Noble Mineral Exploration Inc. (TSX-V:NOB, FRANKFURT: NB7, OTCQB:NLPXF) announced it has entered into a binding Letter of Intent to acquire the Lucas Gold Project from Canada Nickel Company Inc. (CNC). The transaction involves Noble issuing 5,000,000 units, valued at $0.06 per unit, with each unit consisting of one common share and one-half of a non-transferable common share purchase warrant exercisable at $0.15 per share for two years.
As part of the agreement, CNC will retain a Back-in Right to purchase a 25% interest in the property. This right can be exercised beginning on the Trigger Date, defined as the earlier of: 36 months from closing, when at least $5 million in exploration expenditures have been incurred, or when Noble enters into a binding sale agreement or undergoes a change of control. Upon exercise, CNC would pay Noble four times the exploration expenditures incurred by Noble.
The Lucas Gold Project is a drill-ready asset located approximately 30 km north of Timmins, Ontario, a region world-famous for over 75 million ounces of gold production. It is also situated 20 km northeast of the Kidd Creek Mine, which has produced over 150 million tonnes of ore over 58 years, and about 20 km east of the Crawford Nickel Resource being developed by CNC. The project benefits from full infrastructure, including paved Highway 655, access to power and water, and a Memorandum of Understanding with local First Nations.
Previous exploration by Noble in 2018 included 15 diamond drill holes totaling 3,184 meters, covering approximately 650 meters of strike length along a 1,700-meter gold-mineralized structure identified from airborne surveys. Noble located 37 historical drill-hole collars and twinned three of them. The project hosts six discrete IP anomalous trends requiring follow-up, with only one trend tested by drilling to date. Gold mineralization is structurally controlled, occurring as discrete lenses within a pyrite-plus-gold mineralized tuffaceous unit.
Vance White, President and CEO of Noble, stated: "We are very pleased to be proceeding with the repurchase of an excellent gold prospect on which we know from past work carried out by Noble of an existing gold zone but also a number of untested parallel zones." Future work is planned to further define gold mineralization on the initial IP anomaly and test the five undrilled anomalies.
The transaction is subject to negotiation of a definitive agreement, compliance with legal requirements, and approval from the TSX Venture Exchange. Qualified persons Stephen J. Balch, P.Geo. (ON), VP Exploration of CNC, and Wayne Holmstead, P.Geo. (ON), have reviewed and approved the technical information in this release.
This acquisition is significant as it consolidates Noble's position in the Timmins mining camp, one of Canada's most prolific gold-producing regions. The drill-ready nature of the Lucas Gold Project, combined with existing infrastructure and First Nations support, positions Noble to advance exploration efficiently. For the industry, the deal highlights the ongoing consolidation of mineral rights in established mining camps and the potential for new discoveries in under-explored zones adjacent to world-class deposits. The back-in right structure also provides CNC with a strategic stake in future success while allowing Noble to lead early-stage exploration.
