Magna Terra Minerals Inc has announced that it has acquired the Oxford Project, located in northern New Brunswick, via an option agreement. The Project underlying the option agreement comprises 5 mineral claims totaling 3,400 hectares that are situated along and adjacent to the Rocky Brook-Millstream Fault System within the greater Bathurst Mining Camp.
The Project was acquired due to the presence of the high-grade polymetallic Oxford Brook occurrence where previous work has shown grab samples* assaying up to 59.1 g/t Ag, 8.9% Zn and 5.16% Pb and 2.71 g/t Au and the proximity (7 km) of the Project to the Puma Exploration – Kinross Williams Brook gold project.
“We are pleased to acquire the Oxford Project and continue to increase our footprint in an emerging gold district,” said Lew Lawrick, President and CEO, Magna Terra Minerals Inc. “The Oxford Project with its proximity to Puma/Kinross’s Williams Brook Property and strategic location along a 14-kilometre section of the Rocky Brook-Millstream Fault complements our existing 28,089-hectare Rocky Brook Project and offers shareholders enhanced exposure to this developing exploration story.
“The acquisition of the Oxford Project furthers the Company’s strategy of acquiring early-stage precious and critical metal projects that offer good value and discovery upside for our shareholders and highlights our belief that New Brunswick and Atlantic Canada remain under-explored, presenting a compelling opportunity for exploration and discovery. We have been aggressively acquiring additional mineral claims in the region primarily focused on gold with recent acquisitions at Fournier Lake and Prospect Or’s Dream.
“Our technical team will be completing a full compilation of historic data on the Project in the coming weeks and will undertake planning for a spring/summer field program in 2026.”
The Oxford Project is centred on a band of mid-Ordovician felsic volcanic rocks and associated subvolcanic intrusives. Precious and base metal mineralisation was discovered by trenching and is hosted within felsic volcanic rocks with VMS-style zinc-lead-silver mineralisation. The Project is adjacent to and northwest of the regional-scale RBMF that is known to host orogenic gold mineralisation. Previous exploration work on the Oxford Project has led to the discovery of gold and base metal mineralisation starting in 2013 when prospectors Tim Lavoie and Pierre-Luc Guitard discovered mineralisation assaying up to 2.71 g/t Au, up to 14.9 g/t Ag, up to 1.11% Zn, and up to 0.48% Pb from 23 rock grab samples* collected during initial exploration. Follow-up sampling in 2014 resulted in rock samples* from a trench exposure assaying up to 59.1 g/t Ag, 8.9% Zn, and 5.16% Pb (Work Reports 477598 and 477875).
Between 2014 and 2017, Fancamp Exploration Ltd. and Altius Resources Inc. completed trenching, collected an additional 319 rock grab, channel, and chip samples, collected 2,154 B-horizon soils samples, completed 58-line kilometres of ground magnetic and VLF-EM surveys, and excavated several trenches exposing bedrock mineralisation. The collective work tested 18 priority targets (OB-01 to OB-18), mainly combined electromagnetic and magnetic targets over the property including the original trenched showing, target OB-08 (Work Reports 477876, 477975, 477977, 478166, and 478482).
16 rock samples have assayed over 100 ppb Au (4.8%), 15 rock samples (4.5%) assayed greater than 4 g/t Ag, 53 rock samples (16.0%) assayed greater than 0.05% Zn, and 49 rock samples (14.7%) assayed greater than 0.05% Pb.
In 2022, Canadian Metals Inc. (“Canadian Metals”) completed an IP survey that identified several targets for follow-up drill testing in 2023. A total of 836 metres in 5 drill holes were completed by Canadian Metals as outlined in their news release dated May 1, 2024. Although no detailed results of the exploration work were disclosed, drilling did not intersect significant values of Au, Ag, Zn, or Pb and the host felsic volcanic rocks were only intersected in one drill hole.
Work on the property to date has not tested for gold mineralisation along or adjacent to the RBMF which runs along the eastern edge of the Oxford Project and is one of the controlling structures for Puma-Kinross’ recent gold discoveries to the immediate east of the Oxford Project.
The Company has acquired the Oxford Project (covering 5 mineral claims) from the Optionor under an option agreement dated January 28, 2026. The Company can earn a 100% interest in the Oxford Project by paying $5,000 in cash upon signing: with $25,000 in cash and $70,000 in cash and/or common shares payable over a four-year period ending January 28, 2030. The Optionor retains a 1.5% net smelter royalty on the sales of metals and minerals mined from the property with 0.5% of the NSR purchasable by the Company for $500,000. Magna Terra has a Right of First Refusal on the remaining 1% NSR.
All share issuances will be based on the greater of $0.05 per share or the 10-day volume weighted average price on the date a payment is due, and the Company elects to make such payment in common shares. As such, the maximum number of common shares issuable by the Company with respect to the potential share consideration payable for the option agreement is 1,400,000 common shares.
The common shares which may be issued under the agreement will be subject to a regulatory four month and one day hold period from their date of issuance and are subject to approval by the TSX Venture Exchange.
To find out what else is going on in the mining industry, click here!