Southern Arc Minerals says Newcrest will not proceed with Taliwang agreement

Southern Arc Minerals (CVE:SA)(OTCQX:SOACF) said Friday that Newcrest Mining (ASX:NCM) has notified the company that it will not be proceeding with an agreement initially announced in November 2010 for the Taliwang project in Indonesia.
Southern Arc said in a statement that despite "best efforts" by the company, and by Newcrest, "certain conditions precedent under the non-binding Heads of Agreement could not be met in the required timeframe, and accordingly the Heads of Agreement lapsed".
The 31,200 hectare Taliwang property on the island of Sumbawa is prospective for gold, silver and copper with three main prospects: a 1 by 1.5 kilometre gold-silver bearing epithermal vein system confirmed by 56 drill holes; a 5 kilometre-long northeast trending high-sulphidation alteration zone, paralleling the Batu Hijau mineralized trend; and sedimentary gold-hosted targets.
The asset is located to the north of Batu Hijau, which is being mined by Newmont Mining (NYSE:NEM).
Under the lapsed deal, Newcrest was to gain a 63.75 percent majority interest by spending up to US$50 million in exploration expenditures.
Southern Arc Minerals is a Canadian mineral exploration company whose portfolio includes four exploration projects with epithermal gold and copper-gold porphyry prospects on the Lombok and Sumbawa islands in Indonesia, two of which are being advanced in partnership with Vale (NYSE:VALE).
Its key exploration property is its West Lombok project, with several gold-rich copper porphyry and epithermal gold vein prospects.
Last month, the company unveiled phase one drilling results from the Bising target at the Mencanggah prospect on West Lombok.
Results were received for holes MCG028 to MCG035, with a total of eight holes totaling 2,285.7 metres completed to that date in the phase one program at the Bising target.
Highlights of results included hole MCG028, which intersected 51.3 metres at 1.5 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from 35.6 metres, including 5.1 metres at 3.5 g/t gold from 53.4 metres and 3.8 metres of 4.9 g/t gold from 60.2 metres.