Quia Resources inks deal to buy 2 concessions adjacent to San Lucas

Quia Resources (CVE:QIA) said Thursday it has agreed to acquire two concessions totaling 2,158 hectares next to its San Lucas property in Colombia.
The acquisition, which is expected to close after a 60-day due diligence period, will bring Quia's property holdings in the Guamoco district of the San Lucas gold belt to a total of 9,138 hectares.
The two new concessions adjoin Quia's current holdings, and fill in an approximate four by two kilometre gap between the current Rueda South and Durmiente target areas, and a previously held concession two kilometres to the south.
The company said that previous soil sampling and geophysics have suggested some of the target trends continue across the newly acquired ground.
The acquisition also extends the company's holdings approximately five kilometres to the north of the current area of focus, and contains additional areas to the north-east and north-west.
"This acquisition has dramatically increased the scale potential of our already significant targets and adds more highly prospective ground to our portfolio," said CEO Yannis Banks.
"It also further positions us to be a consolidator by extending coverage over the heart of this district which we believe has the potential to become one of Colombia's major gold camps."
Quia said it is planning to complete a soil sampling and geological mapping program over the newly acquired area to better define the extensions of the Rueda South and Durmiente targets.
Under the terms of the deal, Quia will pay US$2.0 million over a period of four years, and bonus payments of US$325,000 within 30 days fo completing a preliminary economic assessment, as well as US$1.3 million within 30 days of completing a pre-feasibility study.
In addition, the company will pay US$5 per ounce of gold reserves as defined in a definitive feasibility study, payable within 60 days of filing, along with a finder's fee of C$11,268 and 250,000 common shares.
The San Lucas gold belt is among the least explored and most prospective gold belts in Colombia, Quia said.
Earlier this month, the company unveiled further drill results from its San Lucas project, and provided an update to its 2012 exploration plans.
Highlights from holes 8 through 14 from the company's ongoing phase one drill program included 12.5 metres of 0.22 grams per tonne (g/t) of gold in hole SL1109; 4.5 metres of 1.50 g/t gold in hole SL1110; and 15.2 metres of 0.27 g/t gold in hole SL1112.
In addition, hole SL1114A intersected 3.85 metres of 0.52 g/t gold.
The company said the drilling to date has established a disseminated gold system at the La Colina anomaly that is potentially continuous over at least 800 metres in strike, representing "significant scale" potential for this system, and generally in the area.
Quia also said the system appears to be getting wider both at depth and to the southwest, also appearing to be increasingly higher grade to the southwest. It remains open in all directions and at depth.
As of early February, about 3,150 metres of drilling had been completed at the project, and the company is planning to drill another 5,000 metres in the first and second quarter of this year, for a total of roughly 8,000 metres in the phase one drill program.