Business
Vista Gold Corp. Acquires Hycroft Mine Royalty and Ownership Interest in 53 Properties in Nevada and Colorado
Vista Gold Corp. Acquires Hycroft Mine Royalty and Ownership Interest in 53 Properties in Nevada and Colorado.
About this update from Vista Gold Corp
[{"type":"text","content":"\n\n\n\n\nDENVER, Dec. 13 /CNW/ -- Vista Gold Corp.\n(Amex: VGZ; TSX) announces that on December 13, a subsidiary of Vista acquired\nall of the outstanding shares of F.W. Lewis, Inc., the assets of which include\n55 mineral properties in Nevada and Colorado. The acquisition was made by\nexercise of a purchase option originally held by Century Gold LLC of Spring\nCreek, Nevada. Century Gold assigned the option to Vista pursuant to an\nassignment and assumption agreement effective December 9, 2005. Under the\nterms of the assignment agreement, Vista paid Century Gold U.S. $150,000 in\ncash and also reimbursed it for the U.S. $250,000 it paid the owners of F.W.\nLewis, Inc. toward the option exercise price of U.S. $5.1 million. In\naddition, subject to regulatory approval, Vista has agreed to issue to Century\nGold 250,000 common shares of Vista. To complete the exercise of the option,\nVista paid the owners of F.W. Lewis, Inc., the remaining U.S. $4.85 million of\nthe outstanding purchase price. Century Gold will retain a 100% interest in\ntwo properties and a 50% interest in two other properties. The 53 properties\nto be retained by Vista include a total of 9,280 acres of patented and 11,616\nacres of unpatented mineral claims, the majority having gold, silver or copper\ndiscoveries or old mines located on the properties.\nF.W. Lewis, Inc. owns a production royalty interest in the Hycroft Mine.\nThe production royalty (applying to approximately 70% of the reported\nreserves) was 5% Net Smelter Return (NSR) on gold and 7.5% NSR on other\nminerals, including silver. The production royalty on gold escalated on ore\nover 0.05 ounces per ton (opt) to a maximum of 10% NSR on ore grades over\n0.14 opt. The Hycroft Mine has been leased by a subsidiary of Vista and the\nproduction royalty payable to F.W. Lewis, Inc. will no longer apply by virtue\nof this acquisition. Vista (or predecessor companies) operated the Hycroft\nMine, producing 1,075,000 ounces of gold from 1987 to 1998, when operations\nwere suspended due to low gold prices. In September 2004, Vista reported\nresults of an updated feasibility study for the Hycroft Mine by Mine\nDevelopment Associates (MDA) of Reno, Nevada, an independent consulting firm,\nin accordance with Canadian National Instrument 43-101 guidelines. The study\nwas filed on SEDAR on September 22, 2004. As r...