BOULDER - A Switzerland-based company hopes to begin mining gold in western Boulder County by the first quarter of 2010 to capitalize on the record price of gold.

Aurora Gold Corp., based in Zug, Switzerland, signed a letter of agreement to acquire 70 percent of the Front Range Gold Project located in Boulder County from Vancouver, Canada-based Global Minerals Limited.

Gold prices traded above $1,200 per ounce today in New York as the U.S. dollar weakened.

The Front Range Gold Project consists of 85 patented and 21 unpatented lode claims covering approximately 480 acres, or about three-quarters of a square mile. The project is in the Gold Hill Mining District nine miles west of the city of Boulder and includes 18 past producing mines. These mines produced gold and silver from narrow quartz veins.

Aurora paid $100,000 when it signed the agreement letter and will pay $400,000 when the formal agreement is signed by Feb. 28. Aurora would then provide the capital to resume mining and development. Aurora and Global Minerals will share profits 60/40, respectively, after Aurora recoups its investment in the deal.

Work would begin at the Cash and Rex mines. The Cash mine has an inclined shaft 761 feet deep, with more than 6,220 feet of drifting on nine levels. The Rex mine includes an inclined shaft with more than 2,500 feet of drifting on six levels. The Who Do, St. Joe and Black Cloud mines also would be worked. They have more than 3,000 feet of underground workings on three levels.

The U.S. government's War Production Board halted mining in the district during Word War II. After the war, most mines remained closed. The Cash mine was one of the few that reopened. The Rex mine was discovered in the 1950s. By 1964 development at the Cash mine had reached the eastern limits of the mine property, and both mines were closed by their owner with "ore in the back," awaiting higher gold prices.

Allen Sorenson, a reclamation specialist at the Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining & Safety, said the mining permits held by Boulder-based Mount Royale Ventures LLC, an affiliate of Global Minerals, are in order. He said the area had been mined as recently as 2008 by Global Minerals, which stopped mining operations in Gold Hill that year.

Denise Grimm, senior planner for Boulder County in the land-use department, said her office had not received notification from either company about plans to resume mining, but added that previous permits for the property may possibly cover this effort, but that changes in the scope of the project might require additional county permits.

Aurora Gold said it will begin using an existing floatation mill with a capacity of 50 tons per day with plans to upgrade to 100 tons per day.

Aurora Gold's stock is quoted for trading in the United States on the OTC Pink Sheets under the symbol ARXG.PK, under the symbol A4G.F on the Frankfurt Exchange, A4G.DE on XETRA and A4G.BE on the Berlin-Bremen Stock Exchanges in Germany.