BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 24. Solidcore Resources, a gold producer based in Kazakhstan, will invest $25 million in a three-year exploration program in Japan under a new alliance with Japan Gold Corp., with an option to acquire up to an 80% direct interest in five exploration areas.
This was announced in a statement published by the press service of Solidcore Resources.
According to the company, the alliance covers five target areas in Hokkaido and Kyushu, where Solidcore will fully fund the initial three-year exploration program. Following completion of the first phase, Solidcore will have the right to earn a 49% direct interest in one or more of the target areas, depending on exploration results.
The company may subsequently increase its interest to 70% by funding a pre-feasibility study for an individual project and to 80% by financing a bankable feasibility study.
The five target areas are Hakuryu, Bajo, Mizobe, Ryuo and Aibetsu. They are located near historical gold-producing mines and cover areas with previous exploration and identified mineralization.
Alongside the exploration alliance, Solidcore acquired 78.775 million units of Japan Gold for C$9.45 million ($6.85 million) in a private placement.
The investment gives Solidcore an 18.81% stake in Japan Gold on a non-diluted basis and 19.9% on a partially diluted basis if all warrants held by Solidcore are exercised.
The units were issued at C$0.12 each and include common shares and warrants. The warrants allow Solidcore to acquire additional Japan Gold shares at C$0.135 each for three years.
Solidcore will also have the right to nominate two directors to Japan Gold's board while maintaining at least an 18% non-diluted ownership stake. Victor Flores and Tania Tchedaeva were appointed to the board as Solidcore representatives following the formation of the alliance.
Japan Gold said the private placement proceeds would support continued exploration across its other 22 projects, increase drilling capacity and provide general working capital.
Japan Gold holds more than 3,000 square kilometers of prospective mineral rights in Japan, according to the company.
Solidcore CEO Vitaly Nesis said the company's interest in Japan Gold's portfolio was driven by its geological characteristics and Japan's status as a stable and under-explored jurisdiction.
"Solidcore has a long record of investing across the mining sector and of building durable partnerships, and Japan Gold's licence portfolio stands out to us. It has the makings of a large-scale, generational gold district with a distinctive style of geology that we have been historically successful working with, in a stable, well-regulated, developed and notably under-explored jurisdiction," Nesis said.
Japan Gold CEO John Proust said the alliance would combine Solidcore's financial resources with Japan Gold's technical and operational expertise in Japan.
The alliance will be overseen by a joint technical committee comprising two representatives from each company, chaired by a Solidcore nominee with a tie-breaking vote.
Hakuryu is located in northern Hokkaido's Konomai epithermal gold district, where the Konomai Mine produced 2.35 million ounces of gold at an average grade of 6.4 grams per ton between 1915 and 1973.
Bajo, in central Kyushu, is centered on the historic Bajo Mine, which produced 421,000 ounces of gold. The Sakuru-Hi vein alone accounted for 317,000 ounces of gold at 125.9 grams per ton, along with 557 grams per ton of silver.
Mizobe, in southern Kyushu, has a geological setting similar to that of the Hishikari deposit, which contains 13 million ounces of gold and produced approximately 9 million ounces between 1985 and 2025.
The other two areas, Ryuo and Aibetsu, also contain historical workings and gold-silver mineral occurrences. Ryuo includes five historic working areas, while Aibetsu encompasses five historical gold-silver and mercury mines or occurrences.
