AUSTRALIAN-owned gold-mining company, Troy Resources, has signed a new joint venture with Barrick Gold Corporation, to target tier-one gold finds in the southern part of its Karouni gold project in Guyana.
Barrick Gold Corporation is a Canadian mining company that produces gold and copper with 16 operating sites in 13 countries. It is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario.
The deal sees Barrick expending some US$1.2 million into Troy Resources for a 4.9 per cent stake in the company.

Barrick, through the completion of exploration milestones and a pre-feasibility study (PFS), can earn up to 51 per cent of the Karouni project. The company’s main target is the Potaro, a new target under sand cover about 25km from Troy’s operating Karouni gold plant.
It was disclosed that the gold company could earn an extra 19 per cent interest in the joint venture by completing a feasibility study. Additionally, if a decision is made to proceed with development and the construction of a mine, Troy has the option to require Barrick to provide its share of the financing for the project, for a further 10 per cent ownership interest.
Barrick will be the operator of the JV project and will receive a management fee of five per cent of all expenditure incurred.

It was further indicated that Troy retains 100 per cent of its northern exploration tenements around its Smarts open pit and proposed underground mine, recently granted approvals by the Guyana Geology & Mines Commission. The northern area also includes highly prospective and underexplored targets such as Upper Itaki, Gem Creek and Kaburi Hills.
Troy acquired Kourani in 2013, and since July 2017, has produced more than 150,000 ounces of gold from the Smarts and Hicks open pits. The 288,000 ounce underground resource below the Smarts open pit has an average grade of 3.3 grammes per tonne and is expected to become the primary source of feed for Troy’s Kourani mill. The company is in the final stages of concluding a pre-feasibility study for what will be the first underground mine in Guyana.

Meanwhile, Barrick’s CEO, Mark Bristow, noted that the company’s commitment to working with Troy Resources on the project, stating, “We look forward to combining Barrick’s technical and financial resources with Troy’s established in country team and knowledge, to advance exploration over the project tenements with the aim to deliver new world-class gold discoveries.”