,000 Units at $0.05 per Unit. Each Unit consists of one common share and one share purchase warrant. Every share purchase warrant entitles the holder to purchase one common share at a price of $0.10 for 24 months after the closing.
Combining both tranches, the Company issued a total of 30,000,000 Units for combined gross proceeds of $1,500,000. Of the 30,000,000 Units purchased, over 10,400,000 were purchased by Insiders of the Company.
All securities hereunder are subject to a four month and a day hold from the closing date. Finders fees paid in conjunction with this closing were $31,600.00 cash and the issuance of 632,000 share purchase warrants exercisable for 24 months from closing at $0.10 per share.
The proceeds received from the Units will be used by the Company for corporate development, general and administrative costs and towards the acquisition of a 100{92d3d6fd85a76c012ea375328005e518e768e12ace6b1722b71965c2a02ea7ce} interest in Alta Floresta Gold Ltd., subject to Exchange approval; (see news release dated March 7, 2016).
About Alta Floresta Gold Ltd.
Alta Floresta Gold Ltd. is a private company which holds a 60{92d3d6fd85a76c012ea375328005e518e768e12ace6b1722b71965c2a02ea7ce} equity interest in Alta Floresta Gold Mineracao S.A.. (“Alta Floresta Mineracao”), with the right to earn-in to a 70{92d3d6fd85a76c012ea375328005e518e768e12ace6b1722b71965c2a02ea7ce} equity interest. Alta Floresta Mineracao holds six gold properties, and four production licences, over 184,410 hectares of land in the Mato Grosso and Para states of Brazil. Alta Floresta Mineracao is initially focused on production activities and defining additional gold resources at the Cajueiro Project.
- Published in Blog, Equitas Resources, Mining, News Home
Equitas Resources: Good Timing
Time is Gold-en, Cash is King
– Momentum Public Relations –
In the exploration and development process for precious minerals, time is often a more valuable commodity than gold, nickel, copper or platinum. Time can present a challenge to junior mining plays. Particularly, when a company runs out of time and capital. Equitas Resources Corp (EQT–TSXV) has demonstrated that they have a solid grasp on this reality.
Equitas recently announced its intention to merge with a private company, Alta Floresta Gold. On March 7, 2016, formal due diligence was successfully completed. Alta Floresta has a 60 percent interest in Alta Floresta Gold Mineracão Ltd, a company that holds six gold properties, and four production licenses. The operation spans more than 184,000 hectares of land in the Mato Grosso, Brazil. Of these properties, the Cajueiro Project is already in production.
The goal of the merger is to provide the company with liquidity to fund ongoing activities while, at the same time, creating value for shareholders. Specifically, the transaction will put EQT in a stronger position to support the rigorous exploration and development of its 100{92d3d6fd85a76c012ea375328005e518e768e12ace6b1722b71965c2a02ea7ce} owned highly prospective Garland venture in the Voisey’s Bay area of Labrador.
Investor fatigue was beginning to set in for Equitas as its shares declined to C$0.05 in recent weeks after trading in the range of C$0.12 to C$0.19 in the fourth quarter of 2015. Shares in Equitas are poised to trade at higher levels given the stability that the recent transaction will provide.
Of equal long-term importance, the cash that will come from a lower cost gold operation, like the Cajueiro Project, will enable EQT to withstand a resource sector bear market in the future. However, it appears that the five-year bear market for gold and precious metals is ending as bullion has increased from the recent lows and is sustaining price levels around USD$1250 per ounce. Trending upwards after a number of years of declining prices and trading in the USD$1050 to USD$1100 range.
The lengthy process of exploration, geologic assessment, review of resource potential, financing and commercial ramp up can be challenging. If less than ideal circumstances prevail, or if the market for gold or other metals is soft at a critical time, a company can find itself in a situation with sunk costs and no path forward. Many potentially lucrative mining ventures can run out of cash before they fully conclude on the viability of a resource discovery or are able to move from minerals in the ground to full operational viability.
Equitas Resources has resourcefully given themselves an advantage many ventures don’t have. Upon regulatory approval of the acquisition, Equitas plans to construct a gravity plant to expand the current production activities at Cajueiro gold which should produce almost immediate positive cash flow.
The combination of a skilled senior management team at Alta Floresta Gold with the considerable technical and management expertise at Equitas should serve to boost efforts to discover and commercialize their nickel deposit in Labrador. Ultimately, the transaction stands to make Equitas a stronger company with quality gold and nickel assets as well as recurring cash flow.
The newly merged combination of Equitas and Alta Floresta Gold represents an excellent opportunity for investors to hold a smaller scale, low cost, gold production operation while maintaining the large potential payoff that the Voisey’s Bay Garland project holds. To note the obvious, gold producers generate cash, meaning future expansion can be managed in non-dilutive manners.
A transaction like this one is a practical application of the principle that time is money. A producing gold mine generates cash. Cash buys time and time is needed to prove resource and increase shareholder value.
- Published in Blog, Equitas Resources, Mining
Equitas Signs Definitive Agreement with Gold Producer
Equitas Resources Corp. Completes Due Diligence and Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire Alta Floresta Gold Ltd.
– Momentum Public Relations – March 7, 2016
Equitas Resources Corp. (TSXv: EQT) (FSE: T6UN) (USA: EQTRF) (“Equitas” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire a 100{92d3d6fd85a76c012ea375328005e518e768e12ace6b1722b71965c2a02ea7ce} interest in Alta Floresta Gold Ltd. (“Alta Floresta Gold”). Upon regulatory approval of the acquisition, Equitas plans to construct a gravity plant to expand the current production activities at the Cajueiro gold zones.
Alta Floresta Gold Ltd. is a private company which holds a 60{92d3d6fd85a76c012ea375328005e518e768e12ace6b1722b71965c2a02ea7ce} equity interest in Alta Floresta Mineracao Ltd. (“Alta Floresta Mineracao”). Alta Floresta Mineracao holds six gold properties, and four production licences, over 184,410 hectares of land in the Mato Grosso and Para states of Brazil. Alta Floresta Mineracao is focused on production activities and defining additional gold resources at the Cajueiro Project.
About Equitas Resources Corp.
Equitas Resources is a Canadian-based mineral exploration company with a focus on nickel, copper, platinum group metals (PGM) and cobalt. The Company’s Garland Property is 23,386 hectares and located in the Voisey’s Bay district of Labrador, Canada. Upon approval of the definitive agreement Equitas will become a Canadian-based mineral production, development and exploration company.
For more information on Equitas Resources please visit our website at: www.equitasresources.com.
- Published in Equitas Resources, Mining, News Home
Equitas (EQT:V) Closes Final Tranche of Financing
Equitas Resources Corp. Closes Final Tranche of Private Placement, Raising over $1.9M
Equitas Resources Corp. has closed the second and final tranche of the private placement that was announced on Sept. 10, 2015. This closing included gross proceeds raised of $309,500.
The company has issued 2,476,000 units at 12.5 cents per unit. Each unit consists of one common share and one share purchase warrant. Every share purchase warrant entitles the holder to purchase one common share at a price of 25 cents for 12 months after the closing.
Combining both tranches, the company issued a total of 10,887,393 units for combined gross proceeds of $1,360,924. In addition, since Sept. 1, 2015, the company has received over $550,000 through the exercise of share purchase warrants and stock options.
All securities hereunder are subject to a four-month-and-one- day hold from the closing date. Finders’ fees paid in conjunction with this closing were $10,625 cash and the issuance of 64,000 share purchase warrants exercisable for 12 months from closing at 25 cents per share.
The proceeds received from the units will be used by the company for continuing exploration and drilling of the company’s Garland nickel project, corporate development, and general and administrative purposes.
Equitas Resources Completes Four Holes at Garland
Equitas Resources Corp. Updates Exploration Program on its Garland Nickel-Copper Property
Equitas Resources Corp. (TSXv: EQT) (FSE: T6UN) (“Equitas” or the “Company”) is pleased to provide an update on its exploration program at the Garland nickel-copper property in Labrador, Canada.
To date, four NQ diamond drill holes, totaling 1515m have been completed. The objective of the drill program is to evaluate the remaining ten areas of conductivity prospective for nickel-copper sulphides identified through the VTEM Plus airborne survey. Of these anomalies, drilling has tested anomalies D, C, J and Q. A total of 173 samples have been sent to Activation Laboratories in Ancaster, ON for analysis, and samples are being selected for petrographic study.
Field evaluation of the twelve VTEM anomaly areas continues with Crone large loop PEM surveys. A total of 30 line km of Crone large loop Pulse Electromagnetic Survey (PEM) has been read on anomalies A, B, C, Q, G, J and I. Results of Crone borehole PEM surveys are being interpreted. Field operations to explore the remaining anomalies will continue until conditions deteriorate into winter.
In addition, the Company is conducting petrographic analysis on several samples from anomalies D and J. While weather conditions have created general delays in the program, field operations are continuing on site. A full geophysics and drilling update will be provided upon receipt and interpretation of results.
“We are satisfied with the progress of work completed to date, and await full results from the current program. Despite a very tough financing climate, Equitas is well-funded to execute on our plans to evaluate all anomalies identified on the Garland property.” said Everett Makela, Equitas’ VP Exploration.
NI 43-101 Disclosure
Everett Makela, P. Geo., VP Exploration for Equitas Resources Corp., a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, supervised the preparation of the technical information in this news release.
About Equitas Resources Corp.
Equitas Resources is a Canadian-based mineral exploration company with a focus on nickel, copper, platinum group metals (PGM) and cobalt. The Companies Garland Property is 23,386 hectares and located in the Voisey’s Bay district of Labrador, Canada.
Equitas (EQT:tsxv) Begins Drilling at Garland
Equitas Resources Corp. Provides an Update on its Garland Exploration Program
Equitas Resources Corp. (TSXv: EQT) (FSE: T6UN) (“Equitas” or the “Company”) is pleased to provide an update for its Phase 2 program on the Garland nickel-copper property in Labrador, Canada. Due to initial results from current ground geophysical work Equitas has acquired additional claims to the west adjoining the Garland property. Twelve anomalies have now been identified and the Company has commenced drilling.
The 2015 Phase 2 field program at the Garland project kicked off on August 23rd, with field crews arriving at the recently completed 25-person field camp near the west end of Tasiuluk lake, at the northern end of the property. Despite being hampered by poor weather conditions limiting helicopter operations, significant progress has been made in the evaluation of conductivity anomalies detected by the VTEM survey flown in March.
Further interpretation from final processing of the B-field Tau component of the VTEM data has resulted in three new conductive signatures being identified at O, P and Q (see attached map). Tau anomalies can reflect more conductive bodies with slowly decaying signal, typical of large massive sulphide bodies.
Geological mapping and prospecting have been completed over all of the conductivity target areas except anomaly M. No possible sources for the underlying conductivity have been identified in the outcrops examined to date. This is not unexpected, considering the interpreted depths of the VTEM anomalies, significant overburden cover, and the exploration model that considers favourable target rocks to be overlain by younger ferrodiorite and ferrogranite intrusions.
A total of 39 km of line-cutting has been completed over the anomalies. Large Loop PEM surveying by Crone Geophysics has been completed at anomalies A, B, C and Q. At anomalies A and B, the response signatures have been explained by highly magnetic lithologies coupled with low VTEM bird height, creating an apparent conductivity anomaly termed Super Para-Magnetic effect (SPM). These targets are of no further interest.
At anomaly C, surveying with Crone PEM resulted in the definition of a good quality E-W trending conductor, flat-lying with minimum core dimensions of 15m by 300m, occurring 70m below surface. Definition of this response helps to validate the interpreted Southern Response Trend (SRT, see attached map), an multi-km E-W trending area of conductivity, magnetic and structural features straddling a large E-W offset of the Archean-Proterozoic suture, analogous in scale, morphology and setting to the Voisey’s Bay Intrusive Complex and related mineralization. This sparked the recent staking of license 023365M, consisting of a 132 claim block comprising 3,311 hectares, designed to cover the western extension of the SRT. Interpretation of the PEM data over the large conductive signature at Q is ongoing.
Springdale Forest Products have commenced drilling with borehole GP15-001 (collar at 582975E, 622376N, NAD 27 – UTM Zone 20N, Az. 290, Dip -55). This NQ borehole is designed to test VTEM anomaly D, part of 2 km trend of variable conductivity, coincident with a Ni-Cu-Co lake sediment anomaly, and resident in an E-W structure of the Gardar-Voisey’s Bay Fault set. An update on drilling will be made available once all results have been compiled and interpreted.
Commenting on the results, VP Exploration Everett Makela stated, “I am pleased with the progress of the Phase 2 campaign to date. After initial slow start-up due to poor weather conditions, we are executing our plan to fully test the conductivity responses this year. The three additional anomalies at O, P and Q increase our odds for success, and we are adjusting the program to accommodate exploration of these targets. Recent interpretation of the multi-km Southern Response Trend has led to a shift of exploration focus to this area. We will continue to provide updates on results as they become available”.
NI 43-101 Disclosure
Everett Makela, P. Geo., VP Exploration for Equitas Resources Corp., a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, supervised the preparation of the technical information in this news release.
About Equitas Resources Corp.
Equitas Resources is a Canadian-based mineral exploration company with a focus on nickel, copper, platinum group metals (PGM) and cobalt. The Companies Garland Property is 23,386 hectares and located in the Voisey’s Bay district of Labrador, Canada.
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