Toronto-based Guyana Goldfields is in talks with a number of senior mining companies regarding a possible takeover, company president Patrick Sheridan has announced.
Guyana Goldfields' operations are currently focused around the former Aurora mine, which produced between 72,000oz and 122,000oz of gold during the 1940s.
The latest drilling programme at Aurora began last February and saw the company drill 12,000 metres before the Christmas break, with 90 per cent centered on the Rory's Knoll and East Walcott zones of the property.
Sheridan said that the company's strategy for 2005 will be to continue building up the resource at the Aurora mine and keep talking to the majors.
“Obviously, the exit strategy that would be preferred for everybody would be for a big guy to come in and take us over. We're talking with a number of majors right now. It's at the very early stages right now,” Sheridan said.
The company is also negotiating a mining license for its Peters Mine, where it hopes to begin operations on a small scale in about 18 months.
“It's gone through pre-feasibility; it's gone through environmental permitting. We're not going to do full feasibility on it; we're just going to put it into production,” Sheridan said.
He added that the mine has slightly over 100,000oz in proven resources but said there is a “high-grade stock work” underneath the initial pit, which contains high-grade resources.
“We think it makes a lot more sense for it to go into production as a small scale operation and to be developed using its own cash flow rather than the treasury that the market provides,” Sheridan said.