Triton Gold (ASX:TON) has gained full control of the Salmon Gums Gold Project, which comprises a number of granted exploration licenses along the southern margin of the Fraser Ranges, 500 km southwest of the AngloGold Ashanti / Independence Group's Joint Venture Tropicana Discovery.
Teck Australia Pty Ltd declined its option to farm-in to two key exploration licences at Salmon Gums, which effectively presents an opportunity for Triton.
The two key licences contain most of the surface gold anomalies defined by Triton including the Lady Penrhyn and Sirius prospects, where primary gold mineralisation has been intersected in the preliminary reverse circulation and diamond drilling programs, completed earlier this year.
Triton's manging director Lance Govey stated that the Board is pleased to have full control and the flexibility to continue exploration, with planning for future programmes currently in progress, with funding options under consideration.
The two exploration licences subject to the Teck farm-in option, E63/1093 and E63/1095, are now excluded from the 2007 Tropicana Gold Belt Alliance Agreement.
The Tropicana Agreement still governs the three remaining tenements at the Salmon Gums project and the tenements at Fraser Range North and Cundeelee projects, until its expiry at the end of 2011.
A number of soil anomalies remain untested, or have been investigated with wide-spaced shallow drilling only.
Triton opened higher on the news.