BHP expands interest stake in Ecuador Cascanbel copper-gold project

One of the worlds leading resource companies has increased its stake in a gold project as it continues to mitigate its debt and expand into one of the biggest emerging mining markets.

BHP has announced this week that it has invested $35 million to acquire a 6% stake into a lucrative copper-gold project located in Ecuador.

In an agreement with Guyana Goldfields inc, BHP will acquire the company’s 6.1% stake in SolGold and will assume operations of the Cascanbel porphyry copper-gold project.

BHP Chief Executive Officer, Andrew Mackenzie, said the investment in SolGold would give BHP exposure to a high-quality copper exploration project in Ecuador, which is a highly prospective location for BHP.

"Consistent with our positive long-term outlook, copper is a key exploration focus for BHP as we seek to replenish our resource base and grow this important business."

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The Cascabel Project is a porphyry copper- gold deposit located in the Imbabura province of northwest Ecuador.

Solgold has completed over 120,000m of drilling is throughout 2018 and the company is investigating both high tonnage open cut and underground block caving operations, as well as a high grade / low tonnage initial underground development towards the economic development of the copper gold deposit/s at Cascabel.