Historic Barkerville: Barkerville Gold Mines is working to revive gold mining operations in the Cariboo district, and now has Sean Roosen's Osisko Gold Royalties as a backer.

Historic Barkerville: Barkerville Gold Mines has Sean Roosen's Osisko Gold Royalies as a backer while it works to revive gold mining operations in the historic Cariboo district.

Osisko Gold Royalties (OR-T) expands stake in Barkerville Gold Mines (BGM-V)
Sean Roosen's Osisko Gold Royalties has picked up a royalty and added to its stake in Barkerville Gold Mines through a $10.24-million private placement of 32 million flow-through common shares at 32 cents a share.

Osisko will pay $25 million for the 1.5% NSR royalty under the deal, which sees Roosen become Barkerville's co-chairman. The two companies have also agreed to negotiate a gold stream agreement after Barkerville completes a Feasibility Study on its Cariboo gold project.

Osisko, which first came on board in July with a $5-million flow-through financing, will now own a 20% stake in Barkerville and appoint a president and chief operating officer. Current chief executive Thomas Obradovich will continue as CEO, according to the release.

The $35-million cash infusion should help Barkerville expand the resource at its Cariboo gold project, where it has been hitting high-grade mineralization in its 2015 drill program - including 23 g/t Au over 3m and 5.27 g/t over 18m recently. At a .5 g/t cut-off, Cow Mountain hosts an Indicated resource of 2.8M oz at an average grade of 2.4 g/t and an Inferred resource of 2M oz at a grade of 2.3 g/t Au.

Osisko stepping in to take effective control of Barkerville is the latest chapter in a roller-coaster story for the B.C. gold developer whose former longtime CEO Frank Callaghan was recently sanctioned by the B.C. Securities Commission. Eric Sprott bought into the company two years ago through a convertible loan and brought in new leadership.

In August 2012, the BCSC cease-traded the stock after Barkerville announces an NI 43-101 resource estimate that claimed 10.6 million ounces of gold Indicated and "geological potential" of 65-90 million ounces.

On Oct. 27 Callaghan agreed to a $30,000 fine and was banned from being an officer or director for a year.

NR: Osisko Announces Royalty Financing, Private Placement and Technical Advisory Agreements with Barkerville Gold Mines

Related: Frank Callaghan to pay $30,000 fine for 43-101 breach | MINING.com

NexGen Energy (NXE-V)
NexGen's latest assays from six angled drill holes have expanded the high-grade uranium mineralization in the A2 and A3 shears at the Rook 1 property in the southwest Athabasca Basin.

The strike length of the high-grade A2 sub-zone has been expanded from 162m to 203m, which bodes well for a maiden resource estimate expected in the first half of 2016. Drilling highlights:

  • AR-15-57c3: 50.5m at 2.74% uranium in the A3 shear, and 31.5m at 10% including 15m at 20.4% and 5m at 49.6% with the A2 shear sub-zone;
  • AR-15-57c2: 29.5m at 5.89% in the A3 shear including 15.5m at 10.27%.

NexGen announced a $20-million bought-deal financing on Nov. 18 and should kick off 2016 with a treasury of $31 million, sufficient for all drilling and engineering programs into 2017, according to CEO Leigh Curyer.

NR: NexGen Significantly Expands Strike Length of Higher Grade A2 Sub-Zone With AR-15-57c3 intersecting 5.0 metres at 49.60% U308 Within 31.5 metres at 10.03%

Related: Cameco's former Chief Mine Engineer on why he's long NexGen

NovaGold (NG-T), Barrick (ABX-T) file draft EIS on Donlin
If gold ever shakes off the doldrums and makes a sustained push higher in coming years, the Donlin gold project in Alaska that is 50% owned by NovaGold and Barrick will be one to watch.

The joint venture has filed a draft Environmental Impact Statement to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as it advances permitting on Donlin, which contains 39 million ounces of gold, Measured and Indicated, at average grades of 2.2 g/t.

NovaGold is chaired by Thomas Kaplan, chairman and chief investment officer of The Electrum Group, which owns about 25% of outstanding shares.

NR: Barrick and NovaGold report filing of draft environmental impact statement, advancing permitting for Donlin Gold

Disclosure: This article should not be considered investment advice and is presented for informational purposes only. Author owns shares of NexGen Energy. Always do your own due diligence and own your trades.