Luca Mining to Acquire El Barqueño Gold Project from Agnico Eagle

The transaction grants Luca 100% ownership of the 32,000-hectare property, which currently hosts historical mineral resource estimates of 399,265 ounces of gold equivalent in the indicated category and 650,046 ounces of gold equivalent inferred. Luca plans to leverage its existing in-country mining expertise to advance the project, which remains currently unlicensed for drilling due to regional environmental land-use restrictions. The company is actively pursuing a legal amparo proceeding to challenge these constraints.

Financial terms include an initial $10 million payment in Luca shares upon closing, followed by up to $30 million in contingent payments tied to drilling milestones and commercial production. Agnico Eagle will also receive $20 million in production-linked bonuses and a 2.0% net smelter return royalty on specific resource areas. Luca CEO Dan Barnholden noted that the acquisition allows the company to apply its de-risking strategy to a high-grade asset with significant exploration upside. Following the acquisition, Luca intends to initiate a new resource estimate and resume exploration activities to build upon the 300,000 metres of historical drilling conducted by Agnico Eagle between 2015 and 2018.