It said the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry had accepted 18 new prospecting rights applications, covering extensions to the Barrick Alliance's Mizobe and Onoyama-Yamagano projects in the southern Kyushu epithermal gold province's Hokusatsu region, Japan's largest gold producing area.

"As the Barrick Alliance programmes advance, we will continue to expand the portfolio based on the identification of key prospectivity indicators throughout the gold provinces of Japan," Japan Gold said.

The pair's strategic alliance, announced in February 2020, now covers 29 of the junior's 31 projects in Japan.

In a presentation yesterday, Japan Gold said more geochemical sampling was underway and further geophysical surveys were planned.

It said the alliance's 2021 goals were to complete the initial evaluation phase, being sole-funded by Barrick, commence target ranking and follow-up of anomalies, then apply for drill permits where warranted.

Japan Gold said the latest 18 applications took its coverage of the Hokusatsu region to 100,452.8ha or 84% of the "prospective and explorable ground" in the region.

Nine applications west of Onoyama-Yamagano were lodged to cover the western flank of a gravity-high feature which had been further defined by the Barrick Alliance project-scale geophysical surveys, the company said.

The other nine covered the southwest flanks of a gravity anomaly coincident with highly anomalous quartz veins, breccia, and sinter floats sampled in drainages on the western side of the Mizobe project and the southwest portion of the Mizobe-Onoyama project.

Japan Gold is separately exploring its Ohra-Takamine and Ikutahara projects.

Newmont holds 13% of Japan Gold.

The junior reported having C$3.6 million in working capital in November.

It had raised $7.6 million in a two-tranche placement last year priced at 25c per unit.

Its shares (TSXV: JG) have ranged from 21-45c over the past year and closed down 1.4% to 34c yesterday, valuing it about $60 million (US$47 million).