Goldcorp to buy stake in Auryn Resources for C$35 million

(Reuters) - Auryn Resources Inc (:AUG.TO) said on Monday that Goldcorp Inc (Toronto:G.TO - News), the world's third-largest gold producer by market value, would buy a stake in the Canadian exploration company for C$35 million ($26.49 million), sending its shares up nearly 15 percent.

Auryn owns the Committee Bay gold project in Nunavut and the Homestake Ridge gold project in British Columbia. It also owns gold properties in Peru.

Large gold producers are increasingly relying on small exploration companies to do the heavy lifting of searching for new deposits and are taking stakes of 10 percent to 20 percent in them.

Goldcorp will buy 9.5 million shares in Auryn at C$3.67 each. Shares of Auryn were up 45 Canadian cents, or nearly 15 percent, at C$3.50 on the Toronto Stock Exchange after the deal was announced, while Goldcorp rose 6 Canadian cents to C$19.39.

(Reporting by Nicole Mordant in Vancouver; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)