Barrick options microcap gold stock's secondary property in Peru

• Xali Gold (TSXV:XGC) has optioned its Tres Marias property in Peru to Barrick Gold (TSX:ABX)
• The property boasts multiple high-grade silver veins and high-profile neighbours including Barrick and Aruntani
• Xali Gold owns gold and silver projects in Peru and Mexico
• Xali Gold stock (TSXV:XGC) has fallen by 50 per cent year-over-year, but has gained 100 per cent since 2018

Xali Gold (TSXV:XGC) has optioned its Tres Marias property in Peru to Barrick Gold (TSX:ABX).

Barrick can pay US$175,000 over five years and spend US$500,000 in exploration work to earn 100 per cent of Tres Marias, with Xali retaining a 1.5 per cent net smelter return (NSR) royalty. Barrick would retain the right to repurchase 1 per cent of the NSR royalty for US$750,000.

The Tres Marias property resides in an epithermal gold, silver and polymetallic belt in southern Peru. The belt includes new mines and discoveries by Barrick, Minas Buenaventura, Gold Fields, Aruntani and Bear Creek, and it is considered “one of the fastest-growing precious metal mining districts in Peru,” according to Tuesday’s news release.

Xali Gold has identified numerous gold and silver exploration targets on Tres Marias, including three high-grade silver veins with lead and zinc mineralization that converge on the silver-rich Casua claim, increasing Tres Marias’ prospectivity. Anomalous gold levels also occur in high-sulphidation-style alteration around the veins.

The company has traced the most important vein, the Pataqueña, for more than 1 kilometre and it remains open to the north and south. Silver values from surface sampling and historic mine dump piles are charted below.

Tres Marias’ mineralization is contained within a northwest trending system traced to more than 700 metres in strike length.

“Xali Gold’s history in the area dates as far back as 2002 when the Candente Resources Peru team recognized a superposition of both high- and low-sulfidation styles of mineralization, alteration and geochemical anomalies, which manifested in both high-grade vein-hosted silver mineralization, as well as potential for bulk tonnage high-sulfidation-style gold mineralization,” Joanne Freeze, president and CEO of Xali Gold, said in a statement. “We are very excited to have Barrick as our partner for this project in Peru, as they have excellent technical skills and aggressive exploration plans for the area.”

The agreement with Barrick is especially significant for shareholder value creation because Tres Marias isn’t Xali Gold’s flagship asset. That moniker belongs to the El Oro project, which features 8 million ounces gold equivalent (gold-silver 1:10) of past production and ample discovery potential in a well-known high-grade gold-silver epithermal vein system.

Despite exploration being put on temporary hold at El Oro, management believes the property’s tailings project and processing facility are likely to provide near-term cash flow.

Grab samples from historic mine dump piles at Tres Marias

Chip samples from outcrop at Tres Marias

Xali Gold owns gold and silver projects in Peru and Mexico.

Xali Gold stock (TSXV:XGC) last traded at C$0.04 per share. The stock has fallen by 50 per cent year-over-year, but it has gained 100 per cent since 2018.

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