The company acquired the interest from private firm Mining Solutions for US$115,000 and one million common shares. The vendor will also receive a royalty of $8 per ounce of gold recognised as compliant measured and indicated resources, as identified over a six-year exploration programme.

Located in the Bolivar department, the Colombia-focused company says the property covers an area of 1,734ha in the gold-rich San Lucas mountain range.

Best results for the high grade, narrow quartz veins from a limited sampling programme performed by the corporation, with the assistance of an independent consulting geologist, included 169.6 grams per tonne gold over 50-70cm width at Mina Bulla, in the east portion of the property. Two samples from large zones of saprolite returned 1gpt gold and 0.53gpt gold-equivalent.

A July technical report on the property had recommended a two-phase surface exploration programme totalling US$269,000, comprising mapping, sampling, geophysical survey and mechanical trenching in order to generate drilling targets.

The company also announced the termination of the Las Marias option agreement.

The Toronto-quoted equity added C3.5c on Friday to close at C13.5c a share, giving the company a market valuation of C$5.52 million. The stock is down 10% since the start of the year, as gold equities - especially the juniors - suffer under a softer gold price and little appetite for high-risk investments in the mining indyustry among speculators.