Producer Iamgold had increased its stake in Vanstar's Nelligan gold project in Quebec to 75% in 2019.

Vanstar said it could earn 75% of Iamgold's 1,490ha Calder-Bousquet project, also known as Bousquet-Odyno, by spending C$4 million over four years.

Iamgold had the right to earn back a 50% interest.

Vanstar said historical, shallow drilling results at the project had included 6.5m at 27.9g/t gold and 16.5m at 9.6g/t, both within 200m of surface.

"Vanstar believes that there is good gold potential at depth, with the deepest intersection cutting an interval of 2.3 g/t Au over 14m (core length) at a vertical depth of 600m (Hole BO-15-49A)," the company said.

"In addition, the Cadillac break extends another 1km to the west on the property where only a few holes have been drilled."

At Nelligan, Vanstar said Iamgold was awaiting assay results and preparing for a minimum 5,000m winter drilling programme.

Vanstar also has the Felix, Amanda, Frida and Eva exploration projects in Quebec.

It had $5.1 million in cash, according to a presentation this month.

Its shares (TSXV: VSR), which were trading about $1.30 a year ago, closed down 5.7% yesterday to 41.5c to capitalise it at $23.8 million (US$18.6 million).