Searchlight Resources Inc. accelerated its acquisition of a 51% stake in the Bootleg Lake gold-copper project in Saskatchewan with an all-stock payment, according to an Oct. 16 release.

After making initial payments for the first phase of the earn-in, the company was supposed to pay C$50,000 and issue 166,667 shares due on June 30, 2019, to earn a 51% interest. Instead, the company is now required to issue 1,425,000 shares within five days of transaction approval to complete the first phase.

President and CEO Stephen Wallace said the amendment secured exploration investment value for Searchlight shareholders almost a year early, and allows the company to share exploration expenditures from core claims to claims staked in the past year.

The last phase of the option deal will see Searchlight acquiring 75% of Bootleg Lake by completing a series of cash payments worth C$150,000, issuing a total of 1 million shares and spending a total of C$500,000 for exploration through 2021.

Under the option, Searchlight must also pay a 1.0% net smelter royalty to New Moon Minerals Corp. on the start of commercial production, half of which can be bought back for C$500,000. An existing 1% NSR also belongs to the underlying vendor.

Searchlight earlier secured an option to acquire claims adjoining Bootleg Lake covering historical gold and volcanogenic massive sulfide base metal showings, including the Curved Lake copper-nickel-cobalt target and the Phantom Ledge Lake gold target.