The Highland overview posted by Portee is current and comes from the website. I checked the press releases which indicate a small amount of drilling(500 meters) in 2010 failed to extend the A zone.
Other than that the entire focus of Pele Mountain has been on the rare earths and uranium properties for the last couple of years. They've been trying to divest/monetize their gold projects for several years to advance the RE/Ur programs.
They need cash. They had working capital of $ 2 mil at end 2011 but I'm not sure if that included the $ 2 mil raised near the end of 2011. They cannot afford to pursue the gold properties and didn't unlock sufficient value in their past work to get a better deal.
So PDG gets these properties for $ 1.8 mil cash and a NSR back to Pele. Even if another Magino isn't found they could still capture the value of smaller deposits with their own mine. I'm liking the deal even more.
Then there's the share price behavior. I believe the market is in one of it's irrational phases and will correct if we have the patience.