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ST. JOHN’S, Newfoundland and Labrador, January 10, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Altius Minerals Corporation (TSX: ALS) (OTCQX: ATUSF) Altius Minerals Corporation ("Altius") reports on the receipt of a partial award decision ("Partial Award") by an Arbitration Tribunal ("Tribunal") relating to the extents of its royalty interests within the emerging Silicon gold district in Nevada. The parties to the arbitration are Altius Royalty Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Altius, and AngloGold Ashanti North America Inc. ("AGA"), the North American operating subsidiary of AngloGold Ashanti plc and owner of the majority of mineral lands within the district.
The Tribunal has determined that the lands that are subject to the Altius royalty under a royalty agreement between the parties dated February 20, 2015 ("Royalty Agreement") include the entirety of those encompassed within the 26.6 km2 base area of interest ("Base AOI") described in the royalty agreement and also certain areas of contiguous and/or adjacent mineral lands currently held by AGA that extend beyond the limits of the Base AOI.
With respect to lands that are subject to the royalty that extend beyond the Base AOI, the Tribunal has provided its interpretation of various elements of the agreement within its Partial Award and has directed the parties, within the next 60 days, to jointly submit a detailed list of the various individual claim units believed to be subject to the royalty. If the parties report that any issues exist between them in itemizing or specifying the mining claims subject to the royalty, then the Tribunal will decide them and subsequently issue its final award.
Altius’s Preliminary Interpretations of the Partial Award1
Altius currently believes that under the Partial Award the known extents of the Silicon and Merlin deposits, based on information released to date by AGA, including essentially all of the southernmost extension of the Merlin Deposit beyond the Base AOI, are subject to its royalty.
Certain lands that were acquired by AGA from third party entities, including Coeur Sterling, Inc. and Corvus Gold, Inc., with a staking date prior to the date of the Royalty Agreement are excluded from the royalty by virtue of the Partial Award. These lands host several historically identified mineralized areas including the North Bullfrog and Motherlode areas.
Altius interprets the Partial Award as providing for significant expansion of its royalty rights in all directions around the Base AOI area, including for several kilometers along projected northwest and northeast trend extensions of structures that it believes represent important geological controls on mineralization at both Silicon and Merlin, as well as over extensive areas within the district to the south of the Base AOI that have seen limited exploration to date.