Kalamazoo Resources (ASX: KZR) has a little more cash in the bank following the sale of its 50% stake in the Victorian-based Queens project to Novo Resources (TSX: NVO) for $1.5 million.
In return for Kalamazoo’s 50% interest, Novo is paying $750,000 in cash and $750,000 worth of its shares.
Kalamazoo chair and chief executive officer Luke Reinehr said it is the “right strategic move” to sell the company’s interest in Queens to Novo.
He pointed out Novo already had a similar arrangement with GBM Resources (ASX: GBZ) on ground adjacent to Queen.
“Given our existing relationship with Novo as a strategic Kalamazoo investor and as an exploration partner, we appreciate that this is a great opportunity for Novo to apply its exploration skills across the combined Malmsbury project area.”
Central Victorian gold ground
Mr Reinehr said the $1.5 million in cash and shares will assist the company in delivering its exploration and drilling programs across its gold ground in central Victoria – the recently acquired Mt Piper asset, Castlemaine, South Muckleford and Tarnagulla.
Kalamazoo’s tenure in central Victoria covers more than 1,900 square kilometres.
The recently acquired Mt Piper gold project is only 30km from Agnico Eagle’s (TSX: AEM) Fosterville operation, which is the largest gold mine in Victoria.
Fosterville is also the highest-grade gold mine in the world, with about 9 million ounces in contained gold resources grading 12 grams per tonne gold.
The underground mine produced 338,327oz of gold in 2022.
Mt Piper is also adjacent to Agnico’s exploration ground, and between Mandalay Resources’ (TSX: MND) Costerfield mine and Southern Cross Gold’s (ASX: SXG) rapidly growing Sunday Creek gold-antimony project.
The central Victorian goldfields are home to the Bendigo Zone, which has produced more than 60Moz of gold at an average grade of 15g/t.
According to Kalamazoo, its gold ground in the region has had limited modern exploration.
The company’s strategy in the region is to discover high-grade and large resources using smarter and innovative low impact exploration technologies.
These include using the CSIRO’s UltraFine soil and mica sampling technology along with regional scale soil sampling, induced polarisation, ground magnetics, along with LiDAR, 3D geological modelling and field work.
