Placer Dome $4m farm-in at Montague joint venture

Gold explorer Red 5 Ltd said exploration on the Montague joint venture, of which it has a 25 per cent free carried interest, will be accelerated following Placer Dome Inc's $4 million farm-in.

Placer Dome is targeting a large sediment hosted deposit in the Laverton Greenstone Belt, 80 kilometers north north east of Sandstone, Western Australia.

The company said Placer may earn a 60 per cent interest by spending $2.5 million in the first three years (subject to a minimum $400,000 in the first year) and an additional 10 per cent interest by a further expenditure of $1.5 million by the fifth year.

Red 5 said Placer Dome was very familiar with the geology of the greenstone sequence in the North Eastern Goldfields having operated at Granny Smith for fifteen years. The nearby Wallaby deposit was discovered in 1997 and integrated into the production schedule in 2001. Production in 2005 was forecast at 325,000 ounces.