Issue link: http://resourceworld.uberflip.com/i/1190748
54 www.resourceworld.com D E C E M B E R / J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 0 MINING Worldwide Gold Projects WITH THE RECENT GOLD PRICE INCREASE, HIGH QUALITY GOLD PROJECTS ARE LOOKING EVEN BETTER. by Peter Kennedy Gold, the traditional financial hedge in times of uncertainty, is in a good place right now. That's the view of Pierre Lassonde, the Franco Nevada Mining Corp. [FNV-TSX, NYSE] Chairman, who sees little downside risk for gold inves- tors as the global economy slows and the US-China trade war remains unresolved. Lassonde recently said financial demand for the yellow metal is being driven by negative interest rates that could eventu- ally push the price of gold much higher. "Should the US treasury 30-year bond go negative like in Germany and France, we are looking at US $5,000 gold," he said. Gold was trading at US $1,471.20/oz on November 14, 2019. Having enjoyed a great deal of success in a career spanning four decades, the 72-year-old mining engineer is leading a lending syndicate that is helping Orla Mining Ltd. [OLA-TSX] to raise US $125 million for its Camino Rojo Oxide gold project in Zacatecas, Mexico. Hosting 1.03 million ounces of gold and 20.1 million ounces of silver reserves Camino Rojo will be Orla's first mine. It is expected to pro- duce 97,000 ounces of gold annually at an all-in-sustaining cost of US $575/oz. Lassonde said he is sure that there will be more M&A activity in the gold mining sector following Newmont Mining's recent takeover of Goldcorp and the merging of Barrick Gold Corp. [ABX-TSX; GOLD- NYSE] with Randgold Resources Ltd. "We will definitely see more acquisitions because the companies have to grow and there just has not been enough exploration to create new deposits," he said. "So the best way for them to grow is to acquire." Below is a list of companies that are involved in the exploration and develop- ment of gold projects around the world. Aurania Resources Ltd. [ARU-TSXV, AUIAF-Frankfurt] is a junior exploration company with a focus on gold and cop- per. Its flagship asset is The Lost Cities – Cutucu Project, located in the Jurassic Metallogenic Belt, southeast Ecuador. The Lost City Project consists of 208,000 hectares in 42 concessions, occupying the central part of the Cordillera de Cutucu. The concessions extend for roughly 95 km along the Cordillera. Auriana is the first company to tackle this package of land since the Spanish conquistadors of 1605. The company recently reported that scout drilling for epithermal gold and sil- ver at the first hole at Yawi Target A has been completed at its Lost Cities – Cutucu Project. The hole reached a depth of 533.40 metres, approximately 460 metres vertically below the collar elevation of the