Although the EvolvingGold (EVG-V) team consists of several former NewmontMining (NMC-T, NEM-N) people, it's Goldcorp (G-T, GG-N) that has decided to invest $15.6 million in the junior goldexplorer.

Goldcorp is buying 19 million Evolving shares at 82¢ apiece in aprivate placement - a significant stake in a company that currently has107.2 million shares outstanding and a market cap of $85.8 million.

Evolving president and chief geologist, Quinton Hennigh, who used towork for Newmont, says Goldcorp had no prior interest in Evolving untilnow.

"I can't speak on behalf of Goldcorp but I would say there was a lotof intrigue with the fact that we have a large land position in theCarlin trend," Hennigh says.

Evolving will use the funds to explore its Rattlesnake Hills projectin Wyoming and its Carlin and Humboldt projects in Nevada. RattlesnakeHills is a former Newmont project and Evolving has a lease and subleaseagreement with Newmont for the Carlin property. Humboldt was acquiredfrom private landholders and has no connection to Newmont.

Evolving shares were trading around 80¢ at mid-day today, down 6¢, ona trading volume of 652,000 shares.

Once the money comes in from Goldcorp, Evolving will have $27 millionin the bank giving the company enough cash to stretch well beyond thisyear's $8-million-or-so budget.

"We plan to do the hard work and use this money effectively and makewhat could be a very huge discovery," Hennigh says.

Located around and adjacent to the Carlin property, the 93-sq.-kmHumboldt land was acquired by Evolving in early May bringing the totalCarlin-area land holdings to 137 sq. km.

Evolving has the option to earn a 100% interest in Humboldt byspending US$9.7 million over four years - a much better deal forEvolving than the Carlin property, which includes significant claw backprovisions for Newmont.

"It positions us better in terms of any exploration done. We stand togain much more now," Hennigh says. "We know there is goldmineralization in this area and we feel pretty good of our odds offinding a discovery on the property."

Evolving is currently drilling in both Nevada and Wyoming. Thecompany has budgeted about $4 million for Nevada with five or six holesplanned for Humboldt and two or three holes for the Carlin property,each between 700 metres and 1,200 metres deep.

Evolving is drilling now at Humboldt. The company has outlined 16targets based on a geophysical survey.

Up in Wyoming, Evolving has already started a 20,000-metre drillprogram at Rattlesnake Hills where about 60% of the drill budget willfocus on infill and step-out drilling around the North Stock andAntelope Basin zones.

For the rest of the drilling, Evolving plans to test some new targetsthat were identified by surface sampling and mapping in 2009.

All the targets are located within a 2 km radius of North Stock andAntelope Basin.

The company drilled 78 holes there last year amounting to nearly30,000 metres, and 15 holes (6,500 metres) in 2008.

Evolving is expecting a National Instrument 43-101 technical reportupdate on Rattlesnake Hills to come out very soon.

Much of the company's exploration strategy comes from the AMECtechnical report that hasn't been released yet.

Hennigh says both AMEC and Evolving have been too busy recently toput the finishing touches on the report. He expects it will be completeby the end of July.

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