(Kaieteur News) – The number of Canadian companies with interests in Guyana’s gold sector has climbed to 13, with the latest entrant, XAU Resources Inc., set to acquire the Quartzstone Gold Project in Region Seven through a business combination.

The transaction, announced earlier this year, will see Toronto-listed XAU Resources acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of QS Holdings Inc., the Barbados-based parent company of Qstone Inc., which owns the Quartzstone Gold Project.

XAU Resources move to acquire QS Holdings Inc. came weeks after fellow Canadian mining company Fortuna Mining Corp. entered into a more than US$5 million agreement with QS local subsidiary Qstone Inc. for the Quartzstone project which covers 296 square kilometres (km²) of contiguous mining lands.