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REGIONAL NEWS - EXPLORATION ROUNDUP Gold Fields Signs Earn-in Agreement Covering Yorbeau's Rouyn Property Gold Fields Sudbury Exploration Corp., a subsidiary of Gold Fields Ltd., has entered into an option and joint venture agreement with Yorbeau Resources covering Yorbeau's 100%-held Rouyn property in southwestern Quebec. Subject to certain conditions, Gold Fields has the option to earn a 51% interest in the property by funding $19 million in exploration and development expenditures, including a cash pre-payment of $1 million to Yorbeau for services and equipment it will provide to Gold Fields. Gold Fields has a further option to increase its interest to 70% by spending an additional $15 million over three years after the initial term. The agreement also requires Gold Fields to provide Yorbeau with a credit of $40 million in lieu of Yorbeau's future contributions to the joint venture. The 51% option has various milestones over a period of 4.5 years from the commencement date, which may be accelerated at the option of Gold Fields. These include a firm commitment by Gold Fields to spend $4 million within the first 18 months, with additional expenditures to be incurred at $5 million per year for an aggregate expenditure of $19 million. Gold Fields will manage all field work during the option period. Once Gold Fields exercises its option, it will be the operator of the resulting joint venture. Yorbeau's Rouyn property is located 4 km south of Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec. The property contains four known gold deposits in the 6-km-long Augmitto-Astoria corridor situated on the western half of the property. (www.yorbeauresources.com) Exploration Briefs B2Gold Corp. has reported additional positive drilling results from the exploration program at the Otjikoto gold project in Namibia. Of note, a step-out diamond drill hole returned 35.70 m grading 4.82 g/mt gold, including 15.30 m grading 7.93 g/mt gold, from the recently discovered Wolfshag zone. The positive drill results from the Wolfshag zone indicate potential to outline additional resources that could lead to the expansion of production at the Otjikoto project. Construction at the project began in January and is scheduled for completion in the fourth quarter of 2014 (E&MJ;, February 2013, p. 18). 24 E&MJ; • JULY 2013 As of April, 47 holes totaling 8,510 m were drilled on the Otjikoto project. Thirteen holes totaling 1,698 m were completed in the proposed Otjikoto open pit to aid in definition of ore shoots, and six holes were drilled as part of civil engineering studies. The remaining holes were drilled on the Wolfshag zone discovery, situated immediately to the east and northeast of the proposed open pit on the main Otjikoto deposit. Three diamond drill rigs are active on the property, focused on the exploration and definition of the Wolfshag zone and parallel structures. An initial resource estimate for the zone is expected by year end. The Otjikoto exploration budget for 2013 is $8 million. (www.b2gold.com) Peregrine Diamonds has completed a bulk sample program on the CH-6 kimberlite at its Chidliak project on Baffin Island, Canada, having collected a total of 508 wet mt of kimberlite. The sample will be shipped this summer and is scheduled to be processed for diamond recovery beginning in the fourth quarter. Field operations at Chidliak resumed in June and are budgeted at approximately $2 million, with the program being funded and operated by De Beers Canada Inc. The eight-week summer program is focusing on new target generation and orientation activities through ground geophysics, geologic mapping and prospecting. In addition to the summer field program, De Beers is finalizing a mining options study and kimberlite pipe characterization studies. The Chidliak project is subject to an option agreement whereby De Beers has the exclusive right until December 31 to enter into an earn-in and joint venture agreement for Chidliak on a 50.1% De Beers/49.9% Peregrine, basis. De Beers' expenditures will be applied to their earn-in obligation of $58.5 million should they enter into the earn-in and joint venture agreement. (www.pdiam.com) Poseidon Nickel reports that drilling at its Windarra nickel project in Western Australia has discovered two large new zones of nickel mineralization close to existing mining infrastructure. The Windarra project in- cludes redevelopment of the previously mined Mount Windarra underground mine and development of a new underground mine based on the Cerberus deposit 10.5 km to the south (E&MJ;, June 2013, p. 49). Recent drilling on the Mount Windarra mine's C Shoot has increased the shoot's thickness from 4 to 5 m to 8 to 9 m on average, with a lower-grade halo that can expand out to 12 to 15 m in places. And, at a newly discovered nickel zone adjacent to the Mount Windarra mine's F Shoot, current drilling is targeting delivery of resources of sufficient JORC confidence to allow immediate conversion to mining reserves. The newly discovered zone is approximately 3 m wide, currently extends to more than 350 m in depth and 130 m along strike, and remains open at depth. Poseidon anticipates that these promising drill results will allow additional highgrade nickel zones to be added to the Mount Windarra resource, with the potential of significantly increasing the project's production during its first two years of operation. (www.poseidon-nickel.com.au) Soltoro Ltd. has received positive assay results from ongoing mapping and sampling at its 100%-owned Tecolote project in Jalisco, Mexico, less than 10 km north of the company's El Rayo primary silver project. The Carmelita vein system has now been traced for more than 100 m at surface, where recent sampling returned numerous high-grade gold and silver values, including 27.70 g/mt gold and 641 g/mt silver over 0.7 m. A recently completed ground magnetic survey over the Carmelita zone suggests the structure hosting the vein has a strike length of 550 m. Other vein systems on the property have yielded positive results. Further ground magnetic surveys will be carried out to better define the extent of known vein systems, while the remainder of the property will be explored through continued mapping and sampling. Currently known gold and silver vein systems at Tecolote consist of discrete veins and stockwork zones containing quartz, pyrite and base metal sulphides along with associated oxidation products. Lead and zinc values locally exceed 1%. (www.soltoro.com) www.e-mj.com