Mining News: News Nuggets: Richardson draws exploration funds

Sonoro Metals Corp. March 11 said it has signed a letter of intent to enter into an option agreement to acquire a 60 percent interest in Northern Empire Resources Corp.’s 7,840-acre Hilltop Gold project located some 70 miles south of Fairbanks. To exercise the option and earn a 60 percent interest in Hilltop, Sonoro must spend C$3 million on exploration activities to advance the exploration-stage project and issue 1 million Sonoro shares to Northern Empire by the end of 2019. During the term of the option, Northern Empire will be the operator of the project. On March 18, the companies announced they have expanded the Hilltop property to 31,720 acres through the staking of state mining claims. Hilltop now extends to the western border of Northern Empire’s 20,000-acre Richardson property. Northern Empire says the new claims cover geophysical anomalies and prospective structural extensions at Hilltop. The property is prospective for intrusive-related gold mineralization similar to those found at Sumitomo Metal Mining’s Pogo gold mine, located roughly 45 miles to the east and Kinross Gold’s Fort Knox Mine, about 85 miles north. Much of Hilltop is accessible via logging roads and trails that connect the project to the paved Richardson Highway. Sonoro Metals is a Vancouver, B.C.-based junior with a portfolio of exploration-stage properties in Sonora State, Mexico and southern British Columbia. Northern Empire, formerly Prosperity Goldfields Corp., is an emerging prospect generator with gold properties in Alaska and Nunavut; and a silver project in Mexico.

—Shane Lasley