Premier Gold Mines drops a bundle in the northwest: Thunder Bay mine developer spending $38 million on Geraldton gold property.

• Position: NEWS

Premier Gold Mines is spending US$83 million this year to explore and develop its properties in Northern Ontario, Nevada and Mexico.

The biggest expenditure is for one of its tentpole projects near Geraldton in northwestern Ontario.

Premier has earmarked $37.9 million to further advance its Hardrock gold deposit in a joint venture it shares with Centerra Gold known as Greenstone Gold.

It represents a "four-fold" increase in annual project spending from the previous year.

The first $18.1 million from the budget is devoted to permitting and detailed engineering in order to make a production decision later on.

To the northwest, Premier has slotted more than $2.8 million for follow-up drilling at its Hasaga Project in the Red Lake district. The company identified some high-grade gold targets during exploration last year.

Premier owns or is a partner in two operating mines in Nevada and Mexico, four advanced-stage development projects, plus numerous exploration properties across North America.

Down in north-central Nevada, Premier is sinking $19 million into its Cove Project to do 8,000 metres worth of drilling and a preliminary economic assessment on a former mine property.

Premier considers its larger McCoy-Cove Property "one of the highest grade undeveloped gold deposits in Nevada" with a past production history of more than three million ounces of gold and 100 million ounces of silver.

The company recently inked a joint venture agreement for Barrick Gold to earn a 60 per cent interest on the Cove property if Barrick spends $22 million on exploration over the next five years.

In Elko County, Premier has budgeted $9.2 million to expand its South Arturo...