Canadian miner to seek out gold and ruby treasure trove

via CAAI

Friday, 24 December 2010 15:01 Catherine James

CANADIAN junior miner Shamika Resources has entered an agreement to acquire a land concession for gold and ruby exploration in Cambodia.

The area covered in its license, according to the miner which operates internationally under the name Shamika2Gold, is about 158 square miles (409 square kilometres) in Samlot district, Battambang province.

“This is a very important acquisition for Shamika and confirms the

company’s strategy to acquire and develop international gold assets ready or close to production,” Robert Vivian, president and chief executive officer, said in a statement released yesterday.

Shamika said international natural resources exploration company Terra Energy & Resource Technologies has conducted a survey of the land, concluding in its report that the concession holds potential resources of 1.5 million ounces of gold and 9,000 kilogrammes of rubies.

The agreement, still to be executed, will see Shamika acquire an 85 percent interest in the concession from a Mauritius holding company, which was not named in the release. The company also announced this week a separate agreement to acquire a 100 percent interest of 23 gold exploration licenses in Quebec, Canada, covering 13 square kilometres.

To date, the company’s interests are solely in the Democratic Republic of Congo where its mining is “focused on [the minerals] tantalum, niobium, tungsten and tin”, according to its website.

Terra Energy previously announced in August a “substantial ruby and gold geological discovery in Cambodia” within a 100-kilometre-sqaure concession. It was not immediately clear if the two projects were the same.

Shamika and Terra Energy were not able to be contacted yesterday for comment.

Montreal-based Shamika owns 51 percent of over-the-counter traded company Aultra Gold. Aultra’s share price slid 1.43 percent to US$0.69 on the day of the announcement.