Mawson fully focused on Rompas after Darwin spin-out

Mawson Resources' (TSE:MAW) Rompas gold-uranium project is now at the centre of exploration efforts after the company successfully spun-out its South American assets into Darwin Resources (CVE:DAR).

Mawson is a resource acquisition and development company with precious and base metal interests in Finland and Sweden. Its flagship property is the Rompas gold project in Finland, with sample assays up to 33,200 ppm gold and 56.6% uranium oxide. Rompas was discovered by French nuclear giant AREVA in 2008 and purchased by Mawson in April 2010.

The company, whose management has a combined in excess of 100 years of experience, has been active in Scandinavia for well over a decade. It even maintains propertyfield bases in the Swedish town of Malå, where many of the region's core samples are stored and processed and in Lohijarvi in Northern Finland.

Speaking to Proactive Investors, Mawson's president & CEO Michael Hudson described Rompas as "an extremely exciting, early-stage property". Hudson is an experienced geologist with 22 years' experience under his belt.

Recently, Mawson spun-off a portfolio of early stage copper-gold Peruvian assets, which include the Alto Quemado, Huatiapa, Carrizales, Vicunas and Luminaria projects to Darwin Resources allowing Mawson to focus on the development of its flagship Rompas gold property in Finland.

Darwin is being run by Dr. Graham Carman, who has extensive experience in Peru and under whom Mawson's Hudson had previously worked.

Mawson's Hudson characterized Rompas as a "hands-down" gold asset with a potential uranium by-product. The presence of gold and uranium is geologically not so common but does occur in a few places around the world, he added.  Mawson has now drilled 38 drill holes for 3,850 metres at Rompas.

"We have had up to two rigs drilling and are back to one now as winter is ending. Initially we planned to drill 3,000 metres and have now extended the program to 4,000 metres. It is very early days in testing the large 6 kilometre trend at Rompas. We have identified gold visually and now it comes down to assays and further drilling."

Mawson is currently awaiting a claims process, which may be granted in the third quarter, that would give the company 30 percent access to the property and it is likely to take "at the very minimum" until early next year to gain 100 percent access.

The company holds 833 claims and claim applications for 75,340 hectares at the Rompas Project. A total of 110 exploration claims that cover a surface area of 10,580 hectares and form the core claims at Rompas were granted on October 31, 2010 but do not come into legal force until after a standard appeal process.

Although, Rompas is Mawson's primary goal, the company is also mulling adding to its assets in the near future.

"We have cleaned the slate and Rompas is very much in focus but now we have the opportunity to leverage off our Scandinavian experience and expert team to bring new properties into Mawson which we are already doing."

In terms of an outlook for gold prices, Hudson commented: "The big underlying question is what happens with Europe and the U.S.? A bit of uncertainty is good for gold; and in the long term gold is a safe haven against FIAT currency uncertainty.

"In the medium- to long-term, gold at $1,500 an ounce is fantastic. It's a good price if you've got the tier 1 grades that we're starting to see at Rompas."